Shopee, an e-commerce website and company based in Singapore, was listed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on 17 February on their list findings for their 2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy (Notorious Markets List).
The USTR issued a press release on 17 February about their findings, and Ambassador Katherine Tai said that the global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods undermines critical U.S innovation and creativity, as well as harming American workers.
Tai added that the illicit trade also increases the vulnerability of workers involved in the manufacturing of counterfeit goods to exploitative labor practices, and the counterfeit goods can pose significant risks to the health and safety of consumers and workers around the world.
A total of 42 online markets and 35 physical markets were identified by the USTR in their Notorious Markets List.
Here is what Shopee is being described in the list
SHOPEE
Nominated as shopee.com. Also available as a mobile app. Headquartered in Singapore.
Shopee is an online and mobile e-commerce market based in Singapore with individual country-focused platforms primarily serving Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe.
U.S. right holders report very high levels of counterfeits being sold on all of Shopee’s platforms, with the exception of Shopee’s Taiwan platform.
Right holders report that Shopee’s notice-and-takedown procedures are burdensome, decentralized, ineffective, and slow.
Shopee’s procedures for vetting sellers reportedly do not keep sellers of counterfeit goods off its platforms or prevent repeat infringers from re-registering.
Furthermore, right holders assert that Shopee has not created an environment where sellers are deterred from offering counterfeit goods, in part due to the insufficient penalties that Shopee assesses against sellers of counterfeit goods, and the absence of cooperation that Shopee provides to right holders in their investigations of the supply chain for counterfeit goods purchased on the platform.
Shopee has increased engagement with right holders in an effort to address these issues.