Economist Tips Smuggling Boom if Cigarette Prices Raised 365%
Jakarta. A plan touted by some in the government to increase cigarette prices is likely to have a disastrous affect on tobacco farmers and encourage counterfeit and smuggling in the local market, a researcher has said.Rumors of a price hike were sparked after research from the University of Indonesia’s center for health economics and policy studies found rising prices lowers cigarette consumption.The research found that 71 percent of smokers would quit entirely if the price reached Rp 50,000 ($3.75) per pack.
Dzulfian Syafrian, an economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), said any price hike would substantially affect the industry, pointing firstly to laborers and farmers who would likely lose their jobs.
The genuine article: How to tackle product counterfeiting
Product counterfeiting is a serious problem for industry and consumers alike.As system provider, Netstal has tackled this problem and together with its partners, says it is able to offer its customers reliable and inexpensive solutions. At this year’s K Trade Fair, Netstal will demonstrate these solutions with the help of the first ever 128-cavity pipette tip production line.
“According to an Ernst & Young study, approximately 80% of all companies globally are affected by the counterfeiting of merchandise,” said Dr Patrick Blessing, head of Netstal’s Medical Technology and Precision Parts business unit. Statistics published by the European Union show that around 36 million counterfeit products are being confiscated annually by the customs authorities of member countries. At the same time, reports are on the rise about significant harm caused by the consumption or use of counterfeit brand-name products. The risk potential nowadays is great and continues to rise. However, counterfeit products do not just pose serious risks to people, animals and the environment. In the worst-case scenario, brands affected by counterfeiting can suffer from a loss of image that cannot be fixed in the short term. Therefore, companies are increasingly looking for ways to label their products as absolutely forgery-proof in order to optimally protect themselves and the consumers of their products from harm.
http://www.medicalplasticsnews.com/news/the-genuine-article-how-to-tackle-product-counterfeiting/
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Bulgarian Interior Ministry Reports Successful Operation Against Cigarette Smugglers
The Interior Ministry reported a successful operation against cigarette smuggling in which it did not participate but provided information about the criminal group to partner institutions.
16 people were arrested in the operation including 3 Bulgarians. According to the Secretary General of the Interior Ministry Georgi Kostov, “a conspiratory and highly-organised criminal group has been neutralised.”The group was involved in the illegal manufacturing and distribution of tobacco products on the territory of various European countries.
Falls Church Man Sentenced for Smuggling Fake Apple, Samsung Products
Bao Doan, 32, Falls Church, was sentenced Friday to a year and one day in prison for conspiring to traffic in counterfeit Apple and Samsung products and smuggling, the U.S. Justice Department for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.
Doan was also ordered to forfeit over $115,000 in proceeds and to pay Apple and Samsung more than $20,000 in restitution.
Counterfeit e-commerce: The dark side of WhatsApp
Transgressions attract notice but only when there is a witness. Counterfeits on e-commerce portals attract attention while counterfeits sold on WhatsApp go unnoticed.
Indian e-commerce firms these days are anxious to reassure customers about the genuineness of products in their online marketplaces. Flipkart has been running a campaign titled “Flipkart matlab bilkul pakka” (Flipkart means completely genuine), trying to differentiate itself on the genuineness of its products and easy returns. Amazon has run an advertisement titled “We Indians love asli” featuring Indians checking out the genuineness of products.
Ecuador: Potato and onion producers ask government to curb smuggling
According to domestic producers of potatoes and red onions, apart from having to deal with production costs that are higher than in Colombia and in Peru, they also have to compete against products being smuggled through the borders.
Fernando Pozo, a potato producer and member of the Council of Citizen Participation for the Agricultural Sector in Tungurahua, said that, due to the production costs and smuggling, producers were not making a profit and sometimes even lost money.
The traders from the Ambato wholesale market concur with producers on the need of conducting operations to prevent the smuggling of products through the northern and southern borders as these affect the national production and influence prices.
Mario Mayorga, president of the Merchants Association of the Central Wholesale Market, said that the lack of controls was causing the bankruptcy of small and medium producers, especially of potatoes and red onions.
According to statistics, nearly 60,000 quintals of red onions enter the country on a monthly basis.
Fake Kent RO’s seized, duplicator arrested in Bhatinda
Police on a raid action seized duplicate Kent RO products and arrested a duplicator one Jatinder Kumar Bansal at Bhatinda.
Kent has granted Authority to a Brand Protection Agency to conduct investigation and initiate Prosecution under Criminal legislation to punish the infringers / duplicators.
Following a complaint lodged against Luxmi Enterprises located at Ram Bagh Road, Grain Market, Bhatinda, a team of seven constables led by sub-inspector Sh. Rajpal Singh of Punjab Police of Kotwali Police Station, Bhatinda, seized 13 fake Kent RO’s worth 1.82 lakh and 12 fake Kent pumps worth 26,400 rupees.FIR has been lodged against the owner Jatinder Kumar Bansal of said Luxmi Enterprises, who has been arrested by Punjab Police and subsequently sent to Judicial Custody by the Court.
UN Diplomats Lived Large on Smuggled Tobacco
Flashy BMWs, a pristine villa in downtown Geneva, United Nations diplomatic credentials and close to $2.4 million in profit. Welcome to the lucrative life of a UN cigarette smuggler.
Two employees on a diplomatic mission from Iraq to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland were caught abusing their diplomatic status last month by illegally funneling over 600,000 cigarettes into France.
The two employees had been allegedly making the transactions over the course of three years with the aim of making sales on the black market.
The plan involved using a German firm to acquire duty-free cigarettes, only to have them stored in a warehouse near the Geneva airport and eventually trucked to the Rennes region of France for sale on the street.
https://panampost.com/yael-ossowski/2016/09/21/un-diplomats-lived-large-on-smuggled-tobacco/
Lear MoreHong Kong Customs smashes suspected smuggling case of electronic products at Shenzhen Bay Control Point
Hong Kong (HKSAR) – Hong Kong Customs today (September 20) seized a large haul of electronic products valued at about $1.7 million on board an outgoing coach at Shenzhen Bay Control Point and arrested one person.
Customs officers mounted an anti-smuggling operation and intercepted an outgoing coach for search at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point this morning. A batch of electronic products including 348 smartphones, 1204 central processing units and 400 computer rams were found inside the air duct in the cabin. The 43-year-old male driver was arrested. Investigation is ongoing. Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
Why China won’t give up Kingdom of Fakes title any time soon
Earlier this year stores in Hong Kong that sell paper goods to be used as offerings to the dead were astonished to receive a letter from Italian luxury brand Gucci warning them to stop selling paper versions of its goods.“These products are offerings for the dead, not the living, so how can we be violating copyright?” said one indignant shop owner in Sheung Wan.
The story is vivid evidence of how, 15 years after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) and despite high-profile campaigns by the government, China remains the undisputed King of Fakes.
The latest report by the OECD in April this year estimated that the global value of imported fake goods in 2013 was US$461 billion, accounting for 2.5 percent of all trade, up 84 percent from US$250 billion or 1.8 percent of all trade in 2007.
http://www.ejinsight.com/20160920-why-china-won-t-give-up-kingdom-of-fakes-title-any-time-soon/
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