If goods are suspected of infringing intellectual property rights, the customs authorities can detain them or suspend further clearance. This can prevent infringing goods from entering the internal market. As the rights holder, you can apply to the customs authorities for this procedure.

If your application is approved and suspicious goods are found, customs will inform you of the detention and you can inspect the goods. This can be followed by various steps:

• The goods will be destroyed under customs supervision if the necessary requirements are met.
• The person or company that declared or owns the goods can object to the destruction. The customs authorities will then inform you of this. You can then initiate civil court proceedings to decide on the infringement.
• If the infringement of property rights is not confirmed or you do not initiate civil court proceedings, the goods will continue to be cleared or released.

Upon express request, you as the rights holder may also receive further information about

• the name and address of the consignee, the consignor, the declarant and the owner of the goods
• the relevant customs procedure,
• the origin and provenance of the goods and
• the destination of the goods.

If you apply for this information and the customs authorities provide it, you must comply with further obligations so that your application for action by the customs authorities can continue.