OPINION:Counterfeit products, a serious threat to the economy

Today many people are engaging themselves in lucrative businesses not knowing that some of the stocked products are counterfeit. Counterfeiting has been regarded as a silent killer in international, regional and even in the local market. Business people are not aware about shoddy goods; it needs a shrewd business person to critically examine if the product is certified by the relevant body. Substandard goods supplied through foreign and local traders and manufacturers are illegally duplicating well known brand names and designs on their packages. A consumer is the one to suffer the consequences since he or she buys the product. Counterfeit products are on increase in the market. The most common counterfeiting problem is remarking a product. The counterfeiter scraps off the mark from the package and puts on a new mark. Counterfeit products damage the reputation of genuine industries and reduce their market share and bring down their profitability. Governments themselves fall a victim to the counterfeit trade through buying building materials like cement, drugs, and scholaristic materials. But we should not take counterfeiting for granted. It is a serious threat to our economy, the present impasse is a lose-lose situation, in which all countries suffer but where the poorest will suffer most from shoddy goods. To be in an invulnerable position serious and tough measures should be taken into consideration in order to curb down the habit of counterfeiting products. Counterfeit products pose a serious threat to public health and safety because the counterfeited drugs may be poisonous thus leading to loss of lives of the people and animals. The measures to curb down the habit of counterfeiting include, the use of Eurocodes. Eurocodes are a set of 10 European Standards (EN) for the design of buildings and other civil engineering works and construction products, produced by the Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN). The Eurocodes cover all principal construction materials (concrete, steel, timber, masonry and aluminum), all major fields of structural engineering (basis of structural design, loading, fire, geotechnics, earthquake, etc.) and a wide range of types of structures and products (buildings, bridges, towers and masts, silos, etc). Eurocodes ensure safety of people in the built environment, on the basis of the best possible scientific advice. They help to protect people from sub-standard products and are tools for the cross border harmonization of safety levels in construction. We should also use proficiency testing, conformity assessment and accreditation. Proficiency testing is the use of inter-laboratory comparisons to determine the performance of individual laboratories for specific tests or measurements and to monitor a laboratory’s performance. And among the methods utilized by suppliers and manufacturers to provide assurance that their products conform to requirements include; proficiency testing, conformity assessment, Certification and accreditation. Proficiency testing and conformity assessment are important tools of excellence that any organization that is interested in perfect improvement cannot neglect. If the testing abilities of a laboratory are determined, they can easily be assessed to ensure their fulfillment of certain requirements. And whether you are meeting your accreditation requirements or working to improve your performance, Proficiency Testing is a valuable improvement tool. The other is assuring more food safety and quality. Effective national food control systems are essential to protect the health and safety of consumers. They are also critical in enabling countries to assure the safety and quality of their foods entering international trade and to ensure that imported foods conform to national requirements. The new global environment for food trade places considerable obligations on both importing and exporting countries to strengthen their food control systems and to implement and enforce risk-based food control strategies. Last but not least the use of intellectual property rights is also vert essential. It means various types of intellectual property such as patents, trade secrets, industrial designs, trade marks, geographical indications and copyrights since there is no single term that sufficiently covers them all. The term has also acquired international acceptance; however, for the purpose of this paper, the description will generally refer to all categories. The owners of such creations are usually granted exclusive rights to various intangible assets which include literary, musical and artistic creations, inventions, designs, ideas, symbols and phrases. The most important aspect of intellectual property is that economic benefits from these creations could benefit not only the creator but other users as well. Let’s fight against counterfeiting of goods because it is a serious threat to the economy. kanye_frank@yahoo.co.uk

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OPINION:Counterfeit products, a serious threat to the economy