RIYADH: Fake vehicle parts account for about half of road accident deaths in the Kingdom, an adviser to the director general of the Customs Department has claimed.
Eissa Al-Eissa said, “The number of people killed in road accidents on the Kingdom’s roads in 2007 reached 6,000 and about half of these deaths were caused by the use of low quality spare parts, especially tires and brake pads.”
Al-Eissa was presenting a paper on the danger of fake and imitation spare parts during a workshop that was opened by Saud Al-Fahd, assistant director of customs. He added customs officials should make sure that goods and individuals that enter the Kingdom through ports do not harm people’s health and security. They should also protect the national economy from fake products, he said.
The Kingdom imports more than a million tons of spare parts worth SR29 billion annually. Abdul Mohsen Al-Shonaifi, supervisor of the risk management unit, estimated fake goods accounted for 45 percent of that total. He said more trained staff is needed as part of greater efforts to stop imports of fake spare parts.
Abdullah Al-Awad, director of Riyadh Customs, said his office had intensified its efforts to combat trade fraud, especially to prevent the import of fake and imitation auto spare parts.
“We have established a special department for the purpose,” the official said. “We also make use of consultancy companies to prevent entry of fake products into the country.”
Al-Awad reported an increase in commercial fraud in recent years as fraud traders are using increasingly innovative methods to import fake products. He called for a database to be established on the customs network in coordination with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and chambers.
He added that the database should cover information about registered trademarks, manufacturing companies, their headquarters and production centers and vital information about the products.
Abdullah Al-Areefi of the Aalam Company for International Trademarks said many shops sell fake products, describing them as tijari. He added they also keep them in boxes that have the same color and size of genuine ones.
