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Beware
of the bogus When we did an investigative round we found that these bogus products ranged from food items such as rice, sugar, ice cream, and vegetable oil to medicines and household items such as electrical appliances, mosquito coils, porcelain and ceramic ware. Consumers are often duped because the master minds behind the fakes make them look almost identical to genuine products. Consumers also complain that there is a lack of awareness programmes. The safety risks are mainly associated with sub quality electrical equipment which pose a physical threat to consumers. Meanwhile some producers of genuine products whose reputations have been tarnished due to fake products blame the government for doing little or nothing about this booming racket. A.R. Sarma director of Sigma Overseas Co. Ltd., bottlers and distributors for Crystal Natural Mineral Water says theirs is the only product that conforms to WHO standards and the industry has been seriously affected by fakes that pose a grave health risk. A reputed electrical company Clipsal has warned people against counterfeit products that could explode when being used as the inferior products are unable to withstand the electrical load. "We constantly receive complaints from customers who have been fooled by the duplicate products, which have a short life span," Operations Manager O. Symons told The Sunday Times. He said the demand for their products have dropped as sub standard equipment is available at low prices. He said although the company had spent more than Rs. six million to prevent fake Clipsal products being marketed, it had been of little help. We found out that inferior food items too are being packed by unscrupulous traders under popular brand names. Araliya Impex, which markets food items such as rice and sugar has been one of the many companies affected. M. Rajkumar, Chairman, Araliya Exporters (Pvt) Ltd told us that consumers have been complaining about sub standard rice and sugar products and the company had to tell them that they had been swindled by duplicate products. Reputed photocopying paper company Avalon too has been affected by local traders who have started pumping in low quality paper under its name into the market. Avalon known for its high quality comes in moisture proof packaging where as the fake paper comes poorly packed. Dushan Roberts, Marketing manager Avalon Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd said these counterfeits have brought down their sales by 40%. Pettah is a leading counterfeit hub and we observed a thriving business of world reputed Eveready batteries being sold under the name of Everyday batteries. The difference in the logo and label are so slight that only a very observant consumer would spot the difference. We also walked into a maze of of black marketeers and duplicate racketeers who were selling electrical items, pens, phones, VCDs, DVDs, watches and phone accessories. CFL bulbs that were going for as low as Rs. 60, were nothing but florescent lamps. Counterfeit Nokia phones are also available at Pettah. Mabole is a
popular area where businessmen go to get duplicate products manufactured
or labelled. The businessman makes a payment and provides the name
of the product to be copied to the counterfeiting manufacturer,
and the job is done. Counterfeit products that are imported to the country mainly come from the annual canton fair held in China. Any counterfeit product under a desired popular brand name can be obtained at this fair. This operation was revealed in 2001 when Customs detained a consignment of Clipsal counterfeit products worth Rs. 12.4 million being imported from China. Another modus operandi used by businessmen to send the fake items into the country is through housemaids. However Dr. L.S.S.K. de Silva, Deputy Director General of Sri Lanka Standards Institution said that any product that does not meet the required standards is rejected outright. Director, National Intellectual Property Office Dr. D.M Karunaratna said they are only responsible for the registration of trademarks and brand names. A common complaint from business organizations whose products are being faked was that there are loopholes in the legal system that help the culprit to get away after paying a small fine. They cited the case where a couple of months back Slave Island police arrested a person while filling water from the Beira lake into mineral water bottles. He was later released after courts charged him a fine of Rs. 3000. Many companies also said they avoid legal battles against counterfeiters because the process takes a long time. However Sudath Perera Associates chief Sudath Perera, a lawyer who handles counterfeit cases told The Sunday Times that it was possible to convict culprits involved in acts of counterfeiting under the prevailing laws. He said the consumers had three options through which they could claim for damages. (see ‘Legal options’).
Duplicate
Viagra with reverse effect among counterfeit drugs The trend is to counterfeit fast moving medicines that include blood pressure and diabetic tablets. Some of the medicines that are being counterfeited include Dionil, Metphormin, Ibuprofen, vaccines and saline. Daya Abeywickrama, Executive Director of the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka, told The Sunday Times that sub standard counterfeit contraceptives were being sold in the pharmacies at a cheaper rate. He said Depoprovera, an injection given to women to prevent pregnancy hadbeen subjected to the counterfeiting business in Sri Lanka. He said the racketeers import outdated stuff from Pakistan and India and then market them here after re-labelling them under a popular brand name with a new expiry date. He said doctors should be alert to this. He also said rejected condoms from Bangladesh and Pakistan ended up in the local market. He warned that Viagra, a popular aphrodisiac manufactured by Pfizer, too, has its duplicate which has a total opposite effect. Pakistan and India are the most popular markets for counterfeit medicines, Mr. Abeywickrama said. |
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