30/09/2009

Word from the Industry - An Update From BEAMA

BEAMA's Dave Dossett provides this latest update on BEAMA's anti-counterfeiting drive:

Since the website was launched a year ago, there have been many developments in the fight against counterfeits. The issue's political profile continues to grow; the establishment in the UK of the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is certainly a positive step.

We in BEAMA have made contact and had constructive conversations with the IPO. We are persuaded that the issue of unsafe counterfeit or non-complying products is now being taken seriously by the authorities, although political correctness and spurious references to the Data Protection Act sometimes get in the way.
The Electrical Safety Council (ESC) is among eleven organisations, which have signed the Industry Charter to combat counterfeit electrical products. The ESC committed resources to this issue, including organising the Round Table earlier this year.

We are now planning to extend the Charter to other industry sectors and any organisation with a desire to stop this iniquitous trade. Posters emphasising the Charter and warning installers against the use of counterfeits have been distributed to over 1400 wholesaler trade counters. We are also finding evidence of non-complying, and possibly, counterfeit products being sold through the retail trade. Where this is proven we will not hesitate to take action on our members' behalf.

At international level we have continued through ORGALIME, our European Federation, to support the EU/US dialogue and the bilateral EU/China Trade meetings with industry experience and suggestions for improving the performance of China in this area. While we praise the attitude and performance of the Chinese enforcement authorities in their quick, effective, response to our requests to act against local counterfeiters (those in other countries, including the UK, should take note) it is still our view that 85-90% of counterfeits in our sector are made in China.

On the ground, the ever-growing BEAMA database of counterfeiters has proved an invaluable asset and has improved the effectiveness of our raids in China and the market countries in the Middle East and Africa. Our intelligence-led raids are proving ever more successful. In one raid against a distributor in the Middle East, we seized over 200,000 products - a record for a market country. So, when we warn distributors to "watch out BEAMA's about", this is no idle threat. If you trade in counterfeits of our members' products we will find you and have you raided.

Finally, we have started to take systematic action against websites, which allow counterfeiters to advertise and sell on their platform copies of our members' products. One of the largest B2B sites - Alibaba - has now been established in the UK. We would particularly ask them to ensure that they do not allow counterfeits to be traded on their site, and although they have been quite helpful in barring counterfeiters when notified in the past, more needs to be done on this subject.

If you visit the site please send us your experiences of 'dodgy' products - happy counterfeit hunting.

BEAMA Ltd.,Westminster Tower, 3 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SLTel: +44 (0) 20 7793 3013 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7793 3003Web: www.beama.org.uk / www.beamainstallation.org.uk