Review laws on counterfeiting and piracy

Kumasi May 28, GNA - Mr Kofi Essuman, President of the Institute of Packaging Ghana (IOPG), has appealed to the government to review or update the laws on counterfeiting since it negatively affects employment, credibility of the national economy, consumer confidence, fair competition and investment.

He said since profit from counterfeiting might be used to support organized crime and other illicit behaviour that could undermine national security, there was the need for the government and other stakeholders to come together to find a lasting solution to the problem. Mr Essuman was speaking at the opening of a two-day anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy capacity building workshop organized by the Institute of Packaging Ghana in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry with support from the European Union in Kumasi on Wednesday.

The workshop brought together representatives from government regulatory and enforcement agencies such as Customs Excise and Preventive Service, Police Service, The Ghana Immigration Service, European Union among others.

He said a survey conducted by IOPG in collaboration with Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade in March in 2008 revealed that many manufacturers were aware of the extent of counterfeiting in Ghana due to its negative impact on their businesses. Mr Essuman appealed to consumers to take interest in what they buy to help protect them from buying things that could be very harmful to their health.

Mrs Teri Dunphy, a consultant to IOPG, said it was unfortunate that Ghana had become a victim of counterfeiting and piracy due to readily available market and loopholes in the laws. She added her voice to the call for laws on counterfeiting to be strengthened to protect creativity. She said it was strange that people are careful when they are buying electrical gadgets but not products like drugs and other consumables that could affect their health after usage. Mr Patrick Gyan, Principal Collector in-charge of International Affairs at the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, said the battle against counterfeiting and piracy was a global phenomenon and needed regional cooperation and coordination among all stakeholders. He attributed the situation to lack of technology to produce packaging that cannot be counterfeited or a technology that aids easy detection and identification of counterfeits and therefore called for a multi-sector approach.

Mr Gyan said the nature of packaging for counterfeit products makes it extremely difficult to differentiate them from the original brand of the products and urged consumers, industrialist, government regulatory and enforcement agencies to come together to brainstorm on the issue. 28 May 09