Anti-counterfeit technology news in brief
Norway’s Thinfilm Electronics’ near-field communications (NFC) tags have joined the security features interfaced with the World Customs Organisation’s IPM online anti-counterfeiting tool, which is used by customs officers to help distinguish between authentic and counterfeit shipments in the field. The NFC labels – which have just been deployed by drinks manufacturer Diageo to protect Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottles – were first introduced in March. The NFC OpenSense and NFC Barcode products are the first technologies based on NFC to be included in the IPM Connected system, which links vendor technologies to the IPM database, according to TFE.
Lear MoreSmoking taxes make cigarette smuggling an increasingly attractive option
When a government treats citizens like criminals they tend to respond like criminals. The federal government, as large and intrusive as it has ever been, has helped create an underworld trade that is costing multi-billions of dollars.Every week, the equivalent of one full container of illicit cigarettes is smuggled into Australia. There are only guesstimates about the size of the trade because smugglers don’t do bureaucracy.
The retail value of that standard container load of cigarettes, if sold legally, would be about $10 million dollars, such is the cost of a pack of cigarettes these days. On the black market, that container load would be worth about $4.5 million.
In land of fakes, Chinese e-commerce giant sells trust
Before he became a billionaire in e-commerce, Richard Liu was a failure. As a student, Liu started a restaurant in Beijing but went bankrupt. He blames employees who he said stole from him, and when he took a second stab at business by opening an electronics store in 1998, Liu insisted on honesty. After seeing other shops overcharge customers and pass off counterfeit goods, he says he sold only genuine merchandise.
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Bill Gates bets on growing demand for sustainable foods
“This is not a product for vegetarians,” claimed Patrick Brown, a Stanford biologist and physician turned food-tech entrepreneur about the meatless yet purposely meatlike hamburger his Redwood City, California-based start-up, Impossible Foods, is developing. “Our whole reason for doing this is to provide choices for people who are uncompromising meat lovers.”
Up the road in San Francisco, Josh Tetrick, a former college linebacker and Fulbright scholar, insisted that his three-year-old food company, Hampton Creek, which uses a laboratory-born egg substitute to make mayonnaise and cookies, “is not about reaching out to health-conscious consumers.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102659606
Lear More3,000 smuggling bids foiled in Abu Dhabi
The customs centres in Abu Dhabi recorded 75 smuggling attempts of illegal drugs, which amounted to 3,444 narcotic pills and 42.35kg of drugs including cocaine, opium, marijuana.
The Abu Dhabi Customs foiled nearly 3,000 smuggling attempts in the first quarter of the current year. These included smuggling bids of 3,013 illegal immigrants.
According to a report released by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Finance (DoF), the General Administration of Customs foiled 2,940 smuggling attempts.
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Tunisia: Nearly 100 Thousand Counterfeit Products Destroyed
Nearly 100 thousand counterfeit cosmetic, electronic and stationery products were destroyed, Wednesday, at the Convention Centre in Tunis, a TAP journalist reported. These products were seized by the municipal police and economic control services in the first quarter of 2015.
The destruction took place for the first time before representatives of the national media, on the occasion of the first international conference on anti-counterfeiting held from May 13 to 14 in Tunis, 2014.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201505140474.html
Lear MoreThinfilm, World Customs Organization Team to Bring NFC to the Fight Against Global Counterfeiting and Piracy
Thin Film Electronics ASA (“Thinfilm”) (OSE:THIN.OL; OTCQX:TFECY), a leader in the development and commercialization of printed electronics and smart systems, today announced that its NFC products will be the first NFC-based solutions to be included in the World Customs Organization (WCO) IPM anti-counterfeiting tool.
Lear MoreCustoms probing men in ‘ukay-ukay’ smuggling
Several Bureau of Customs (BOC) personnel are under investigation by the agency for alleged involvement in a syndicate that diverts to the local market smuggled ukay-ukay (used clothes) worth millions of pesos seized by bureau operatives.
The erring customs employees include members of the bureau’s police force and Anti-Organized Crime Group, as well as staffers at the Office of the Commissioner and the customs collection district in San Fernando City, La Union.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/690976/customs-probing-men-in-ukay-ukay-smuggling
Lear MoreTwo Newport stores caught selling illegal smuggled cigarettes have licences revoked
TWO Newport stores have had their licences revoked for selling illegal, smuggled cigarettes and tobacco products. Nazar Mini Market, in Corporation Road, and Taste Of The World, in Clarence Place, were banned from selling cigarettes and alcohol by Newport City Council’s licensing sub-committee earlier today. Matthew Cridland, Trading Standards manager, said the smuggling problem at Taste Of The World is “the tip of the iceberg” for Newport.
Lear MoreHealth-related items part of ongoing Kansas tax talk
A couple of items relevant to public health and the health insurance industry are in the mix as lawmakers seek a tax plan that will allow them to end the 2015 session.
Kansas legislators need to locate between $400 million and $500 million in new revenue to fund the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. As the House and Senate move toward the 90th day of the legislative session, most debate has focused on how much of that new revenue should come from rolling back income tax cuts passed in 2012 and how much should come from new sales taxes.
http://www.hayspost.com/2015/05/13/health-related-items-part-of-ongoing-kansas-tax-talk/
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