BEAMA

22 February 2010

Dumping Ground

Africa has become a dumping ground for counterfeit and sub standard products. This is the reality of the situation regarding copies and fake goods on the African market. These ‘knock-offs’ include products that have serious safety issues - we’re not just talking about DVD’s, tee shirts and handbags. They include medicines, car spares, building materials and even electrical products such as switches, fuses, lighting, cable and consumer items such as kettles, irons, batteries and chargers.

It seems nothing is safe from being counterfeited. And, we have to say, most of them originate from China. They are mostly unsafe, and downright dangerous, causing fire, injury and even death. The copy products are illegal, the trafficking of them is illegal and the people who put them on the market are risking yours and your family’s lives. They have no conscious about what they are doing, except for the greed of their profits. Quality and safety is not their consideration.

These illegal products arrive into various ports in Africa – north, south, east and west. They choose the routes of least resistance, where controls are ineffective, where corruption is highest. They come direct from China or by transit, via free trade ports such as Dubai, where vessels and documents can be changed to hide the goods from any enforcement bodies or inspection companies.

The consequences of counterfeit electrical products can be fatal - as demonstrated by the tragic death of a British boy killed by a counterfeit Gameboy charger while on holiday in Thailand or fires in Kuwait which cause a number of deaths and were attributed to counterfeits by the Fire department there.

If you are involved in the specification or purchasing of electrical products always remember the 3 Ps :
Person – do you know and trust the person who sold you the product?
Place – was it bought at a place from which a recognised and authorised trader operates?
Price – was the price in line with what you normally pay? If the price is too good to be true, it may not be the genuine article.

If the answer to any of these is ‘NO’, beware!
You may be buying and specifying a dangerous counterfeit product.
These are defective goods, manufactured by criminals with no sense of responsibility. So if you buy, sell or install them you are breaking the law. And there are no guarantees supplied with counterfeits

Action

BEAMA, the British Electrotechnical and Allied Manufacturers Association is a trade Association that unites and protects its member companies’ interests. For the last nine years, BEAMA has taken positive action against counterfeiters - raising awareness of the counterfeit issue and helping to create a political will in affected countries.

Through our ‘Electric Dragon’ campaigns and intelligence networks, over 12 million products have been seized and 300 factories and warehouses raided in China, where most (over 90%) of the counterfeit electrical products are made, the Middle East and Africa.

Eighteen brands are now represented and our intelligence database has significantly increased the success of our raid actions with over one million products seized in the last year alone. A raid in UAE resulted in over 200,000 products seized from one distributor, while a similarly successful raid has just been completed in Tanzania.
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More controls at borders and deterrent penalties are required to combat counterfeiting. Inspection companies that are employed by various African governments need to include looking for fakes as part of their contract. Training needs to be improved and corruption needs to be eliminated. Public awareness needs to be improved to be on the look out for these dangerous copies to make sure they don’t get installed in their workplaces and houses

Counterfeit Kills

Our impactful film ‘Counterfeit Kills – Protect Yourself’ (in DVD/CD-Rom formats) and an accompanying leaflet highlight the potential dangers of fire, death, injury, and effects on reputation of specifying or installing inferior quality ‘copy cat’ electrical products.

If in doubt about a product’s authenticity you should immediately check with the original manufacturer. The best solution is for products to be purchased from only an authorised supplier/distributor.

Responsibility

The responsibility for ensuring that only genuine quality products are used lies with all those specifying, purchasing and installing electrical equipment.

No action is not an option.

More information from BEAMA:

email: dd@beama.org.uk
web: www.beama.org.uk
www.counterfeit-kills.com