Intellectual property and counterfeiting in Thailand
Whether you know it or not, a day spent in Bangkok will almost certainly involve exposure to intellectual property rights violations and counterfeit goods. In addition to the ubiquitous knock-off designer there are pirated music CDs, counterfeit clothes, accessories and electronics, pirated operating systems for computers, pirated movies streaming 24/7 and even fraudulent vehicles, international driving licences, diplomas, pharmaceutical products, food and passports. That last issue gained prominence with the discovery of two passengers travelling on fake passports on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Over the course of the next few articles, we will outline the various laws that are in place to protect intellectual property rights and reduce counterfeiting here in Thailand.
Lear More
Forget Handbags: Household Items Among Goods Seized in Counterfeit Busts
Counterfeiting has become a $500 billion-a-year criminal industry that permeates everything people carry, wear and even ingest. “[These are] everyday American products that could be retailed in any store around the United States,” Lev Kubiak, director of the Intellectual Property Rights Center in Washington, D.C., told ABC News’ “20/20.”
Lear More
Tobacco smuggling: MPs criticise ‘lack of action’
Efforts to tackle tobacco smuggling have been hampered by a “farcical” lack of action by the government and its agencies, a committee of MPs has said. The number of illicit cigarettes smoked in the UK rose by 49% to a billion in 2012, suggesting a reduction in enforcement action, the MPs said.
The Commons home affairs select committee said the failure to deal with rogue products was “of grave concern”.
HM Revenue and Customs said tackling tobacco smuggling was “a priority”.
The committee was particularly critical of the failure to fine a single firm for deliberately oversupplying cigarettes to high-risk markets in order for them to be smuggled back to the UK.
Taxpayers lose out on around £2bn in unpaid duty because of the illegal trade.
tp://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27842834
Lear More
Concerns about counterfeit products and water quality spur crucial workshop
“The fate of good food in terms of labelling now rests with you,” said Resident Representative of the Pan American Health Organisation and World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), Dr. William Adu-Krow, as he addressed the participants of a ‘Food nutritional labelling and water testing’ workshop yesterday. And there is significant progress already being made to ensure that authenticity of food labelling obtains on the market, Dr. Adu-Krow noted, as he presented brief remarks at the start of the forum held at the Institute of Applied Science and Technology building, University of Guyana campus. “I think that you are making a lot of inroads…Based on the expertise available we are confident that food inspectors and environmental health officers will be equipped to exercise and enhance regulatory oversight on food labelling for compliance to nutritional labelling and claims as stated on the labels on food products.”
Lear More
Government To Fight Smuggling, Counterfeiting And Piracy – Minister Of Trade & Industry
Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Trade and Industry, has renewed government’s commitment to provide tax incentives to manufacturing companies that make use of local raw materials. He said government will also strengthen its security network to fight the menace of smuggling, counterfeiting and piracy as a protection to the local manufacturing companies. Mr Iddrisu gave the assurance when he launched the new Distell Ghana Brewery Plant in Tema.
Distell Ghana Limited are the distillers of Hunters’Gold and Savannah Dry Cider Beer, Knights and a Royal Reserve Whiskies, Amarula, wines, Brandys and gin across the continent and beyond.
The establishment of the plant in Ghana is an indication that those beverages will no longer be imported from South Africa, but will be produced in Ghana to serve the West African market.
http://www.gbcghana.com/1.1754251
Lear MoreTo prevent smuggling city wants check on private wharfs
CEBU, Philippines – The Cebu City government is calling on authorities to look into the operation of private wharfs in its neighboring areas, fearing the possibility that they are being used to smuggle goods. In its recent meeting, the city’s Police Coordinating Advisory Council (PCAC) disclosed it has received intelligence reports that private wharfs outside Cebu City are “not in any way monitored or regulated.” “It is more than likely that the entry of contrabands to Cebu City and province ensue in these unmonitored private wharfs,” reads the minutes of the meeting furnished to the press. The PCAC considers the reports as “alarming.”
“Exchange and transport of smuggled products, drugs and prohibited or illegally-seized goods, and other related illegal activities are also likely to take place in these ports,” the minutes read further.
PCAC has requested the PNP Maritime group, the Cebu Port Authority, the Philippine Navy and other law enforcement agencies to look into the wharfs’ operations.
Lear MoreUSP starts field trials of FDA fake drug screening device
CD3 imageThe US Pharmacopeial Convention has started field testing a new low-cost screening device designed to detect counterfeit and poor quality medicines quickly. The handheld CD-3+ unit – originally developed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – uses multiple light sources to look at packaging using different wavelengths and provide images that can be interpreted by the user to differentiate between genuine and falsified medicines. The approach may also be applicable to individual tablets.
USP and the Center for Pharmaceutical Advancement and Training (CePAT)- which was launched last year to equip national and local regulatory authorities in Sub-Saharan Africa with the knowledge and skills to promote access to quality medicines – will carry out the field trials.
Lear More
Counterfeit clippings: news in brief
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has been denied involvement in an ongoing lawsuit in Maine, US, which is trying to repeal a law that allows state residents to buy medicines from other countries such as Canada, reports Pharmalot. The drug industry organisation has been using the lawsuit as a platform to warn of the dangers of allowing people to import drugs from overseas, which it maintains raises the risk of exposure to falsified, expired or low quality medicines. The judge in the case has concluded however that PhRMA should be shut out from proceedings because it was unable to demonstrate how drugmakers could be harmed by the law. Responding to its exclusion, PhRMA associate general counsel John Murphy said the organisation “continues to believe that Maine’s drug importation law conflicts with FDA’s authority to regulate prescription medication distribution in the US.”
Lear More
Screening technique detects illegal cosmetics
Eye make up Researchers in Belgium have road-tested a technology that could be used to screen cosmetic products for illegal whitening agents.
The team from the Scientific Institute of Public Health used a technology called attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) alongside simple chemometric analysis to identify samples of creams, lotions and soaps containing illegal substances.
They recorded spectra for 150 suspicious cosmetic products and compared them to test samples representing both bona fide agents – with approved whitening agents such as kojic acid, arbutin and nicotinamide – as well as illegal agents that were adulterated with corticosteroids, hydroquinone and the severe acne drug tretinoin.
Lear More
Warning issued about fake turmeric powder in UAE
Product may have adverse health effects, says expert at the Ministry of Health
Dubai: The next time you rub that turmeric powder onto your aching knees and back, think again.
The Drugs Control Laboratory in the Ministry of Health (MOH) has warned the public against some fake herbal products. Chemical substances that are harmful to human health also get into the packaging of these herbal products.
“The drugs control laboratory in the Ministry of Health checked a sample of turmeric powder, which is used by some individuals for the treatment of knee and back pain, brought from Asian countries and traded spontaneously,” Dr Amin Hussain Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for Medical Practices and Licensing at the Ministry of Health, said.
Some herbal products contain chemical additives that come from unknown sources and have no expiry dates, Al Amiri said.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/health/warning-issued-about-fake-turmeric-powder-in-uae-1.990133
Lear More