Tourists who buy fake designer sunglasses, handbags and watches on their summer holidays could be fined thousands of pounds, lawyers have warned.
Authorities in countries like France and Italy are stepping up a campaign against sales of counterfeit goods.
Fines in France can rise up to 300,000 euro (?260,000),
The French Customs service said: "Cracking down on counterfeits is a major priority for the French General Customs and Excise Directorate, which is more determined than ever to stop the scourge of counterfeiting.
The Italian tourist board warns that tourists caught buying fakes could be handed a 10,000-euro (?8,700) penalty as part of a "national crackdown".
It advises caution to those tempted to buy "purses, sunglasses, watches, belts, etc bearing luxury labels such as Prada, Gucci, Fendi only to name a few". Meanwhile, the European Commission has raised fears about the growing involvement of organised international criminal gangs in the market for fake goods.
It said recently: "Without doubt, one of the principal methods of dispersing counterfeits is the 'ant-like' traffic of tourists returning home from holiday, bringing back souvenirs.
"Each year, tens of millions of articles are transported by passengers worldwide, often unaware of their involvement in the trafficking, but enabling criminal organisations to profit nonetheless."So from this I take it that they have almost given up on taking any action against the actual counterfeiters themselves and instead go for the softer , easier option of punishing the customer and making loads of money out of it in the process .....mmmm and the definition of organised crime is
There is an argument that if you are that obsessed by having 'designer' goods then you deserve no sympathy but then confiscation of the item would then surely be an acceptable arrangement without imposing ridiculous fines on individuals.
