How to Remove Counterfeits in the EU: DSA Notices and Customs Applications
Two EU laws do most of the work against counterfeits: the Digital Services Act, which obliges every marketplace to run a notice-and-action process, and the customs regulation that lets you ask border officers to detain fakes before they reach buyers. What each requires, what it costs, and the order to use them in.
The short answer
In the EU, use two routes together. Online, file a notice under Article 16 of the Digital Services Act: every marketplace must accept one, and it needs a substantiated explanation, the exact URLs, your name and email, and a good-faith statement. At the border, file a customs Application for Action (AFA) — free to file through the EUIPO's IP Enforcement Portal, valid for a year and renewable — so customs can detain shipments of fakes. An EU trade mark lets one application cover several member states.
Removing counterfeits in the EU runs on two laws that most guides treat separately. The Digital Services Act gives you a legal right to file a notice with any marketplace and to be told what it decided. The EU customs regulation lets you ask border officers to stop fakes before they are delivered. Used together, the first clears listings and the second catches the stock behind them.
Both are free to start, and neither needs a lawyer for the routine case. This guide covers what each one requires, what it can and cannot do, and the order to use them in.
Route 1: a notice under the Digital Services Act
Article 16 of the Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) requires every hosting service — which includes every online marketplace selling to EU buyers — to run a notice-and-action mechanism. The marketplace's IP or illegal-content report form is that mechanism, and the DSA says what a notice must contain for the marketplace to be treated as aware of the listing:
- A sufficiently substantiated explanation of why the listing is illegal. For a counterfeit, name the trade mark, give its registration number and office, and say what makes the product fake.
- The exact electronic location — the exact URL of each listing, not a shop or search page.
- Your name and email address.
- A statement of good faith that the information in the notice is accurate and complete.
The marketplace must confirm it received the notice and tell you its decision without undue delay. There is no fixed deadline: Article 16(6) requires decisions to be made in a “timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner.” Under Article 17, the seller gets a statement of reasons when a listing is removed. Under Article 20, if the marketplace decides not to act, you can contest that decision through its internal complaint system, free of charge, for at least six months.
Two more articles work in a brand's favour. Article 23 requires online platforms to suspend, after a warning, users who frequently provide manifestly illegal content — the DSA's repeat-infringer rule. Article 30 requires marketplaces to collect each trader's name, address, contact details, ID, registration number and payment account details, and to make best efforts to check they are reliable. That trader information is what lets a marketplace connect a relaunched shop to the one you already reported. Smaller platforms are exempt from some of these duties, but the large marketplaces are not.
Route 2: an Application for Action with EU customs
Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 lets a rights holder file an Application for Action (AFA): a request for customs to watch for goods that infringe your rights and detain them. Filing and extending an AFA are free. A granted application is valid for up to one year and can be extended, and it can be filed online through the EUIPO's IP Enforcement Portal (IPEP), which is the e-filing portal for most member states. Customs can ask you to repay storage and destruction costs for goods they hold, so budget for that.
There are two kinds. A national application covers one member state and can rest on a national trade mark. A Union application is filed in one member state and asks customs in others to act as well; it needs a right that applies across the whole EU, such as an EU trade mark or a registered EU design. For a brand selling into several EU countries, that is a practical reason to hold an EU trade mark.
When customs detain a shipment, they notify you. From that notification you have 10 working days (3 for perishable goods) to confirm in writing that the goods infringe and that you agree to their destruction. If the declarant or owner does not respond, they are treated as agreeing. If they object, you have to start court proceedings within the same period; that deadline can be extended by up to 10 working days on a justified request, except for perishables.
If you ask for it in your application, the small-consignments procedure handles postal and courier parcels of three units or fewer, or under 2 kg, without bringing you in on each one. Customs deal with the parcel directly, and you are only involved if the declarant objects. For brands whose fakes arrive one parcel at a time from marketplace sellers, this is the setting that matters most.
What to put in place first
- The right registration. Every route starts from a registered right. An EU trade mark covers all member states in one filing and unlocks Union customs applications.
- Product authentication details. An AFA asks how customs officers can tell your genuine goods from fakes: packaging, labels, serial formats, authorised manufacturers and distribution routes. The more specific this is, the more detentions you get.
- A per-listing evidence record. DSA notices are per URL. Keep the URL, screenshots, the seller name and the date for every listing, so the next notice against the same seller can cite the history.
- One contact who answers fast. The 10-working-day customs clock runs from notification. Missing it means the goods are released.
Which route to use when
File DSA notices for anything listed online, starting with the sellers that have the most listings or reviews. Put an AFA in place as soon as you see the same fakes sold repeatedly, because each detained parcel is stock that never reaches a buyer or a review page. The two feed each other: the listings you find online tell customs which products and routes to watch, and detained shipments show you which sellers to report.
If the fakes come through the big cross-border marketplaces, the platform guides cover their own forms: Amazon, AliExpress, Temu and Vinted. When a whole website is fake rather than a listing, use the registrar and hosting abuse guides. Free takedown templates cover the wording.
The slow part is finding listings across EU marketplaces and keeping the per-seller history that repeat-infringer rules depend on. IPzest monitors marketplaces and social platforms for your brand, captures the evidence each notice needs, and drafts the notices for you to file, from $148/month on the Professional plan. However you do it, keep the record: under the DSA, a documented pattern of notices is what gets repeat sellers suspended.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I report a counterfeit listing on an EU marketplace?
Use the marketplace's notice form, which the Digital Services Act (Article 16) requires every hosting service to provide. A valid notice contains a sufficiently substantiated explanation of why the listing is illegal, the exact URL of each listing, your name and email address, and a statement that you believe in good faith the notice is accurate and complete. The marketplace must confirm receipt and tell you its decision without undue delay.
How long does an EU marketplace have to act on a notice?
The DSA sets no fixed deadline. Article 16(6) requires decisions to be taken in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner, and the notifier must be told the outcome without undue delay. Notices from designated trusted flaggers must be handled with priority.
What is an Application for Action (AFA)?
A request under Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 asking EU customs to watch for and detain goods suspected of infringing your IP rights. Filing and extending it is free, a granted application lasts up to one year and can be extended, and it can be filed online through the EUIPO's IP Enforcement Portal (IPEP). Customs can later ask you to repay storage and destruction costs.
Do I need an EU trade mark to use EU customs?
No. A national trade mark supports a national application covering that one member state. A Union application — filed in one member state and asking customs in others to act too — needs a right that applies across the whole EU, such as an EU trade mark or a registered EU design.
What happens when customs detains a shipment?
Customs notifies you, and from that notification you have 10 working days (3 for perishable goods) to confirm in writing that the goods infringe and that you agree to their destruction. If the declarant objects, you must start court proceedings within that period; the deadline can be extended by up to 10 working days on a justified request, except for perishables.
Can my brand become a DSA trusted flagger?
Individual people cannot. The status is awarded by the Digital Services Coordinator in the member state where the applicant is established, to entities that show expertise, independence from platforms, and accurate, diligent notices. The DSA encourages industry associations to apply, and lets individual brands make direct arrangements with platforms instead.