The European Union (EU) is planning to strengthen the powers of customs officers to seize goods they suspect of being fake versions of brand name products.

The EU is drawing is up the new, tougher rules on counterfeiting to tackle the rapid growth of trade in fakes.

Customers officers seized about 100 million fake branded items worth 2bn euros ($2.1bn; �1.2bn) at EU borders in 2001, a 900% increase on 1998 levels, a European Commission spokesman said.

Officials also believe some of the money made from fakes may be being channelled to armed militant groups being investigated by counter-terrorist agencies.

Household goods

Fakes could now amount to more than 5% of world trade, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

Customers officers are discovering all kinds of counterfeit items "not just CDs and luxury products", Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd told the BBC's World Business Report.

Plants, pharmaceuticals, food and mechanical parts are all being counterfeited, he said.

About half the increase in fakes is thought to be copies of common household goods such as food, drinks, cosmetics and toiletries made by multinational companies.

The new rules, which upgrade 1994 regulations, are likely to include a Europe-wide set of penalties for traffickers and better communication between customs officials and brand manufacturers.

Terror funds

Worries about funds reaching militant groups is one reason for the crackdown.

In September 2001, customs officers in Denmark intercepted a shipment of counterfeit Vaseline - a skin care product made by Anglo-Dutch firm Unilever - from Dubai which was traced to a producer linked to Al-Qaeda, said Mr Todd.

The majority of fake products come from "points east - eastern Europe, extending through to Asia and the Far East," he said.

Music piracy will be tackled with extra rules to be issued on 30 January.

Sad song

The trade in counterfeit CDs is estimated to cost the recorded music industry at least $4.3bn worldwide a year in lost revenues.

Jay Berman, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said it was possible to tackle the problem with a co-ordinated approach by government, law enforcement agencies and industry.

He cited the example of a Spanish police raid on 20 January which he said led to the arrest of more than 40 people and the discovery of more than 300 CD copying machines.

Mr Berman told a music industry conference in France that illegal CD copying and music downloading threatened the jobs of 600,000 people in the music industry.