JEDDAH, 21 February 2006 — Saudi Arabia suffers SR4 billion in losses annually from counterfeit products, according to Ahmed Linjawy, the new head of the Anti-Counterfeit Awareness Committee (ACAC) at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The losses are not only in the form of financial losses to honest merchants and national companies but also represent lost revenue from import tariffs, the cost of removing the counterfeit products from the market and the cost to the customers buying defunct or unhealthy products.
At a press conference to launch a new awareness campaign on counterfeit products yesterday, Linjawy saidbased on information from the Ministry of Commerce, 80 percent of the folk markets sell counterfeit products and some of these products could be harmful to the health and well-being of the people who tend to buy them due to relatively low prices as well as their lack of awareness about the harmful effects of the products.
On a more serious level, it is estimated that as much as a fourth of certain pharmaceuticals and 30 percent of auto parts sold in Saudi Arabia are counterfeit.
With these kinds of figures and concerns for the safety, health and confidence of the customers, the ACAC has decided to involve the customers in combating counterfeit products. The idea is to raise public awareness on the harmful effects of these products and dissuade people from buying them, thus making it unprofitable for the distributors and manufacturers of imitation goods.
“Combating counterfeit products involve three fronts: the relevant government agencies, the private sector and the consumer,” said Abdulaly Al-Abdulaly, director for the prevention of commercial fraud at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
So far, consumers have not played their part by not buying the counterfeit products. He differentiated between commercial fraud and products with fake labels being sold as originals at a lesser price.
The customs administration and the ministry has the authority to prevent and confiscate products that do not meet standards or that carry counterfeit trade-marks, but it falls on the merchants and customers not to deal with low-quality fake products.
Several businessmen stressed the need for more stringent measures to prevent these products from entering the market and called for tougher punishments for merchants dealing in these products.
The awareness campaign targets consumers and those who deal in counterfeit products by raising their sense of responsibility and integrity. It includes release of newspaper, television and radio adverts, billboards, and distribution of printed material such as pamphlets, posters and stickers in Jeddah. The drive, costing SR800,000, began on Saturday and will continue for a month.
