Sukhdev Chhatbar
6 July 2009
Nairobi — The East African Community is in the final stages of making legislation that will criminalise the importation of counterfeit goods in all the five partner states.
The legislation is expected to be ready before November's East African legislative Assembly (EALA), where it will be discussed before being passed into law and ratified by respective national parliaments.
Speaking at a press conference in Arusha recently, EAC Secretary-General Juma Mwapachu said, "The counterfeiters are targeting East African markets where enforcement is not strict and resources to do so scarce. We must fight and be firm on this."
He said that volumes of counterfeit goods in the recent past have grown and now range from pharmaceuticals, car parts, agricultural chemicals, foods, electronics, to soap and toothpaste.
"The EAC's greatest worry is that the counterfeits are posing serious health risks to our populations. This is unacceptable," said Mr Mwapachu.
He warned that if unchecked, the counterfeits will negatively impact on the region's economy, and the region's concerted efforts for economic growth will roll backwards.
He further said that apart from costing governments in terms of revenue loss, the counterfeits will kill local and emerging regional industries, which are crucial to the region's economic sustainability, competitiveness and job creation.
According to the Paris-based international research and discussion group Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, it is estimated that EAC countries were losing about $20 million annually and the indication was that this was growing.
The counterfeits legislation, said Mr Mwapachu, will help harmonise laws in the EAC partner states and impose much stricter penalties, including confiscation of the goods and imprisonment for their importers. The legislation was being drafted with the assistance from the Investment Climate for Africa.
Mr Mwapachu said that preparations were in full swing the for the second EAC Investment Conference to be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi from July 29-31.
Meanwhile, Mr Mwapachu last Thursday launched the new EAC web portal, www.eac.int, to improve access to information for public and private sectors.
The project aims at assessing the scale of the problem in EAC, evaluate existing policies and recommend uniform laws, regulations and enforcement mechanisms to combat counterfeit trading and protect intellectual property rights.
The first EAC Investment conference was held in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2008, and was attended by over 1,000 investors.
It is a premier forum for the EAC partner states with the aim of promoting the region as a single market and investment area.
Among other things, the website will feature an interactive blog by the EAC Secretary-General, have information on all key functions of the Community, its organs and institutions and will be linked to other relevant bodies.
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