Crime in Business. Grey market products and EU-legislation

In the following I will give a short and general overview of the existing gray markets (definition and conditions). Furthermore, I will focus on the pharmaceutical industry which I consider the most interesting, even if dangerous. After a short description of possible gray market activities in this industry within the European Union I will enumerate some of the most important measures and regulations that are being taken against this serious problem. Finally, I will mention the negative as well as possible positive effects of gray markets, on both the producer and the consumer.

“Gray markets are significant as they now exceed $10 billion per year in North America and affect almost every major-trademarked product (Grenier, 1998). Gray markets are growing at more than 22 per cent annually (Lowe and McCrohan, 1988) and expect further growth as export operations increase (Myers, 1999).”

When reading these lines one can presume that gray market activities are an inevitable result of the export of trade marked goods. Since exports are increasing steadily there are several attempts to restrain these semi-illegal activities.