PHIL LEWIS, Director General, Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG)

•   Phil has been engaged in intellectual property enforcement since 2001 when he became the UK government’s Senior Policy Advisor on Intellectual Property Crime and was responsible for developing and leading on the UK’s first National IP Crime Strategy.

•   In 2008, Phil joined the European Commission to help develop a Commission strategy against counterfeiting and piracy and was responsible for conceiving and developing the EU Observatory on IP Infringements of IP Rights, which has become the pivotal European network of experts engaged in shaping effective IP enforcement policies and strategies.

•   Since retiring from public service, at the end of 2014, Phil worked as Policy and Strategy Adviser to the UK Anti-Counterfeiting Group. He has also been a senior adviser on range of EU IP Enforcement Twinning projects, producing studies and key assessment reports on countries such as Serbia, Ukraine and Macedonia.

•   He has been recognized as a major contributor to IP enforcement. In 2014, Phil was awarded the Global Anti-Counterfeiting award for individual achievement and in 2022 he was named the recipient of the IP Champion Award by the Alliance for Intellectual Property.

•   In 2018, he became the new Director General of the Anti-Counterfeiting Group.