Importers of fake goods at high risk

Importers of counterfeit products risk having their property frozen, the Fair Competition Commission warned yesterday.

The commission`s Director General, Godfrey Mkocha, sounded the warning when opening a two-day seminar in Dar es Salaam on intellectual property rights and the war on fake goods.

He said big numbers of small local traders deal in counterfeit products, notably consumables like biscuits, toothpaste, detergent soaps, pampers, oils and shoe polish that have a ready market.

Hinting that some could be doing so out of ignorance, Mkocha said the law allows FCC to have a guilty trader pay not less than 20m/- in costs for the destruction of counterfeit goods found in his possession.

He noted that the amount was just too high for small traders to afford, and hence the need for them to desist from the dirty business.

``Most fake products entering Tanzania originate from or pass through Dubai, which is a free port. There are also genuine products but most traders prefer counterfeits because they are cheaper,`` explained the FCC chief.

The decision to freeze culprits� property was reached after existing deterrent measures seemed not to help in putting the importation of fake goods, he added.

The current penalty is a 5m/- fine or three years` imprisonment or both fine and sentence.

``So far, the commission has destroyed counterfeit products valued at 100m/- but there are still many containers with consignments of fake goods at the Dar es Salaam port waiting to be destroyed,`` observed Mkocha.

Meanwhile, Confederation of Tanzania Industries Chairman Reginald Mengi told the seminar that lack of education on intellectual property rights hinders inventors of technology, artists, music composers and authors from benefiting as much from their works as they ought to.

He called upon institutions like the Business Registration and Licensing Authority and the Copyright Society of Tanzania to embark on a countrywide campaign to educate and sensitise the people on intellectual property rights.

Mengi said public understanding of the rights would be of economic benefit to both those directly engaged in technological, artistic and other inventions and the nation economically as well as serving as an incentive to combat counterfeit products.

``One of the biggest problems affecting both national and international trade is counterfeit products. They are of poor quality and have severe adverse effects to consumers. They pose health and safety risks,`` he stated.

The CTI Chairman described discoveries, knowledge and creative works leading to the creation of new technologies and innovations as key assets in all knowledge-based economies, adding that intellectual property rights play a central role in economic development the world over.

Protecting intellectual property rights countrywide encourages the discovery of new technologies and becomes an incentive to investors and creators to stimulate economic development, he noted further.

However, Mengi admitted that such protection significantly reduces the availability of pharmaceutical products.

Pharmaceutical copyright holders enjoy the freedom to increase their prices beyond the means of poor persons and are adamant to reduce their prices for the benefit of poor developing nations, he observed.

He said least developing countries like Tanzania should be encouraged to exercise their exclusive preferences as provided for by the World Trade Organisation so as to be able to produce generic medications for the treatment of diseases like AIDS and malaria.

Mengi revealed that CTI has long noted the adverse effects of fake goods on the performance of businesses and the national economy and has since engaged a team of consultants to conduct a full study on the products.

The aim is to know the magnitude of the problem and how it affects the Government in terms of revenue loss and the impact of counterfeit goods on manufacturers in terms of loss of market share, he explained.

Britain`s Lynda Baroness Chalker, Chairperson of the London-based Africa Matters Limited, said in her remarks at the seminar that the effect of fake goods on national economies and the lives of individuals was unpleasant.

She noted that the scale of the problem is still not fully known but added that current estimates by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show that counterfeit products were worth over $200 billion.

Lynda Baroness Chalker said the amount was also less than half the total because it excluded domestically made fakes and digital products traded on the internet.