Takeaway Points From The Latest USTR Notorious Markets List

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released the findings of its 2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy (often referred to as the "Notorious Markets List").

This year, the report names 38 online marketplaces and 33 physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate counterfeiting or piracy.

Having read the report, here are a few takeaway points that I found interesting:

Counterfeit medicines

The "Issue Focus" of the 2024 report is the growing threat posed by counterfeit medicines sold by illicit online pharmacies. Statistics in the report highlight the scale of the problem - for example, of around 35,000 online pharmacies worldwide, it is estimated that around 96% of these operate in violation of the law. This echoes warnings from bodies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the proliferation of online pharmacies selling either counterfeit or substandard medical products in recent years,