JEDDAH, 2 May — It used to be that when it comes to fighting counterfeited goods, branded clothes and CDs were exclusively the enemy. However, here in the Kingdom the phenomenon has got so completely out of hand that even in major shops in the heart of the bigger cities’ commercial centers, buyers have grown accustomed to getting confirmation that what they want to buy is indeed authentic.
Counterfeits cost the global auto industry $1 billion annually and $200 million in the Middle East, according to Rod Ott and Tony Bol, managers General Motors Global Security. They are heading a probe into counterfeiting that is now in full swing in the Gulf.
According to Alhamrani United Company Chairman Muhammad A. Alhamrani, the "entire gamut of counterfeiting, including infringement of the copyright law, is being dealt with more seriously now. But when it comes to car spare parts, they’re playing with people’s lives."
The most commonly produced counterfeit parts are maintenance and high-volume items such as oil and air filters, shock absorbers, fan belts, brake pads and shoes, air-conditioning compressors, starters, spark plugs and oxygen sensors.
Experts from ACDelco are working in tandem with Middle East governments and leading auto industry figures to stem the tide of illegal fakes. Many of the operations are long-term and major successes have been achieved.
They have also determined that 50 to 60 percent of many major product lines in this part of the world are counterfeit and feedback indicates that similar figures apply all over the world.
Ott and Bol spent 18 months working in close cooperation with the Kingdom on the counterfeit issue. Their inquiries have led to a number of high-profile raids on warehouses stacked with millions of dollars worth of ultra-slick lookalikes.
Ott and Bol are now focusing more on the UAE and Kuwait to help their respective governments and auto industries. The say the Gulf states are considered prime targets for counterfeiters keen to infiltrate the top end of the auto market.
Counterfeiters have become very sophisticated in this and other areas. As technology has improved so a visual inspection of the product may not be enough to distinguish genuine parts from fakes.
Forty percent of all consumer goods in the local market are counterfeit and carry fake trademarks, according to a top Commerce Ministry official.
Muhammad ibn Atiq Al-Harbi, general manager of the Jeddah branch of the ministry, said: "The multiplicity of counterfeit goods have become a serious problem in Saudi Arabia because the national economy is damaged, consumers are endangered and investors are confused and discouraged."
The sole agent of Casio electronics recently threatened to sue 50 Saudi firms which he said were involved in the distribution of imitation watches and calculators under the brand name of Casio, through 4000 outlets in the Kingdom. The company said it had incurred a loss of SR3 million in just five months.
This was in addition to the damage caused to the company's reputation, a company official said, adding that its sales dropped by 25 percent due to the increase in counterfeiting.
Saudi Arabia enacted a law against counterfeiting nearly two decades ago. The law classifies any consumer product as counterfeit when its style, type, components, origin and other features do not conform to approved standards and specifications as well as weight, size and quantity. Products bearing trademarks falsified by manufacturers and not registered with the Ministry of Commerce are also treated as fake.
The Commerce Ministry has set up an independent department to monitor, inspect and confiscate such products in the market. The department is also authorized to propose punishments for violators after specialized committees study individual cases.
They have a huge task on their hands, for even mobile phones are being forged here in the Kingdom.
An STC source told Arab News that the circulation of forged mobile phones poses a big challenge to official distributors. The imitations are said to be cheap and difficult to differentiate from the originals.
The duplicate sets are likely to create a lot of problems for consumers, however, as they are not compatible with STC’s mobile service. It is not possible to send text messages, for instance, or change the light or tone ringer.
