A shopkeeper selling counterfeit shoes waits for customers at stall in Beijing November 27, 2007. Chinese authorities have been fighting to allay fears over sub-standard and counterfeit goods. Reuters
China admits some wayward manufacturers have dealt a blow to its image abroad but vows to press for stringent quality control measures even as it looks up to bolstering its trade ties with Kenya and other developing nations.
“I don’t think Chinese goods are perfect but we have attached more importance to improving quality and things are today better than they were a few years back,” Chinese ambassador to Kenya, Deng Hongbo, said.
Fake products
China has over the years faced massive challenges over sub-standard counterfeit goods, leaving consumers in target markets such as Kenya jittery about purchasing them. But Chinese products remain popular among low end consumers because of their pocket- friendly prices.
“We have noticed that there have often been concerns over Chinese goods but we have moved to enforce standards among producers at home and we are liasing with regulators in target markets to ensure standards are adhered to,” Mr Hongbo said at a press briefing.
Projections by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) showed that counterfeiters were selling fake pens, batteries, cosmetics, and a range of other products, including crucial live-saving drugs, across Africa, with estimates of counterfeit penetration up to 40 per cent for some items.
The association claims that counterfeits cost local companies Sh50 billion ($650 million) and the government Sh19 billion ($250 million) in taxes in 2008 with many fingers pointing at China which has in the past decade sought to bolster trade ties with Africa in the hope of securing natural resources for its robust economy.
The value of Sino-Africa trade has grown significantly to stand at $106.8 billion in 2008 up 45.1 per cent from 2007 even though the leap has also brought with it fresh challenges of sub-standard goods and counterfeits.
KAM had in June, 2009, petitioned Industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey to take action on counterfeits amid claims that the country has witnessed the proliferation of both sub-standard and counterfeit products despite the presence of the Pre-Verification of Conformity (PVoC) programme, Standardisation Mark and the Anti-counterfeit law which have since been operationalised.
“It is unfortunate that the manufacturing sector has not realised the required support from the existing government arms and specifically Kenya Bureau of Standards, in curbing illegal trade and counterfeiting,” the lobby said.
The government, however, responded with the creation of an Anti Counterfeit Agency and appointed a board to manage its operations.
The board has full powers to prosecute traders in fake products and also to confiscate and destroy substandard products imported into the country or manufactured locally.
The Anti Counterfeit Act says that the Anti-Counterfeit Agency will have powers to break into any premises suspected of manufacturing illicit goods and arrest, without a warrant, any person suspected to engage in counterfeiting products. Currently, the police who investigate such occurrences have to obtain search warrants from courts before breaking into business premises.
The law prescribes a maximum five year jail term and cash penalty that is three times the value of the pirated product for individuals found guilty of counterfeiting goods. Those who continuously counterfeit goods can get up to 15 years in jail.
Reports, however, showed the concerns over sub-standard and counterfeit Chinese goods are not unique to Kenya and Africa alone.
According to estimates by the US Customs and Border Protection unit, close to 80 per cent of all counterfeit goods seized at the US border annually are from China. The value of such goods seized on US borders from China rose by 40 per cent in 2008, to $221.7 million, indicating the magnitude of the problem.
Mr Hongbo however said the trend is likely to improve gradually following a move by the Chinese government to adopt a more stringent monitoring and quality control programme on exports leaving its soil.
“We are certain the move will work to improve the situation because Chinese products remain popular abroad and we want give customers the best at all times,” he said.
Some analysts have blamed China’s shaky legal system for encouraging the counterfeits and cited the country’s criminal code that specifies a minimum value for seized counterfeit goods before prosecutors could trigger any criminal action against such nabbed offenders. Reports showed that in China, seizures worth less than 50,000 yuan ($7,330) aren’t prosecuted by police, leaving headroom for the malpractice to flourish.
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