The ruling by the Luxembourg-based EU Court of Justice (ECJ) is a boost for trademark owners in their fight against counterfeits.
It came after lower courts in Britain and Belgium sought advice on whether suspected fakes from outside the single market could be confiscated while transiting the EU.
The ECJ said customs authorities could act if there were indications "that one or more of the operators involved in the manufacture, consignment or distribution of the goods, while not having yet begun to direct the goods towards European Union consumers, are about to do so or are disguising their commercial intentions".
The ruling will help brand owners in their fight against fakes, said Geert Glas, an intellectual property (IP) expert at law firm Allen & Overy in Brussels.
"Counterfeits in true transit cannot be stopped, but the silver lining for IP owners is that it will be easier for them to stop counterfeiters hoping to slip through the net by disguising their intention to import fakes into Europe," he said.
Finnish phone maker Nokia welcomed the ruling.
"This will help brand owners and customs in combating the global, criminal activity of counterfeiting," said Lucy Nichols, director of brand protection at the handset firm.
The company had asked a British court to review a decision by the country's customs agency not to seize 400 contraband mobile phones in a shipment from Hong Kong to Colombia, on the grounds they were not meant for the EU market.
The ECJ verdict also related to Dutch consumer electronics firm Philips, which wanted action against a batch of fake electric shavers, which had arrived in Antwerp, Belgium, with no stated destination.
According to the European Commission, customs officials seized fake goods worth more than 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion) last year, with four-fifths of the products coming from China.
Turkey, Thailand, Hong Kong and India also accounted for sizable amounts of fakes. (Reuters)
