The sale of counterfeit goods has an adverse impact on small retailers, one industry body has said.
Richard Dodd, spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium, explained that unscrupulous traders could be costing legitimate businesses a large amount of money.
He said: "No doubt if you could quantify [the impact of counterfeit goods] in cash terms it would be a significant amount - because you're working on the basis that people buying fakes would instead have bought the genuine article, or some legal substitute."
Mr Dodd added it is vital for both consumers and legitimate traders that there is "rigorous enforcement" of legislation surrounding the issue.
Counterfeit goods are likely to be substandard and might "actually be dangerous", he warned.
A survey carried out by the BBC's Money Programme found that 19 per cent of Britons had bought or suspected they had bought counterfeit goods at some point.
It also claimed that counterfeiting cost the British economy around £11 billion in 2007.
