Platform to fight counterfeits formed

Nov 09, 2018

In August this year, a surveillance report by Uganda’s national standards agency for 2017 and 2018 indicated that more than 54% of goods on the market are fake.

As fake products continue making their way into the Ugandan market, the Police together with civil society organisations have formed a platform to fight counterfeit products in the Country.

In August this year, a surveillance report by Uganda's national standards agency for 2017 and 2018 indicated that more than 54% of goods on the market are fake.

Speaking during the National Risk Assessment and Combating Counterfeit and Substandard Products conference, Allan Mulindwa, a managing partner at Stop Counterfeit Products, Africa noted that counterfeit products cause financial loss for owners and distributors of legitimate devices.

"With counterfeits, consumers lose value for their money and country as a whole loses tax income and affect capital investment. Counterfeit phones are poorly made and can generate high radiation and contain harmful levels of dangerous elements such as lead which cause cancer," said Mulindwa.

Mulindwa note that the most affected area when it comes to counterfeit is electronics and electrical appliances like wires, sockets, Television and Dvds.

Speaking at the conference, KACITA spokesperson, Isa Ssekitto, said that the country has failed to deal with the problem of counterfeits because of lack of concerted efforts from agencies like Uganda Revenue Authority and Uganda National Bureau of Standards.

"There is less sensitisation and engagements from the standards body. Before arresting the culprits, the officials responsible should first educate these people about selling counterfeits," said Ssekitto.

He also noted that while dealing with counterfeit, it is important for standards body to look into matters of standards and quality rather more than business protection and also have international relations with Countries like China, Japan and the Parliament should finalise the counterfeit Bill.

In 2017, 232 metric tonnes of counterfeits goods worth sh1.7b were seized by UNBS and 48 tonnes of substandard goods worth sh950m were destroyed between July and December 2017.

"Most of the illegal activities are now conducted online and this requires sufficient capacity by the relevant stake holders to address the problem. We are going to continue monitoring the internet and also train our officers to know how to handle counterfeit suspects," noted Moses Kafeero, the Kampala Metropolitan Commander.



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