Fake products flood market
The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has cautioned the general public to beware of imitated products that have flooded the Ghanaian market and avoid them.
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Some businessmen and women import imitated products, presented in designs and colours that are almost the same as the registered popular brands. They also have names that are spelt almost like the original products.
Some of the imitated products include NOKIA mobile phones that are presented as NOKTA; HONDA generator sets – HONDAY; MILO chocolate drink – MULO; OMO washing powder – UMO, PARAZONE bleach – POWER ZONE, SONY electronic products – SUNNY.
The Mirror observed that other products that are usually counterfeited include toys, fashion labels and tags, computers and accessories.
Others are pharmaceuticals and personal care products, footwear, consumer electronics and parts, apparel and accessories, watches and jewelry, handbags and wallets.
While some products have totally different names, they may be presented in the same colours, design and shapes. This is usually with canned fish.
In a telephone interview with Mr Kofi Amponsah Bediako, the Head of Public Affairs of the GSA, he said some people are out to play tricks on consumers so the public must be careful to make the right choices.
He said when people present products for registration, the Authority ensures that the brand names do not conflict with already registered products.
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“Recently, somebody brought car batteries labelled as B O L L I D E N, we refused to register it because its name conflicted with B O L I D E N. Note that the difference was that the registered one had a single L, while the one that was later presented for registration had double L,” he said.
He appealed to the public to send goods that they suspect to be imitated products to the Authority for investigations and further action.
Efforts to contact the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) for its reaction was unsuccessful.
As part of the multi-million dollar Anti Counterfeit (ACF) drive of Hewlett Packard (HP), global leader in technology innovations, 20,000 counterfeit products of the company were seized in Ghana in November last year.
The products were intercepted by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority at the Tema Port.
Media reports indicate that, this year, 17,000 of the fake products have been seized in Morocco and 3,600 in Mozambique. So far, Nine million print cartridges and components have been seized worldwide.
Ms Tina Rose, Marketing Programme Manager, ACF Communication, who made this known at a counterfeit live demonstration encounter with media personnel in Accra said her outfit has rolled out a seven-year ACF programme
Although The Mirror could not obtain figures from the Ministry of Trade regarding the volume of Internet trading in the country, unconfirmed reports indicate that there has been an increase in online shopping, which has changed the way fake products are moved across the country’s borders.
Now, counterfeiters are selling imitated items through websites and shipping them directly to consumers, making it much harder to track and seize them.
Fake products are known to pose environmental, health and other concerns although it is highly profitable for the criminals dealing in them.
By William A. Asiedu and Vida Gavor/The Mirror/Ghana