The report was prepared by Piotr Stryszowski, Senior Economist, and Morgane Gaudiau, Economist, at the OECD Directorate for Public Governance led by Elsa Pilichowski. Florence Mouradian provided valuable knowledge and assistance to the quantitative analysis.
The authors wish to thank Hansueli Stamm, Eiman Magshoodi, Martina Freund, Nilifer Anaç and Debora Frei from the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) for their excellent, trust-based co-operation and valuable insights.
The authors are also grateful to representatives of Swiss industry for the valuable assistance they provided. Special expressions of appreciation go to Mr. Yves Bugmann and Mr. Michel Arnoux from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH), Ms. Doris Anthenien from the Swiss association of mechanical and electrical engineering industries (Swissmem), Mr. Reto Müller from the Swiss industry association Chemicals Pharma Life Sciences (Scienceindustries), Mr. Stanislas Barro from Novartis, as well as to Ms. Anastasia Li-Treyer from Promarca, the Swiss Association of branded goods.
Raquel Páramo and Andrea Uhrhammer provided editorial and production support.
The database on customs seizures was provided by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and supplemented with regional data submitted by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The authors express their gratitude for the data and for the valuable support of these institutions.