Consumer alerts issued recently by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in respect of some identified fake medicines in the marketplace has been deemed inappropriate and confusing by the Consumer Partnership (The COP), a consumer protection organization in Ghana.
With the majority of Ghanaian consumers being illiterate and the literate folks not savvy enough to read the labels on products and moreso expiry dates and batch codes, the FDB alert on March 12, 2010, cited the names of the products as Cipro-Dor (Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride) and Clavu-Dor (Amoxicilin 500mg and Cluvulanic Acid 125mg) the name of the manufacturers. There were no images of the products empahsizing the details Ghanaian consumers should be looking out for when purchasing such products. Worst of all, mobile phone numbers were cited as hotlines.
Four days later, on March 16, 2010, the FDB comes out to clarify the previous alert that it was only related to a particular batch and not the entire range of the mentioned brands believing in the assumption that Ghanaian consumers understand batch coding. The Pharmacy Council has an obligation of rather alerting their members on pulling off the fake drugs off their shelves so they do not reach the hands of poor Ghanaian consumers who trust that pharmacists will only sell them wholesome medicines.
The work of regulatory agencies such as that of the FDB require huge budgets for Consumer Education (CE) and Product Alerts and government must take cognisance of this when approving their budgets.
The Consumer Partnership believes that consumer alerts of such nature should be accompanied by full colour photographs of the products in question on the front pages of national newspapers. It is an apology to have regulatory agencies such as the FDB to put out such alerts and cite expensive mobile phone numbers as hotlines instead of toll-free numbers and set up control points in the marketplace. The pharmacy council must have a self-regulatory mechanism for following up on such alerts.
In a related development, when the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) issued an alert on Tuesday, October 27 2009, on the presence of some brands of tomato paste on the Ghanaian market which contain starch and sugar but are branded as ‘Pure Tomato Paste’ in contravention to the GSB Standard for Tomato Paste, there ensued a week-long rebuttal by FDB and an institutional debate between the FDB and GSB on their mandates instead of embarking on consumer education regarding the brands on the market that were unsafe or did not meet the GSB Standard.
According to Jean Lukaz, a Consumer Advocate, consumers in Ghana are being taken for granted by the very institutions that have the mandate to protect them from unscrupulous business people in the marketplace. This, he said, is the result of very little, ineffective, misguided or no consumer education being carried out by these institutions. When consumer forums are organised by some of these institutions, they are elitist in nature and do not give the ordinary poor consumer a voice given the duration, atmosphere, language and location restrictions, he added.
Showing posts with label Counterfeit Goods Ghana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Counterfeit Goods Ghana. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Fake, Fake And Fake Again!
By Prof. Lade Wosornu
Saturday, 01 December 2007
http://www.newtimesonline.com/content/view/12726/222/
Fake, fake and fake again. Bogus… Imitation… Counterfeit…You see them everywhere… Currencies spare parts perfume DVDs CDs cosmetics fabric dresses shoes booze bags accessories watches brief cases suit cases cigarettes cigars diamond gold bishops priests….
What makes you think that medicines should be free of fakes? Because human lives are directly at stake?
To whom can you turn?
The barons of fake drugs (fakes for short) do not give a jot about your life or mine. Money is their craze. And, it is war out there. They, in one camp, regulators in the other. They do not care what collateral damage is done as they pursue their ill-gotten gains. If Madam Aku Shika, fish monger at Chorkor, gets shot in the cross-fire, just too bad.
Of all the chilling manifestos of these new slave traders, few can be frostier than this: "If God didn’t want them sheered, He won’t have created them sheep."
So, to whom can you turn? Concerning drug regulation systems, it has been shown that only 20 per cent of WHO member states have well-developed ones; 30 per cent have none. In any event, governments and agencies can look out for you so far, but no further. You must learn to look after yourself.
Few fakes get caught, and even fewer deaths from fakes are detected. Best of all, if they get caught, the penalties are less severe.
Fake dealers know all that. They count on all that, as they tot up their dollars but ignore the corpses off whose flesh they feed.
The individual?
What can the individual do to protect himself or herself? Not much! Madam Veronica Gargo, chair, Tsokor Vigilantes, was explaining: "Don’t blame Aku Skika. The ‘pharmacist’ took her new Cedis and gave her capsules for fever. He even said: ‘Actually, Aku, you are lucky. These are the last six capsules left."
So, Madam Gargo shrugged her shoulders and sighed: "How for do!"
She is in good company as witness this report. "In developing countries, public education is also poor. A study in Laos showed that over 60 per cent of peddlers and 80-96 per cent of consumers knew nothing about fakes."
The report adds: "Better education might not make that great a difference. Over 50 per cent of the world lack access to hospitals. A sick man is a desperate man. He will take whatever he can get." Even if it’s fake?
"Ohiafo heor nii ke djirawale." This is Gã: "The poor buy expensively!" And, some times, it would seem, they pay with their lives. But, in this corner, who is counting the dead?
This is G "The poor buy expensively!" And, some times, it would seem, they pay with their lives. But, in this corner, who is counting the dead?
Even the enlightened
What makes you think that only un-lettered stereotypes are hood-winked, conned and down-right robbed in day light? Mr. Oto Weley, faceless ‘aplanke’ and stand-by driver who, first thing in the morning, shows up at the lorry park reeking of ‘fumes’? Or, Madam Mercy Badu, dealer in second-hand beads?
Professor Dr. Dr. Kofi Bosu, PhD, MB, ChB, is current president, Skin Researchers’ Guild. (Pardon me, but the gentleman really prefers the triple appellation: professor, doctor and again doctor.) An experienced traveler, the professor-double-doctor was buying another rolex at Laguna International.
"Is it genuine?" "Fake? Sir? How? Of course…Give you good discount." "How much?"
Gerald Abu, 25, unemployed, of no fixed abode, could scent blood. "You special customer… First today. 50 per cent.... 60…75 per cent..." And so, the professor-double-doctor paid $ 500 ($1,750 in duty-free) ….Smiles…Handshakes…. Two weeks later, in James Town, the ‘gold’ started to fade and the rolex stopped.
For ‘rolex’ substitute Viagra, Multivitamins and the unending life-style products.
Source
Technology makes fakes easier to produce and the Internet speeds the pace of commerce. Sales of fakes will reach $75 billion globally in 2010, an increase of over 90 per cent from 2005.
Fakes have found a natural home in some countries. There has grown a deadly industry. The poorest nations are paying the price, where 50-70 per cent of medicines are fake (WHO). It has been called "One of the greatest atrocities of our time… Mass murder… A form of terrorism against public health…Economic sabotage."
Serious imitation, serious business
Today’s fakes are often impossible to distinguish without chemical testing. The packaging is identical to the real McCoy.
"It used to be amateurs. Now scientists have entered the fray. They can replicate products quickly, complete with perfectly copied packages in amazing detail. Mind you, the content can be boric acid, floor wax and yellow paint."
The business may be criminal. But it is serious and highly organised. The countries which house the perpetrators, also have their share of victims. "Bi ni ker enye akawor ler, ler hu ewong." This is Ga. The child who says his mom should not sleep, also shall not sleep."
See how organised crime runs their fake businesses: networks with suppliers, buyers, distributors, financiers, markets. They have CEOs and CFOs with managers for production, shipping and follow-up.
The manufacturing is a multi-step process in the same town. One factory makes the pills, another ingredients, a third labels and even holographs…Then wholesale markets across the country, followed by global distributors – overland, by air and by ship and so to Africa. Shipments tend to go through mega-ports. Why? Because, where is the safest place to conceal pebbles? Pebble beach…
They also know the markets well. Different drugs for different populations: life-style versus life-saving. There’s also a price-point differential: Expensive (fake) brand names go up to rich Texas. Fake generics and over-the-counter stuff come down to Hwidiem.
Not all economies are created equal
The big boys take care of themselves. In developed countries, the big Pharmas are Alsatians. They jealously guard their brand, their market share and customers. Not so in developing countries. Our markets are less profitable, brand loyalty is fickle and societies less litigious. So, why should they look out for the likes of us?
Tackle the roots
Efforts are being made to cut the problem off at source. Central governments are becoming more effective in the war on fakes. But, problems remain at local authorities. Rules passed in capital cities are not always enforced in Kejebi.
Take this market as an example. A city, 650,000…Six hours south of a capital. Over 30,000 wholesale distributors…Over 40,000 different types of products. Between 80 to 90 per cent are perfect fakes. A host of other businesses support the market and employees. These include hotels, night clubs, transportation and storage.
A new slave trade
If an official were to shut down the fake market, that would ruin the local economy, bankrupt businesses, raise unemployment and create social unrest. This, social unrest, is one thing governments fear most- even more than the black plague.
Therefore, cracking down on known fake cities may be too little, too late. For one thing, factories shall move to shadier, less regulated places. For another, buyers from your town and mine will pursue the loot and not allow them to be closed.
Such are the moguls of this new slave trade. And, here is their favourite value statement: "If God didn’t want them sheered, He won’t have created them sheep".
You’d better watch out for yourself.
**Lade Worsonu is a Professor in Surgery, King Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Saturday, 01 December 2007
http://www.newtimesonline.com/content/view/12726/222/
Fake, fake and fake again. Bogus… Imitation… Counterfeit…You see them everywhere… Currencies spare parts perfume DVDs CDs cosmetics fabric dresses shoes booze bags accessories watches brief cases suit cases cigarettes cigars diamond gold bishops priests….
What makes you think that medicines should be free of fakes? Because human lives are directly at stake?
To whom can you turn?
The barons of fake drugs (fakes for short) do not give a jot about your life or mine. Money is their craze. And, it is war out there. They, in one camp, regulators in the other. They do not care what collateral damage is done as they pursue their ill-gotten gains. If Madam Aku Shika, fish monger at Chorkor, gets shot in the cross-fire, just too bad.
Of all the chilling manifestos of these new slave traders, few can be frostier than this: "If God didn’t want them sheered, He won’t have created them sheep."
So, to whom can you turn? Concerning drug regulation systems, it has been shown that only 20 per cent of WHO member states have well-developed ones; 30 per cent have none. In any event, governments and agencies can look out for you so far, but no further. You must learn to look after yourself.
Few fakes get caught, and even fewer deaths from fakes are detected. Best of all, if they get caught, the penalties are less severe.
Fake dealers know all that. They count on all that, as they tot up their dollars but ignore the corpses off whose flesh they feed.
The individual?
What can the individual do to protect himself or herself? Not much! Madam Veronica Gargo, chair, Tsokor Vigilantes, was explaining: "Don’t blame Aku Skika. The ‘pharmacist’ took her new Cedis and gave her capsules for fever. He even said: ‘Actually, Aku, you are lucky. These are the last six capsules left."
So, Madam Gargo shrugged her shoulders and sighed: "How for do!"
She is in good company as witness this report. "In developing countries, public education is also poor. A study in Laos showed that over 60 per cent of peddlers and 80-96 per cent of consumers knew nothing about fakes."
The report adds: "Better education might not make that great a difference. Over 50 per cent of the world lack access to hospitals. A sick man is a desperate man. He will take whatever he can get." Even if it’s fake?
"Ohiafo heor nii ke djirawale." This is Gã: "The poor buy expensively!" And, some times, it would seem, they pay with their lives. But, in this corner, who is counting the dead?
This is G "The poor buy expensively!" And, some times, it would seem, they pay with their lives. But, in this corner, who is counting the dead?
Even the enlightened
What makes you think that only un-lettered stereotypes are hood-winked, conned and down-right robbed in day light? Mr. Oto Weley, faceless ‘aplanke’ and stand-by driver who, first thing in the morning, shows up at the lorry park reeking of ‘fumes’? Or, Madam Mercy Badu, dealer in second-hand beads?
Professor Dr. Dr. Kofi Bosu, PhD, MB, ChB, is current president, Skin Researchers’ Guild. (Pardon me, but the gentleman really prefers the triple appellation: professor, doctor and again doctor.) An experienced traveler, the professor-double-doctor was buying another rolex at Laguna International.
"Is it genuine?" "Fake? Sir? How? Of course…Give you good discount." "How much?"
Gerald Abu, 25, unemployed, of no fixed abode, could scent blood. "You special customer… First today. 50 per cent.... 60…75 per cent..." And so, the professor-double-doctor paid $ 500 ($1,750 in duty-free) ….Smiles…Handshakes…. Two weeks later, in James Town, the ‘gold’ started to fade and the rolex stopped.
For ‘rolex’ substitute Viagra, Multivitamins and the unending life-style products.
Source
Technology makes fakes easier to produce and the Internet speeds the pace of commerce. Sales of fakes will reach $75 billion globally in 2010, an increase of over 90 per cent from 2005.
Fakes have found a natural home in some countries. There has grown a deadly industry. The poorest nations are paying the price, where 50-70 per cent of medicines are fake (WHO). It has been called "One of the greatest atrocities of our time… Mass murder… A form of terrorism against public health…Economic sabotage."
Serious imitation, serious business
Today’s fakes are often impossible to distinguish without chemical testing. The packaging is identical to the real McCoy.
"It used to be amateurs. Now scientists have entered the fray. They can replicate products quickly, complete with perfectly copied packages in amazing detail. Mind you, the content can be boric acid, floor wax and yellow paint."
The business may be criminal. But it is serious and highly organised. The countries which house the perpetrators, also have their share of victims. "Bi ni ker enye akawor ler, ler hu ewong." This is Ga. The child who says his mom should not sleep, also shall not sleep."
See how organised crime runs their fake businesses: networks with suppliers, buyers, distributors, financiers, markets. They have CEOs and CFOs with managers for production, shipping and follow-up.
The manufacturing is a multi-step process in the same town. One factory makes the pills, another ingredients, a third labels and even holographs…Then wholesale markets across the country, followed by global distributors – overland, by air and by ship and so to Africa. Shipments tend to go through mega-ports. Why? Because, where is the safest place to conceal pebbles? Pebble beach…
They also know the markets well. Different drugs for different populations: life-style versus life-saving. There’s also a price-point differential: Expensive (fake) brand names go up to rich Texas. Fake generics and over-the-counter stuff come down to Hwidiem.
Not all economies are created equal
The big boys take care of themselves. In developed countries, the big Pharmas are Alsatians. They jealously guard their brand, their market share and customers. Not so in developing countries. Our markets are less profitable, brand loyalty is fickle and societies less litigious. So, why should they look out for the likes of us?
Tackle the roots
Efforts are being made to cut the problem off at source. Central governments are becoming more effective in the war on fakes. But, problems remain at local authorities. Rules passed in capital cities are not always enforced in Kejebi.
Take this market as an example. A city, 650,000…Six hours south of a capital. Over 30,000 wholesale distributors…Over 40,000 different types of products. Between 80 to 90 per cent are perfect fakes. A host of other businesses support the market and employees. These include hotels, night clubs, transportation and storage.
A new slave trade
If an official were to shut down the fake market, that would ruin the local economy, bankrupt businesses, raise unemployment and create social unrest. This, social unrest, is one thing governments fear most- even more than the black plague.
Therefore, cracking down on known fake cities may be too little, too late. For one thing, factories shall move to shadier, less regulated places. For another, buyers from your town and mine will pursue the loot and not allow them to be closed.
Such are the moguls of this new slave trade. And, here is their favourite value statement: "If God didn’t want them sheered, He won’t have created them sheep".
You’d better watch out for yourself.
**Lade Worsonu is a Professor in Surgery, King Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
China Pushes Fake "Indian" Drugs in Africa
10 June 2009; http://www.safemedicines.org/
Nigeria's food and drug watchdog, the National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has seized Chinese-made fake generic anti-malarial drugs with the label 'Made in India'.
India had long suspected that many Chinese firms conspiring with Nigerian drug traders, were dumping fake drugs in Nigeria, to be sold locally as well as in some other African countries like West Africa, South Africa, Ghana and the Ivory Coast.
After being alerted by the Indian high commissioner in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the Indian government has lodged a strong protest with the Chinese foreign trade ministry.
The Indian high commission in Nigeria had been aware for some time that Chinese companies were pushing fake drugs with the 'Made in India' tag since Indian generic drugs are the preferred choice of importers in Nigeria.
Indian high commissioner Mahesh Sachdev has also taken up the issue with the director-general of NAFDAC Dr Paul Orhii, who has assured that his administration would do its best to stop the fake drugs from entering Nigeria.
India is oncerned that these fake drugs manufactured in China and sold in African nations with the 'Made in India' tag could not only harm the country's reputation but also eat into the share of Indian drugs in the generic drug market in Africa.
The UK newspaper The Observer had also reported recently that fake Chinese drugs were flooding the UK market and Bian Zhenjia, China's deputy commissioner of the State Food and Drug Administration, said that it was wrong to say that China was a major exporter of fake drugs'
''I do not agree with what the foreign media has been saying. The Chinese government has always paid great attention to cracking down on fake drugs,'' Bian told a news conference in Beijing yesterday.
He however admitted that the problem could lie with some overseas companies having deals with illegal producers in China where foreign companies import chemicals from China and then use them to produce the drugs.
China has a flourishing but badly regulated pharmaceutical industry, with numerous underground factories and illegal manufacturers of spurious drugs thriving with little or no supervision at all.
In 2006, nearly 100 people in Panama are believed to have died after consuming toxic, mislabelled drugs in cough syrup from China.
Hundreds had also died due to allergic reactions caused by contaminants in the blood thinner heparin imported from China, which eventually led to the product being recalled in the US.
A diabetes drug linked to deaths in China, was pulled out after samples were found containing six times the normal amount of a chemical used to lower blood sugar.
The Chinese drug regulator had to recall many counterfeit and shoddy drugs and herbal medicines, including Chinese versions of Viagra in China itself.
Chinese, and now Indian, companies have been accused of selling fake drugs in Nigeria's $298-million pharmaceutical market, nearly 60 per cent of which comprises imports.
Although, the $298 figure looks small, it is attractive to fake drug manufacturers. According to a survey conducted in Nigeria in 2007, fake drugs make up for over 50 per cent of all drug sales in th country. The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, puts thefigure of fake drugs circulating in the country at nearly 70 per cent.
The NAFDAC website shows that it has blacklisted more than 30 Indian and Chinese companies for exporting fake drugs into the country.
The Nigerian fake drug trade operates with mafia-like thoroughness and is run by wealthy businessmen with links to the underworld.
The director-general of NAFDAC is regarded as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
Nigerian minister of information, Dorothy "Dora" Akunyili, who was the previous director-general of NAFDAC had been fighting a relentless battle during her tenure with drug traders in Nigeria by publicly burning seized fake drugs and conducting massive raids with armed police battalion.
The wealthy fake drug lords struck back by burning down NAFDAC labs and buildings and even made an attempt to kill her. Akunyili narrowly escaped death when a bullet grazed her head after suspected assassins opened fire on her official car in 2003.
Nobody knows the way the Nigerian fake drug market operates as Akunyil does. A pharmacologist by profession, her diabetic sister, Vivian Edemobi , died in 1988 after being administered fake insulin for two years.
According to Akunyili, who is now the Nigerian minister of information, fake drug manufacturers have become so sophisticated, that even multinational drug companies find it difficult to say whether their own drugs in Nigeria are genuine or fakes.
Ghana To Combat Counterfeiting And Piracy
President John Agyekum Kufuor yesterday expressed government's determination to ensure that stiffer laws are enacted to make counterfeiting and piracy crimes as offensive as drug trafficking and punish offenders as such.
He said government was poised to make Ghana a no-go zone for counterfeits and would ensure that special courts were established if necessary to hear cases involving the manufacture, distribution and sale of counterfeit or pirated products.
"This insidious crime of product counterfeiting has become a global phenomenon, it's no longer the canker of the under-developed or developing world. The developed world is also battling with counterfeiting products albeit at a scale lower than in our part of the world," he said.
The President made this known in a speech read for him by Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff, at the opening a two-day National Dialogue on Counterfeit Products in Accra for stakeholders.
The dialogue, the first to be organised by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in collaboration with European Union (EU) and the Institute of Packaging, Ghana, is on "Protecting the Consumer against counterfeit products through Inter-Agency and Regional collaboration."
President Kufuor noted that government was worried not only of the threat to human life but also the fact that counterfeit products denied genuine products of the rightful market share, costing governments significant amounts in lost tax revenues as well as threatening jobs and creating lack of consumer confidence in products.
According to the European Commission, counterfeiting and piracy cost the EU eight billion euros a year in lost economic output between 1998 and 2001. "We can no longer ignore this activity whereby certain unscrupulous individuals and criminal gangs produce counterfeit medicines and medical devices which risk the lives of people, or as in the reported case in China a few years ago involving dummy milk formula for babies in which several children died."
President Kufuor urged the meeting to make appropriate recommendations to government on policies and strategies to curb counterfeiting and piracy and develop strategies to overcome the major challenges confronting the nation, which he described as coordination of the activities of the different agencies in this area.
Health Minister Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd) said the counterfeit menace was worrying and its impact was enormous, adding that, counterfeiters deterred honest manufacturers from investing resources in new products.
He said various medicines, food and beverages, cosmetics and medical devices such as condoms were being counterfeited and noted that though scientific data was very scanty, efforts at fighting the menace needed to be more proactive.
Product counterfeiting, he said, hit everyone hard in the pocket and only the faceless persons behind the crime benefited, while legitimate businesses collapsed and many people also lost their lives.
"The magnitude of the problem caused by counterfeiting requires strong and sustained action from all stakeholders including businesses and consumers," he said. Government, the Minister noted, was therefore committed to mobilising resources to protect intellectual property and said that Ghana had a high stake in optimising the use of intellectual property to protect the national knowledge, inventions and creativity.
He commended the role of neighbouring countries represented at the meeting and called for increased inter-agency cooperation at the national and sub-region levels and said it would enhance collective action against the heinous crime.
Miss Shirley Ayokor Botchway, Deputy Minister, Trade Industry, Presidential Special Initiatives and Private Sector Development said issues of intellectual property could not be overemphasized and that government would continue to wilfully support activities of regulatory, security and stakeholder agencies that were committed to fighting the crime.
She said the worrying nature of the crime was that consumers were increasingly being put at the risk of harm and death from unsafe and ineffective products which were exported through complex distribution channels before getting to the consumers.
She therefore called for a concerted effort to fight the crime and put in place quick decisive and punitive measures needed to bring rampant counterfeiting and piracy activities down.
Mr Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko, Chief Executive Officer of FDB, said the fight against counterfeiting and piracy could only be successful if stakeholders, including the consumer worked closely in a coordinated manner and across borders with the aim of "dismantling the modus operandi of the criminal gangs behind counterfeiting."
He noted that, it was time to get tough and deal decisively with the rip-off-artists and make them pay for the harm and pain inflicted on consumers and the economies of various countries.
Mr Agyarko urged participants to ensure that various options should be deployed to make markets better secured from counterfeits products.
He said government was poised to make Ghana a no-go zone for counterfeits and would ensure that special courts were established if necessary to hear cases involving the manufacture, distribution and sale of counterfeit or pirated products.
"This insidious crime of product counterfeiting has become a global phenomenon, it's no longer the canker of the under-developed or developing world. The developed world is also battling with counterfeiting products albeit at a scale lower than in our part of the world," he said.
The President made this known in a speech read for him by Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff, at the opening a two-day National Dialogue on Counterfeit Products in Accra for stakeholders.
The dialogue, the first to be organised by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in collaboration with European Union (EU) and the Institute of Packaging, Ghana, is on "Protecting the Consumer against counterfeit products through Inter-Agency and Regional collaboration."
President Kufuor noted that government was worried not only of the threat to human life but also the fact that counterfeit products denied genuine products of the rightful market share, costing governments significant amounts in lost tax revenues as well as threatening jobs and creating lack of consumer confidence in products.
According to the European Commission, counterfeiting and piracy cost the EU eight billion euros a year in lost economic output between 1998 and 2001. "We can no longer ignore this activity whereby certain unscrupulous individuals and criminal gangs produce counterfeit medicines and medical devices which risk the lives of people, or as in the reported case in China a few years ago involving dummy milk formula for babies in which several children died."
President Kufuor urged the meeting to make appropriate recommendations to government on policies and strategies to curb counterfeiting and piracy and develop strategies to overcome the major challenges confronting the nation, which he described as coordination of the activities of the different agencies in this area.
Health Minister Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd) said the counterfeit menace was worrying and its impact was enormous, adding that, counterfeiters deterred honest manufacturers from investing resources in new products.
He said various medicines, food and beverages, cosmetics and medical devices such as condoms were being counterfeited and noted that though scientific data was very scanty, efforts at fighting the menace needed to be more proactive.
Product counterfeiting, he said, hit everyone hard in the pocket and only the faceless persons behind the crime benefited, while legitimate businesses collapsed and many people also lost their lives.
"The magnitude of the problem caused by counterfeiting requires strong and sustained action from all stakeholders including businesses and consumers," he said. Government, the Minister noted, was therefore committed to mobilising resources to protect intellectual property and said that Ghana had a high stake in optimising the use of intellectual property to protect the national knowledge, inventions and creativity.
He commended the role of neighbouring countries represented at the meeting and called for increased inter-agency cooperation at the national and sub-region levels and said it would enhance collective action against the heinous crime.
Miss Shirley Ayokor Botchway, Deputy Minister, Trade Industry, Presidential Special Initiatives and Private Sector Development said issues of intellectual property could not be overemphasized and that government would continue to wilfully support activities of regulatory, security and stakeholder agencies that were committed to fighting the crime.
She said the worrying nature of the crime was that consumers were increasingly being put at the risk of harm and death from unsafe and ineffective products which were exported through complex distribution channels before getting to the consumers.
She therefore called for a concerted effort to fight the crime and put in place quick decisive and punitive measures needed to bring rampant counterfeiting and piracy activities down.
Mr Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko, Chief Executive Officer of FDB, said the fight against counterfeiting and piracy could only be successful if stakeholders, including the consumer worked closely in a coordinated manner and across borders with the aim of "dismantling the modus operandi of the criminal gangs behind counterfeiting."
He noted that, it was time to get tough and deal decisively with the rip-off-artists and make them pay for the harm and pain inflicted on consumers and the economies of various countries.
Mr Agyarko urged participants to ensure that various options should be deployed to make markets better secured from counterfeits products.
Source: GNA
Posted: 22/07/08
http://www.ghana.gov.gh/ghana/ghana_combat_counterfeiting_and_piracy.jsp
The impact of illicit trade and counterfeit goods on national development
I am often asked to comment on counterfeiting and counterfeit products, presumably because i have been heard to speak against illicit trade in the past.
At a 'Facts Behind the Figures' presentation at the Ghana Stock exchange in April 2009, a reporter castigated Unilever for speaking out against unfair trade at every opportunity it got insinuating that Unilever was always looking for protection from competition.
I choose this anecdote because it was obvious to me that the young reporter, possibly representing the views of many Ghanaians, did not appreciate the harmful effects of counterfeiting and illicit trade on national development - other than the stereotype that large manufacturers and enterprises speak out it against it, perhaps self-servingly with one eye on their bottom-line profitability.
I had to digress somewhat and spend sometime explaining the different levels at which the nation was affected by illicit trade.
The Ghana Employers' Association (GEA) is commemorating its Anniversary Celebrations and has dedicated the month of June to dialogue on the topic "Consumer Protection Against Illicit Counterfeit Goods." It is in this vein that I would like to con¬tribute, on behalf of the GEA, some views that Ghanaian industrialists and enterprises have had cause to espouse previously.
A growing regional and global business
Counterfeiting and piracy are terms used to describe a range of illicit activities linked to intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement. Counterfeiting thrives on the whole process of globalization, since globalization is the spread of capital and know-how to new markets.
This in turn contributes low cost labour to create the ideal export machinery, manufacturing first low cost, value-added products and then moving up the value chain. This is the story of South East Asia. It is also the story of China. Now it is the story of fake products.
Counterfeiting delivers the benefits of skilled labour, efficient distribution and product technology without the associated investment in costly research development and marketing in products that are not genuine brands.
In 2004, the World Customs Organisation estimated the global trade in counterfeit products to be worth $512 billion and growing exponentially.
Today the term ‘counterfeit’ is often used synonymously with imitation, adulteration and passing-off to embody all these various forms of illicit trade which are however, not one and the same thing.
The WHO defines a counterfeit as a product which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity and/or source ingredients or the packaging and presented as a known branded product. Substandard goods are genuine products.
Substandard goods are genuine products produced by legitimate manufacturers that do not meet the quality specifications that the producer says they meet.
An imitation or pass-off is a product made to resemble very closely, a known branded product but with very minor changes in name or packaging. Adulterated products comprise fake ingredients or product form in recycled genuine packaging of known and legitimate brands.
Thus all counterfeit products are substandard because they are manufactured and distributed outside of regulatory control and their composition is unpredictable. On the other hand, not all substandard products are counterfeit because not all of them have been deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled.
The definition of counterfeit products currently varies from region to region and from one try to another in Africa, where a lot of our laws are relics from the colonial era when illicit trade and economic crimes were very different from what they are today.
As such some Penal Codes in Africa still classify acts of counterfeiting as misdeamenours, enabling perpetrators get away to with a slap on the wrist and minor fines when apprehended.
Industrial property rights experts are presently campaigning for the harmonisation of anti-counterfeiting laws across Africa. They blame Africa's disjointed legal regime for the failure to tackle the menace which has stifled the continent's industrial growth.
The lack of clear, legal frameworks at national levels and absence of a common regional policy on counterfeiting leaves a vacuum that is being exploited by counterfeiters. Worldwide corruption conflicts of interest result in weak regulation
And lack of enforcement.
Informal distribution systems in many developing countries, false declaration by importers and an insecure environment also create conditions for proliferation of counterfeit products. This is compounded by ignorance and poor public awareness about counterfeit products, deceitful advertisements and in some cases indifference by governments.
Counterfeit operators have created a global industry that now rivals the multinational, corporation in speed, reach and sophistication. Counterfeit manufacturing used to be cottage industry but this is no longer so.
The combination of seed capital to finance their operations operations, expertise in re-engineering and ability to penetratrate legitimate distribution channels has created a global crisis, Anything that is manufactured can be faked -- from consumer electronics through cigarettes and auto parts to shoes, bouillon cubes, antibiotics without active ingredients to $100 bills. Counterfeiting has become as profitable as trading drugs and illegal narcotics, and is a lot less risky.
In some parts of the world organised crime is said to have shifted from smuggling of narcotics and weapons to counterfeiting of medicines as a lucrative enterprise. As counterfeiters do not have to cover research and development, marketing and advertising costs, most of their expense goes into making products look convincing not into making them perform well.
In the last few years we have been witnesses to the speed with which new designs from Ghanaian textile industry have copied by counterfeit manufacturers based in China.
A new report from the International Policy Network (IPN) states that 700,000 people die annually from consuming fake drugs, most of which originate from China and India.
IPN estimates that almost one per cent of drugs sold in Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, Burundi and the Congo are fake and sub-standard leaving people unknowingly consume paint saw dust, cement, talcum powder and other toxic substances.
IPN also estimates that only one per cent of counterfeit drugs are found in the developed countries where there is high literacy rate and resolve by government to protect trademarks and intellectual property
A multi-faceted problem.
Counterfeit products affect nation on five different levels and adversely impact our society in the following ways which unfortunately are not always obvious:
Via-a-vis Consumers : One level many level many consumers do not know about counterfeit products, and even when they do, are unable to distinguish between counterfeits and authentic products. Thus unsuspecting consumers are often cheated into buying counterfeits and only become aware of this long after parting with their money.
Counterfeit pharmaceutical products have led to drug resistance, treatment failures and deaths, and have eroded public confidence in health care systems. On another level there is another group of consumers who are very much aware of the existence of counterfeit products and patronise them willingly, in the belief that counterfeits are "good for poor people."
Vis-a-vis Local Industry and Traders:
The existence of counterfeit products spoil the good name of genuine products and crowd them out of the market, leading to loss of volume, capacity under-utilisation, higher cost of production and depressed earnings for manufacturers and legitimate trademark owners.
Counterfeits also affect the reputation of brands over time, and lead to erosion of confidence in the manufacturer and product delivery systems. This further affects foreign direct investment as the structure of trade is altered.
Vis-a-vis Employment and Job Creation:
Employment is put at risk where there is no effective deterrent against counterfeiting and piracy.
Vis-a-vis Government revenue:
Counterfeit operators are illicit traders who do not comply with government regulations. This leads to loss of customs and excise duties, corporate and personal tax revenues for government as well as higher cost of law enforcement and judicial proceedings.
Vis-a-vis the Image and Reputation of Ghana: Economy worldwide, counterfeiting and piracy undermine innovation which is key to economic growth. More importantly, a nation where counterfeiting is rampant quickly gains a reputation as a safe haven for peop1e who wish to engage in economic crimes, shattering any hard won positive reputation we may have built over time.
The Ghana Business Coalition Against Illicit Trade
Fakes have been around for decades, but their prevalence and sophistication have grown in leaps and bounds over the past 16 years, almost spinning out of control. A cross-section of private sector organisations led by GEA sounded a renewed call to arms against counterfeits and piracy in 2007.
The GEA led a movement culminating in the launch of the Coalition against counterfeits and Illicit Trade (CACIT) on July 18, 2007 with membership drawn from the following bodies:
• Ghana Standards Board, whose role is to prescribe the standards for products to be sold in Ghana, and ensure that products meet those set standards.
• Food and Drugs Board, whose role is to regulate and monitor foods drugs, cosmetics, devices and chemical substances on the Ghanaian markets. The FDB registers all such products and ensures that only registered products are sold on our market. FDB is also responsible for ensuring that all registered products are wholesome and fit for human consumption/use.
• The Registrar General’s Department.
They are responsible for registering international property right including trademarks, designs and patents and also ensuring that no individual or entity registers a trademark/design/patent that is similar to one that has already been registered or one that is commonly known globally to belong to another individual or entity e.g. Coca Cola.
• Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, whose role is to police the country's borders and ports to prevent counterfeit, unwholesome and illicit products from entering the country. CEPS is also responsible for ensuring that all products that enter Ghana legitimately pay the right taxes and duties.
• Ghana Union of Traders Association, representing the interests of traders who unknowingly (and sometimes knowingly) deal in counterfeit goods.
• Ghana Trades Union Congress, representing the interests of employees whose jobs could be affected by increased levels of counterfeits.
• The Association of Ghana Industries.
AGI's role is to represent the interests of private sector companies and intellectual property right holders whose products are the tar¬get of counterfeiters .
• Ghana Employers' Association, sponsors of the initiative and representing employers.
I will emphasise that the Coalition Against Counterfeit & Illicit trade acknowledges that competition is healthy as it offers consumers the choice and forces local industries to be more effective, and does not seek to promote protectionism. CACIT recognised that there had been an alarming increase in the incidence of dumping, smuggled, under-invoiced, counterfeit and sub-standard products on the Ghanaian market which did not meet the prescribed Ghanaian standards. These activities impacted the Ghanaian consumer and called for appropriate remedial action to be initiated
As a coalition, CACIT seeks the enforcement of intellectual property laws, copyright, patent and trademark protection, and licensing laws in order to protect consumers from counterfeit products and all other forms of illicit trade, thereby defending the integrity of member organizations’ brands.
The strategy for achieving these goals is to use all legal means at its disposal to significantly increase intellectual property rights levels. These include working for the enactment of tougher laws and the education of the business community, consumers, and the media and interaction with authorities -local and international - to strengthen the enforcement of those laws governing illicit trade in all its forms.
Actions Underway/Required to Combat Counterfeiters and Illicit Trade
Manufacturers can work more systematically with law enforcement agencies to intensify raids on factories and warehouses of suspected distributors.
IPR reform leading to speedy resolution of intellectual property rights disputes and heightened intellectual property protection. A strong legal framework and effective punishment to serve as a real deterrent is needed.
Counterfeiting of any product that presents a health or safety hazard to consumers could be treated as a criminal offence with a possible mandatory prison term.
National education and awareness programme to overcome the lack of awareness of the problem by counterfeit products and medicines in the mind of the average Ghanaian. A specia1 collaboration to combat counterfeit medicines could be initiated at National and regional levels involving stakeholders from the public sector, civil society, health care professionals, manufacturers, distributers, and the media.
Counterfeiting is greater in areas where regulatory and legal oversight is weaker. Intellectual property protection enforcement have contributes significantly to innovation, investment, and growth around the world and Ghana is at stage of development where continued investment in the growth of our economy are necessary to improve living standards of Ghanaians. That is why as employers we speak out, and seek to bring about action against counterfeits and illicit trade. The GEA is of the firm conviction that combating piracy and counterfeiting with determination will bring benefits to Ghana and the West Africa sub-region.
By Charles A Cofie
President of Ghana Employers’ Association
At a 'Facts Behind the Figures' presentation at the Ghana Stock exchange in April 2009, a reporter castigated Unilever for speaking out against unfair trade at every opportunity it got insinuating that Unilever was always looking for protection from competition.
I choose this anecdote because it was obvious to me that the young reporter, possibly representing the views of many Ghanaians, did not appreciate the harmful effects of counterfeiting and illicit trade on national development - other than the stereotype that large manufacturers and enterprises speak out it against it, perhaps self-servingly with one eye on their bottom-line profitability.
I had to digress somewhat and spend sometime explaining the different levels at which the nation was affected by illicit trade.
The Ghana Employers' Association (GEA) is commemorating its Anniversary Celebrations and has dedicated the month of June to dialogue on the topic "Consumer Protection Against Illicit Counterfeit Goods." It is in this vein that I would like to con¬tribute, on behalf of the GEA, some views that Ghanaian industrialists and enterprises have had cause to espouse previously.
A growing regional and global business
Counterfeiting and piracy are terms used to describe a range of illicit activities linked to intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement. Counterfeiting thrives on the whole process of globalization, since globalization is the spread of capital and know-how to new markets.
This in turn contributes low cost labour to create the ideal export machinery, manufacturing first low cost, value-added products and then moving up the value chain. This is the story of South East Asia. It is also the story of China. Now it is the story of fake products.
Counterfeiting delivers the benefits of skilled labour, efficient distribution and product technology without the associated investment in costly research development and marketing in products that are not genuine brands.
In 2004, the World Customs Organisation estimated the global trade in counterfeit products to be worth $512 billion and growing exponentially.
Today the term ‘counterfeit’ is often used synonymously with imitation, adulteration and passing-off to embody all these various forms of illicit trade which are however, not one and the same thing.
The WHO defines a counterfeit as a product which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity and/or source ingredients or the packaging and presented as a known branded product. Substandard goods are genuine products.
Substandard goods are genuine products produced by legitimate manufacturers that do not meet the quality specifications that the producer says they meet.
An imitation or pass-off is a product made to resemble very closely, a known branded product but with very minor changes in name or packaging. Adulterated products comprise fake ingredients or product form in recycled genuine packaging of known and legitimate brands.
Thus all counterfeit products are substandard because they are manufactured and distributed outside of regulatory control and their composition is unpredictable. On the other hand, not all substandard products are counterfeit because not all of them have been deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled.
The definition of counterfeit products currently varies from region to region and from one try to another in Africa, where a lot of our laws are relics from the colonial era when illicit trade and economic crimes were very different from what they are today.
As such some Penal Codes in Africa still classify acts of counterfeiting as misdeamenours, enabling perpetrators get away to with a slap on the wrist and minor fines when apprehended.
Industrial property rights experts are presently campaigning for the harmonisation of anti-counterfeiting laws across Africa. They blame Africa's disjointed legal regime for the failure to tackle the menace which has stifled the continent's industrial growth.
The lack of clear, legal frameworks at national levels and absence of a common regional policy on counterfeiting leaves a vacuum that is being exploited by counterfeiters. Worldwide corruption conflicts of interest result in weak regulation
And lack of enforcement.
Informal distribution systems in many developing countries, false declaration by importers and an insecure environment also create conditions for proliferation of counterfeit products. This is compounded by ignorance and poor public awareness about counterfeit products, deceitful advertisements and in some cases indifference by governments.
Counterfeit operators have created a global industry that now rivals the multinational, corporation in speed, reach and sophistication. Counterfeit manufacturing used to be cottage industry but this is no longer so.
The combination of seed capital to finance their operations operations, expertise in re-engineering and ability to penetratrate legitimate distribution channels has created a global crisis, Anything that is manufactured can be faked -- from consumer electronics through cigarettes and auto parts to shoes, bouillon cubes, antibiotics without active ingredients to $100 bills. Counterfeiting has become as profitable as trading drugs and illegal narcotics, and is a lot less risky.
In some parts of the world organised crime is said to have shifted from smuggling of narcotics and weapons to counterfeiting of medicines as a lucrative enterprise. As counterfeiters do not have to cover research and development, marketing and advertising costs, most of their expense goes into making products look convincing not into making them perform well.
In the last few years we have been witnesses to the speed with which new designs from Ghanaian textile industry have copied by counterfeit manufacturers based in China.
A new report from the International Policy Network (IPN) states that 700,000 people die annually from consuming fake drugs, most of which originate from China and India.
IPN estimates that almost one per cent of drugs sold in Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, Burundi and the Congo are fake and sub-standard leaving people unknowingly consume paint saw dust, cement, talcum powder and other toxic substances.
IPN also estimates that only one per cent of counterfeit drugs are found in the developed countries where there is high literacy rate and resolve by government to protect trademarks and intellectual property
A multi-faceted problem.
Counterfeit products affect nation on five different levels and adversely impact our society in the following ways which unfortunately are not always obvious:
Via-a-vis Consumers : One level many level many consumers do not know about counterfeit products, and even when they do, are unable to distinguish between counterfeits and authentic products. Thus unsuspecting consumers are often cheated into buying counterfeits and only become aware of this long after parting with their money.
Counterfeit pharmaceutical products have led to drug resistance, treatment failures and deaths, and have eroded public confidence in health care systems. On another level there is another group of consumers who are very much aware of the existence of counterfeit products and patronise them willingly, in the belief that counterfeits are "good for poor people."
Vis-a-vis Local Industry and Traders:
The existence of counterfeit products spoil the good name of genuine products and crowd them out of the market, leading to loss of volume, capacity under-utilisation, higher cost of production and depressed earnings for manufacturers and legitimate trademark owners.
Counterfeits also affect the reputation of brands over time, and lead to erosion of confidence in the manufacturer and product delivery systems. This further affects foreign direct investment as the structure of trade is altered.
Vis-a-vis Employment and Job Creation:
Employment is put at risk where there is no effective deterrent against counterfeiting and piracy.
Vis-a-vis Government revenue:
Counterfeit operators are illicit traders who do not comply with government regulations. This leads to loss of customs and excise duties, corporate and personal tax revenues for government as well as higher cost of law enforcement and judicial proceedings.
Vis-a-vis the Image and Reputation of Ghana: Economy worldwide, counterfeiting and piracy undermine innovation which is key to economic growth. More importantly, a nation where counterfeiting is rampant quickly gains a reputation as a safe haven for peop1e who wish to engage in economic crimes, shattering any hard won positive reputation we may have built over time.
The Ghana Business Coalition Against Illicit Trade
Fakes have been around for decades, but their prevalence and sophistication have grown in leaps and bounds over the past 16 years, almost spinning out of control. A cross-section of private sector organisations led by GEA sounded a renewed call to arms against counterfeits and piracy in 2007.
The GEA led a movement culminating in the launch of the Coalition against counterfeits and Illicit Trade (CACIT) on July 18, 2007 with membership drawn from the following bodies:
• Ghana Standards Board, whose role is to prescribe the standards for products to be sold in Ghana, and ensure that products meet those set standards.
• Food and Drugs Board, whose role is to regulate and monitor foods drugs, cosmetics, devices and chemical substances on the Ghanaian markets. The FDB registers all such products and ensures that only registered products are sold on our market. FDB is also responsible for ensuring that all registered products are wholesome and fit for human consumption/use.
• The Registrar General’s Department.
They are responsible for registering international property right including trademarks, designs and patents and also ensuring that no individual or entity registers a trademark/design/patent that is similar to one that has already been registered or one that is commonly known globally to belong to another individual or entity e.g. Coca Cola.
• Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, whose role is to police the country's borders and ports to prevent counterfeit, unwholesome and illicit products from entering the country. CEPS is also responsible for ensuring that all products that enter Ghana legitimately pay the right taxes and duties.
• Ghana Union of Traders Association, representing the interests of traders who unknowingly (and sometimes knowingly) deal in counterfeit goods.
• Ghana Trades Union Congress, representing the interests of employees whose jobs could be affected by increased levels of counterfeits.
• The Association of Ghana Industries.
AGI's role is to represent the interests of private sector companies and intellectual property right holders whose products are the tar¬get of counterfeiters .
• Ghana Employers' Association, sponsors of the initiative and representing employers.
I will emphasise that the Coalition Against Counterfeit & Illicit trade acknowledges that competition is healthy as it offers consumers the choice and forces local industries to be more effective, and does not seek to promote protectionism. CACIT recognised that there had been an alarming increase in the incidence of dumping, smuggled, under-invoiced, counterfeit and sub-standard products on the Ghanaian market which did not meet the prescribed Ghanaian standards. These activities impacted the Ghanaian consumer and called for appropriate remedial action to be initiated
As a coalition, CACIT seeks the enforcement of intellectual property laws, copyright, patent and trademark protection, and licensing laws in order to protect consumers from counterfeit products and all other forms of illicit trade, thereby defending the integrity of member organizations’ brands.
The strategy for achieving these goals is to use all legal means at its disposal to significantly increase intellectual property rights levels. These include working for the enactment of tougher laws and the education of the business community, consumers, and the media and interaction with authorities -local and international - to strengthen the enforcement of those laws governing illicit trade in all its forms.
Actions Underway/Required to Combat Counterfeiters and Illicit Trade
Manufacturers can work more systematically with law enforcement agencies to intensify raids on factories and warehouses of suspected distributors.
IPR reform leading to speedy resolution of intellectual property rights disputes and heightened intellectual property protection. A strong legal framework and effective punishment to serve as a real deterrent is needed.
Counterfeiting of any product that presents a health or safety hazard to consumers could be treated as a criminal offence with a possible mandatory prison term.
National education and awareness programme to overcome the lack of awareness of the problem by counterfeit products and medicines in the mind of the average Ghanaian. A specia1 collaboration to combat counterfeit medicines could be initiated at National and regional levels involving stakeholders from the public sector, civil society, health care professionals, manufacturers, distributers, and the media.
Counterfeiting is greater in areas where regulatory and legal oversight is weaker. Intellectual property protection enforcement have contributes significantly to innovation, investment, and growth around the world and Ghana is at stage of development where continued investment in the growth of our economy are necessary to improve living standards of Ghanaians. That is why as employers we speak out, and seek to bring about action against counterfeits and illicit trade. The GEA is of the firm conviction that combating piracy and counterfeiting with determination will bring benefits to Ghana and the West Africa sub-region.
By Charles A Cofie
President of Ghana Employers’ Association
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