Govt to increase scrutiny of online retail: report
The government will intensify its efforts to monitor goods sold via online retail, as the sector has drawn the most complaints since 2014, Beijing-based Legal Mirror newspaper reported Tuesday, citing an official. Yang Hongcan, an official in charge of consumer rights protection with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), was quoted as saying that the SAIC handled 6,737 legal cases in regulating online retail in 2015.
Tuesday was also the World Consumer Rights Day.
Gold smuggling thrives across Myanmar’s borders
The thriving illegal business in gold across Myanmar’s porous borders is likely to continue unchecked until the government legalises trade of the raw material, traders and industry sources said.
Industry bodies have asked the Commerce Ministry to strike the precious metal from its list of restricted goods, saying this would boost government coffers and help to combat smuggling, the Myanmar Times reported on Wednesday.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asean/899888/gold-smuggling-thrives-across-myanmar-borders
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Risks of buying fake cameras exposed by AP/BBC poll
An AP reader has warned of the dangers of buying cheap grey-market camera gear after he was told his £1,500 Canon EOS 7D was a fake. Tristan Findley was responding to an Amateur Photographer (AP) survey about counterfeit kit, launched in conjunction with BBC consumer rights show Fake Britain. ‘I always buy from authorised sellers now,’ said Tristan, who said he unwittingly bought a counterfeit Canon EOS 7D digital SLR in 2010. Tristan paid nearly £1,500 for the 18-millon-pixel camera, saving more than £200 on the list price at the time.
Fake Apple items smuggled into NYC from China, officials say
A special NYPD investigative unit working with federal agents arrested four men suspected of running a lucrative smuggling ring that brought in hundreds of thousands of fake Apple watches, iPhones, Bose speakers and other electronic items from China, officials said.
Armed with search warrants, detectives and federal agents seized more than 20,000 fake items with a retail value of at least $2.6 million at a storage facility in Queens and at the main suspect’s home, NYPD inspector John Denesopolis, commander of the newly formed criminal enterprise investigations unit, told reporters Wednesday.
Product and brand protection technology: news in brief
GuardLab has contracted VerifyMe to provide anti-counterfeit features for its mouthguard products – a premium 3D-printed product designed to provide teeth and gum protection for athletes. The two companies expect VerifyMe’s authentication technology to be incorporated into GuardLab products before the second quarter of 2016. This agreement marks VerifyMe’s first partnership with a medical device manufacturer. Around $81m was spent on mouthguards in the US in 2014, according to Statistica.
9 charged in counterfeit cancer drug smuggling case
The country’s highest prosecutor’s office has ratified charges against nine people, most of them executives in a private drug company based in Ho Chi Minh City, for allegedly smuggling in fake cancer drugs worth over US$251,000.
Nguyen Minh Hung, CEO of VN Pharma, four company executives, and Vo ManhCuong, director of shipping company H&C, face charges of smuggling, according to the indictment by the Supreme People’s Procuracy.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/9-charged-in-counterfeit-cancer-drug-smuggling-case-60198.html
No escape for counterfeiters, says Alibaba’s Jack Ma
Alibaba’s Jack Ma told the company’s anti-counterfeit team that fake product sellers should have no place to exist in China.
Alibaba’s Jack Ma told the company’s anti-counterfeit team that fake product sellers should have no place to exist in China. Jack Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has vowed to crack down hard on counterfeits, using technology to ensure fake product sellers have “no place to escape and no space to exist” in China. Speaking in a recent Alibaba anti-counterfeit team meeting, Ma promised the team unlimited resources and said he would personally join every meeting related to fighting fake products. “Today we are not launching an Alibaba team but a national team to fight fake products,” Ma said, according to Sina Tech which published a script of the speech on Monday.
http://gbtimes.com/business/no-escape-counterfeiters-says-alibabas-jack-ma
Lear MoreCrackdown on fake phones commendable
According to TCRA Communications Manager Innocent Mungy, a survey carried in 2012 indicated that at least 38 per cent of the handsets in use then were fake. Many sub-standard and counterfeit mobile phone products entered the local market illegally creating an influx of counterfeit phones that have flooded the market almost putting out of business genuine handsets because they are sold cheaply.
TCRA announced in February 2016 that Tanzania was set to switch off all counterfeit mobile phones on June 16 in a move aimed at protecting consumers from substandard phones, safeguard mobile payment systems and prevent crime.
You’ll Hear a Lot about the Black Market in Coming Election
The black market will be a legitimate issue in many of its various forms in the coming November election. Referring to the black market, of course, means illegal traffic in officially controlled commodities.
On Monday, the California State Sheriffs Association came out against the proposed gun control measure backed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, in part, arguing that the measure would not prevent criminals from obtaining guns and ammunition illegally on the black market. One feature of the measure is to require background checks for ammunition buyers—something the sheriffs understand criminals will avoid. If criminals want ammunition and guns they will turn to the black market.
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2016/03/youll-hear-a-lot-about-the-black-market-in-coming-election/
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Coalition to announce ballot initiative to raise ND tobacco tax
BISMARCK – A group of partners is proposing a ballot measure to increase the tobacco tax in North Dakota, after state lawmakers defeated two efforts last year to raise the tax for the first time since 1993. The coalition, Raise it for Health North Dakota, will announce its plans during a press conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the North Dakota Association of Counties building at 1661 Capitol Way in Bismarck.
Kristie Wolff, program manager of tobacco control and advocacy for the American Lung Association in North Dakota, said the coalition would not release any details about the ballot initiative before then.
http://www.inforum.com/news/3987081-coalition-announce-ballot-initiative-raise-nd-tobacco-tax
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