Counterfeit goods pulled off shelves

Business

THE Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) is taking drastic measures in the Mamose region to ensure retailers and wholesalers do not sell counterfeit or non-English-language-labelled products.
ICCC Commissioner and chief executive Paulus Ain said that based on a recently signed agreement, the provincial’s commerce divisions in Morobe and East Sepik would enforce relevant Acts by conducting routine inspections in shops to monitor the case.
The ICCC will deal with those products on a case-by-case basis, specifically from a consumer safety and protection viewpoint.
Ain said ICCC would investigate and take actions if:

  • Counterfeit products did not meet the requirements of ICCC’s interim ban on non-English-language-labelled goods or the labelling requirement under the Packaging Act 1974;
  • A business or trader advertised a counterfeit product as genuine or having characteristics similar to that of genuine product. The trader would be investigated under the Commercial Advertising (Protection of the Public Act 1976) for misleading or false advertising; and,
  • The weight of the fake product measures less or above than the prescribed weight on the package. The trader will be investigated.

“The ICCC will write to the concerned retailers and management informing them about the requirements of the law and will continue to pursue specific cases based on law,” Ain said.
He was unhappy with shops, wholesale distributors and supermarkets in Mamose which kept selling fake and non-English-labelled products since the ban a year ago.
Ain said he would seek a collaboration effort with PNG Customs Commissioner Ray Paul and pursue their existing agreement to beef up measures at the entry points in Port Moresby and Lae.
He said businesses which currently had counterfeit and non-English-labelled products in warehouses were required to write to ICCC immediately and explain to seek an amicable understanding.