KENYA : COUNTERFEIT HP CARTRIDGES FLOOD MARKET

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Counterfeits flood market despite passing of law
Kenya
continues to be a fertile market for counterfeit goods even after
Parliament passed a law to tackle the vice.The passing of the
Anti-Counterfeit Bill 2008 last year has achieved little in containing
the spread of fake products in the local market.Computer technology
company Hewlett Packard (HP) has said cases of its counterfeited
products continue to be rampant in Kenya and other parts of
Africa.”There are well organised groups working in Kenya that
manufacture and distribute fake HP products,” said Tina Rose, HP’s
Anti-Counterfeit Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa. In
February, only two months after the passing of the Bill, authorities
managed to stop the illicit business of a local manufacturer of fake
packaging material for counterfeit printing supplies. In another raid,
the Department of Weights and Measures seized almost 5,000 fake
security labels for counterfeit print cartridge boxes and confiscated
machinery and other equipment used for printing the fake labels.Rose
says more than 150,681 HP counterfeit products and components have been
seized in Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa over the last six
months alone.However, there has been a slight decrease in the cases of
counterfeits as governments intensify the crackdown on the illegal
trade due to loss of tax revenue.

Kibaki yet to assent Locally,
statistics from the Kenya Association of Manufacturers indicate that
businesses are losing a staggering Sh50 billion annually to influx of
counterfeit products and illicit trade while the Government loses Sh35
billion annually in tax revenue.Companies like Eveready Batteries, Haco
Industries among others have seen their businesses slump as
counterfeiters cash in on their brands.Despite the worrying trend,
President Kibaki is yet to assent his signature on the new legislation
for it to become law.

Rose said that despite HP investing
billions of dollars in high quality packaging and security labels,
counterfeiters still manage to fake the components.”Counterfeiting is a
well-organised crime and very profitable,” she said.To stay ahead of
the counterfeiters, the company is forced to develop new security
labels and packaging every 18 months.The company, which invests Sh80
billion annually on research and development, is currently working on
new labels for its ink products that will hit the market in eight
months time.”We are focused on improving anti-counterfeit programs in
Africa,” she stated.

Across the world, counterfeit and illicit
trade is big business.The annual value of international trade in
counterfeit goods stands at a Sh16 trillion according to the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).The vice
also drains an estimated Sh50 trillion from the global economy
according the World Customs Organisation.This represents the loss of
five to eight per cent of trade in brand-name goods worldwide.

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April 21, 2009 at 11:38 AM