Currently, most cross-border e-commerce policies are in the trial stage. For example, B2C retail imported goods are temporarily taxed as goods, but managed as articles, which means that there is a possibility of applying non-commercial limited exemptions to small parcels of mail. According to Article 60 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights may not apply to a small amount of non-commercial goods carried in passengers’ personal luggage or sent in small consignments. my country’s Regulations on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights also follow the principle of limited exemption for mail articles, that is, intellectual property customs protection enforcement measures will not be initiated for infringing goods that are for personal use and within a reasonable quantity. For infringing goods that exceed the scope of personal use and reasonable quantity, the consignor and consignee can declare to the customs to give up and thus be exempted from administrative penalties.
If the scale of cross-border e-commerce trade is large and imports and exports are in the form of goods, then the consignor or consignee of the imported and exported goods or their agents must truthfully declare the intellectual property status of the imported and exported goods to the customs. If the consignor or consignee of the imported and exported goods and their agents fail to truthfully declare the relevant intellectual property status to the customs in accordance with the regulations, or fail to submit documents proving the legal use of the relevant intellectual property rights, the customs may impose a fine of no more than 50,000 yuan; if the customs finds infringing goods during the import and export process, the cross-border enterprise will face the confiscation of the goods and a fine of no more than 30% of the value of the goods.
As for the specific identification method, my country’s Customs Law and the Regulations on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights do not clearly define what is an infringement at the entry and exit stage, but the Regulations on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights clearly stipulate that customs protection is based on the Trademark Law, the Patent Law, the Copyright Law and relevant laws and regulations. Customs investigates suspected infringing goods and may also request the relevant intellectual property authorities to provide advisory opinions.
For cross-border e-commerce platforms, there are two levels from the perspective of responsibility sharing. First, the platform as a provider should be self-disciplined, which is similar to the self-discipline responsibility of the platform; second, the government requires the platform to bear corresponding responsibilities from the perspective of public interest through public power.
“Platform responsibility” includes the following aspects: First, strengthen the review responsibility of the e-commerce platform, clarify the scope and process of the review; second, clarify the platform’s filing responsibility, ensure the correspondence between the flow of goods and the flow of information, and trace the infringing products sold on the platform to the infringer; third, require the platform to deal with infringing goods in a timely manner, including notifying the right holder, deleting the infringing product information, punishing infringing merchants, etc.; fourth, stipulate the platform’s joint and several liability for infringement, that is, for platforms that have not fulfilled the first three obligations, once an infringement occurs, the e-commerce platform may bear joint and several liability for infringement with the infringer to the intellectual property rights holder.