BEAMA continues its fight against counterfeiters in many countries including China, UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Nigeria, East and West Africa and unbelievably Iraq. “Why Iraq and isn’t it dangerous?” I hear you ask.Well the why is easy, over 80% of the Iraq market is in counterfeit branded products and due to the reconstruction programmes the market there is enormous and largely based on British Standards. Our investigators are, of course, local and well used to operating in Iraq. Already, several dealers in fake products have been identified as well as links back to UAE and China and a relationship has been established with port authorities etc.
We are also aware of the threat of the distribution of counterfeits internationally via the internet. We now regularly review many internet trading sites such as Alibaba looking for pages which advertise for sale counterfeits of our members’ products. To date, we have identified over 400 sites on Alibaba alone and asked for the offending pages to be removed. So far over 90% of those identified have been taken down by Alibaba although other site owners are not so accommodating. We are looking at the possibility of taking some legal action in China against the non-cooperative website operators. Alibaba is now established with an office in the UK and we have contacted them regarding a meeting to discuss how we can work together to combat counterfeiting.
Our database of companies caught by us dealing in fakes has now reached almost 1000 companies in a number of countries. This database has been supplied to various authorities to help them to identify potential counterfeiters.

BEAMA has now established an anti-counterfeit operation in the UAE. This project, known as Electric Panda, has been in operation for six months and has already had several successes and more are expected. In one large raid we seized more products (over 200,000) than had been seized in over 6 years by the previous investigators working for a similar group of companies.

All our projects benefit from employing good local investigators managed effectively by our investigating company who use the database to ensure that all our activity worldwide is intelligence led and not just relying on local gossip and rumour. That is why if there is a counterfeit problem affecting our members’ products, even if the brand owners concerned are not in membership, we will deal with it. That is how we can say to counterfeiters anywhere in the world Watch Out, BEAMA’s About !!

The BEAMA team has visited South East China on the trail of counterfeit factories and exporters yet again. This is the 17^th time BEAMA representatives have made the trip to take direct action against the very people stealing our business and putting lives at risk by manufacturing and trading in copies and substandard electrical installation products, most of them affording no protection whatsoever - down right lethal !

On arrival into China, we first visited Yiwu, and the huge commodity market located there. Here, there are thousands of shops and retail outlets, plus an inland port and logistics centre. Not all of them selling copies by any means, but there are plenty doing so in the electrical section. We locate 4 high profile traders in this section, inform the local authorities and arrange the raid, all on the same day. They arrange for about 6 officers to accompany us on the raids and the fakes are confiscated. The owners will be given an insignificant fine and told “not to do it again”. We seize a large number of circuit breakers and switches with brands of 6 BEAMA member companies. We treat this as more of an education to the market not to trade in counterfeit electrical products. The penalties certainly aren’t a deterrent but, if it keeps counterfeits of our brand names off these stalls, then we are achieving some of our goals during the work.

We then went to the hub of the counterfeiting manufacturing industry, Wenzhou, and its surrounding suburbs. We’ve identified and arranged 1 warehouse and 1 factory for raiding. We met with 4 officers from the local authorities and travelled in convoy to the first target, a 5 storey warehouse and distribution centre, for distributing counterfeit wiring accessories. It was locked but we soon got in. We found 300,000 copies of one of our member’s products, plus 2 other copy brands that were also involved. The products were seized and the owners will be called to justice. The supply factory is now being investigated.

Next day we visited a large factory, again with the local authorities, in the same area. The factory employed about 200 workers, a huge operation. Many of the products being manufactured were of a Chinese brand, but we found copies of BEAMA members’ products also, about 7,500 fake 13A switches in total, plus thousands of empty packaging, for future production. All were confiscated and taken to the BEAMA warehouse in Wenzhou awaiting a destruction order.

Finally, we made the long trek to an out of town incineration plant to witness destruction from the previous 3 months raids. This demonstrates that the BEAMA initiatives in China oversee the investigation, raid, confiscation and destruction process, a sort of cradle to grave operation. These products should never get into the supply chain of genuine electrical installation products and BEAMA certainly does its bit in helping to keep these products where they should be – in the incinerator. If this work is to succeed long term, we need more of a political will from other enforcement bodies, such as the World Trade and World Customs Organisations and the Chinese Government to do their fair share also. BEAMA are lobbying various authorities in an attempt to improve this. Talk is cheap – what we need is action.

Counterfeit Kills !

On 17th April 2008, a Stakeholder Briefing from the EU-China Project on the Protection of IP Rights (IPR) was chaired by Luc Devigne, Head of Intellectual Property & Public Procurement at DG Trade. This briefing reported on the progress in the EU/China co-operation on the enforcement of IPR in China. You may be aware that the EU has allocated €12m to improve the Chinese courts and train more IPR judges. The briefing included a presentation from the boss of DG Trade, Ewa Synowiec which explained the programme for the year ahead. For more details see http://ipr2.org

On 18th April 2008, Commissioners Meglena Kuneva (Consumer Affairs) and Laszlo Kovacs (Taxation and Customs) hosted an exhibition on safety and counterfeiting in partnership with AIM the European Brands Association. The exhibition presented unsafe products that were withdrawn from the market by the authorities, as well as some counterfeit products, which have the potential to cause significant danger to consumers. The message was that Governments, citizens and industry have no option but to work together to prevent unsafe and counterfeit products harming citizens - economically or physically. Is our message of the last ten years really beginning to get through? BEAMA supplied examples of counterfeit circuit breakers and accessories for the exhibition.

On 13th May 2008, the European Parliament and the Commissioner for the Single Market co-hosted a high level conference on counterfeiting.

• This was a conference organised by DG Single Market and the Single Market and Consumer Protection Committee of the European Parliament.  It was given a very high profile with banners covering the Charlemagne building’s facade, one of the main Commission buildings. The conference was opened by Charlie McCreevy, the Commissioner, who said that he was setting up a new unit to deal with counterfeiting, and Arlene McCarthy British MEP, Chair of the EP Committee who said that Manchester (in her constituency) was the counterfeit capital of the UK. This conference was attended by about 250 delegates, including around a dozen MEPs and all the usual suspects from industry, anti-counterfeiting lawyers, WCO and INTA.

• There was a table-top exhibition at which ORGALIME had a couple of tables, one dedicated to BEAMA, which had a number of sample counterfeit products and some pictures taken from our slides, other industries including pharmaceuticals and anti-counterfeiting technologies, as well as lawyers.

• Speakers included MEPs, Lacoste, Unilever, Union de Fabricants, ITMA, Johnson & Johnson, BEUC (European Consumers), Originize, Global Sourcing, BT and WCO.

• Most presenters went over old ground saying what an enormous problem counterfeiting now is and how we all needed to do something about it and that now that the Commission and Parliament are engaged, they would make things happen. Unfortunately, there were no representatives from DG Trade or DG Enterprise who have both been active on IPR issues for some time now. This was presumably due to interdepartmental rivalry, which is a shame.

• There were four panel discussions. These covered the effect of counterfeiting on the Lisbon Agenda, consumer safety, international trade and Internet sales.

• The most notable presentation was from Christophe Zimmerman, who is responsible for counterfeiting and piracy issues at the WCO.  He said that all we did was have more meetings attended by more people and what was the result?  Nothing happens and there are more counterfeits than ever - this was just hypocrisy. The battle was being lost, he said, and there are fakes everywhere.  At Zaventem (Brussels) airport shop, for example, many of the perfumes and mobile phones on sale are counterfeit. The problem is with the politicians and officials talking about the problem and making speeches, but not taking action.  In 2006, 5.1bn packages and 400m containers were in circulation and there were only 800,000 customs officers - and that number is being cut every year.  It is time to stop talking and start doing, he said. Specialist officers are employed to combat drugs but all the drug smugglers had moved into counterfeits as the penalties were much lower, so there needs to be specialist officers for counterfeits. The WCO has been planning to raid many African ports and expected to find at least 400 containers of counterfeits in each port. Some industries and associations were doing their bit, said Zimmerman, but many companies still ignored the problem – as for the politicians, they have failed!

• It was naïve to expect the Chinese to stop making counterfeits. It is necessary for social reasons – from their perspective - that they continue, so we have to act to cut off the supply routes in places like Dubai and other free ports, so as to make it much more difficult to get counterfeits into our markets by having more and better customs and more co-operation and data sharing.

• The other notable contributions were from Thomas Spiller of SAS, a software company. He insisted that if all of the data held by customs and industry etc was shared, it could lead to many more counterfeiters being caught. His company can supply the software, which can use the data to predict where the counterfeits can be found. Monique Goyens from BEUCspent her time criticising legitimate manufacturers for putting unsafe products on the market.

• In the discussion, a representative of Ebay defended its record on preventing counterfeiters on the site. In response, Mr. Jamet of the UdeF said that allowing Ebay to speak was like inviting a pyromaniac to attend a fire fighters conference!  

• ORGALIME/BEAMA described the activities of Electric Dragon and the work of ORGALIME to advise SMEs. We also supported Mr. Zimmerman, calling for a more proactive approach from authorities and tougher penalties.

Having been few and far between, like the No 344 bus, European meetings on our favourite subject of counterfeiting are now coming in threes!

On the 17th of April, a Stakeholder Briefing from the EU-China Project on the Protection of IP Rights (IPR) will be Chaired by Mr Luc Devigne, Head of Intellectual Property & Public Procurement at DG Trade. This briefing will report on the progress in the EU/China co-operation on the enforcement of IPR in China.

You may be aware that the EU has allocated €12m to improve the Chinese courts and train more IPR judges etc. The briefing, which will include a presentation from the boss of DG Trade, Ewa Synowiec, will also explain the programme for the year ahead. Let us hope that the project will help push the Chinese authorities both in the market, and in the ports, to become more pro-active and enable rights holders to take actions in the courts, which have more than a 7% chance of success.

BEAMA will be there, and as usual, we won’t shrink from asking the awkward questions. For more details see http://ipr2.org

On the 18th of April, Commissioners Meglena Kuneva (Consumer Affairs) and Laszlo Kovacs (Taxation and Customs) will host an Exhibition on Safety and Counterfeiting in partnership with AIM the European Brands Association. The exhibition will present unsafe products that were withdrawn from the market by the authorities, as well as some counterfeit products that have the potential to cause significant danger to consumers. The message is that Governments, citizens and industry have no option but to work together to prevent unsafe and counterfeit products harming citizens - economically or physically.

Is our message of the last ten years really beginning to get through? BEAMAis supplying some examples of counterfeit circuit breakers and accessories for the exhibition.

On the 13th of May, the European Parliament is supporting a high level conference on counterfeiting. Speakers, including British MEP Malcolm Harbour, will present a range of issues, including the effect of counterfeiting on the European economy, (competitiveness, innovation, growth and jobs), the health and safety of citizens and international trade flows, how to deal with internet sales of counterfeit products, and illegal downloads.

Once again, BEAMA will be there representing the views and experience of the UK electrical installation sector. We will be offering our advice on what needs to be done to protect citizens from the twin dangers of electrocution and fire, and to protect companies, especially the SMEs’ who cannot afford fancy lawyers and expensive investigators, against the criminals who copy their products with no thought for safety or IP rights.

What’s this all about? Ten years ago, one of our member companies lost 80% of its sales in a certain West African country within the space of two years. Although that brand was still the market leader, most of the products were being supplied by a Chinese counterfeiter. In those ten years, BEAMA has developed the biggest and best anti-counterfeiting operation in the electrical sector, with 18 brands working together. Although we have seized and destroyed over 5 million fake products and have operations in seven market countries as well as China, the problem of fake electrical products has not gone away and is now a serious threat to the UK.

Why should I care? Like so many others, you may have bought fake watches, handbags, designer clothes, DVDs and been mildly disappointed when after a few weeks the watch stopped, the handle fell off the bag or the dvd was blurred and jumped about a bit. Well what did you expect? You knew that the items were not genuine because of the low price you paid and the fact that you bought them in a bar or a boot sale or in the street, so why should you worry about fake electricals? Well, the answer is easy but very worrying, a fake circuit breaker like those shown elsewhere on this site may not operate when there is a fault and it could result in your house burning down. A dodgy RCD may not operate quickly enough and you may not survive to enjoy that well-deserved cool drink after a long afternoon mowing the lawn. A copycat plug with a well-known, but fake, certification mark on it may burn out and ruin your new carpet or you may be struck by tragedy, like the parents of the child who died last year when he was electrocuted by a fake computer game charger.

You may say: ‘But I am not using these goods only selling them and as far as I know they work OK’. Sorry, but this is not good enough! If you are in business as a supplier, distributor, retailer or installer, and fake goods get on to the market or into someone’s home through your lack of care about what you buy and from where, you are responsible. Wise up - don’t put your reputation on the line just to make a quick profit and don’t end up in court accused of killing your customers.

So what can I do to avoid trading in counterfeits? Follow the 3Ps, Person, Place and Price. If you are offered a product by a person you don’t know, in a place you don’t normally do business, at a price that seems too good to be true you should be concerned, very concerned. Contact the brand owner, speak to the certification body AND tell us by sending a message via the Counterfeit Report Tool

What is the industry doing? On 13th March the associations representing manufacturers, distributors and installers signed a Charter committing their members not to trade in counterfeit or otherwise non-complying products.