China cracks down on fake products

Apr 10, 2011

CHINESE nationals caught exporting counterfeit and substandard products to Uganda are to be imprisoned for 20 years.This is one of the new measures China has announced to curb the vice.

By Francis Kagolo

CHINESE nationals caught exporting counterfeit and substandard products to Uganda are to be imprisoned for 20 years.This is one of the new measures China has announced to curb the vice.

In collaboration with the Uganda Bureau of Standards (UNBS), the Chinese government has launched a joint campaign to probe and stop the importation of fake products from China.

Zou Xiaoming, the economic counselor at the Chinese embassy in Kampala, said fake products would also be confiscated and destroyed and the production licences of the exporters revoked.

Speaking at a function at the UNBS offices on Friday, Xiaoming said the move was taken to protect consumers and clean China’s name.

“We do not know how rampant the problem is. But the Ugandan government and people should join us to crack down the vice because we must safeguard the consumer’s rights and life,” he said.

“There are very few manufacturers, especially cottage factories, which manufacture substandard or counterfeit products. Their products account for a small percentage of the products made in China but attract much attention around the world and damage China’s reputation,” Xiaoming added.

He said the embassy was in the final stages of signing a memorandum of understanding with UNBS and the trade ministry to ensure that the Ugandan market is free of Chinese counterfeit products.

Xiaoming urged any one in Uganda to report cases of fake products to the Chinese embassy on a hotline - 0414220572, promising to investigate and take action. For long, China has had a reputation for manufacturing and exporting counterfeits. According to Xiaoming, substandard and counterfeit products also exist on the Chinese market.

“We have shoes made of paper, milk powder or formula with melamine and counterfeit cell phones named Nokla which look like Nokia. But we are now working to stop all this,” he said.

Xiaoming was speaking at a ceremony where UNBS awarded an international quality management certificate (ISO 9001:2000) to Sino-Africa, a Chinese pharmaceutical firm.

The certificate is given to companies that have attained the minimum international requirements to produce certain products and helps them access the international market.

With assistance from the Chinese government, the UNBS chief, Dr. Terry Kahuma, said Uganda would soon become “a no fly-zone for counterfeit and low standard goods.”

“China does not gain from being the source of counterfeits. They have shown good will, they are even sponsoring some of our staff to improve their skills in inspecting goods,” Kahuma said.

He also disclosed that more companies were applying for certification compared to the previous years; a trend he said indicated an improvement in the standards of production.

However, citing a number of challenges, Kahuma said the standards agency was still incapacitated to effectively weed counterfeit products out of the country.

Besides the absence of a strong punitive law for the offenders, he said UNBS lacked enough manpower as well as storage capacity for confiscated goods.

Kahuma added that there was inadequate monitory support from the finance ministry. In his award acceptance speech, the managing director of Sino-Africa, Kong Dong Sheng, pledged to stick to the set production standards so as to export to the global market, which, he said, had become more competitive.

Incorporated in Uganda since 1998, Sino-Africa manufactures medicines like paracetamol tablets, diagnostic and theatre equipment and furniture.



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