Hewlett-Packard (HP) has hosted the Anti-Counterfeiting Africa Conference, aimed at educating and empowering organisations across the continent against the negative effects of counterfeit trade.
HP intends to increase awareness on the impact and consequences of counterfeit trade during its summit in Johannesburg.
“The HP Anti-counterfeiting Program works hard to protect partners and customers, but this is only made possible through close collaboration with law enforcers around the world. We therefore truly appreciate the cooperation of African law enforcement to helping to make this event possible, and protect African customers from the inferior standards and potential risks of counterfeit.” said Fabrice Campoy, Printing and Personal Systems Africa director. “
Across the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, over the last five years HP said it has conducted around 1,600 investigations, resulting in about 1,300 enforcement actions and around 11 million units of counterfeit products and components seized, thus preventing them from being sold in the EMEA marketplace and beyond.
“As the global trade in counterfeit goods is growing, Africa is increasingly being targeted as a market for counterfeit merchandise. The emergence of a new trend that Africa is being used as a transit route for fake goods, which also poses an indirect threat to European and American markets, has depicted a growth in the global trade in counterfeit goods is growing,” HP said.
The company has also had to make 4,000 unannounced inspections of HP products at the warehouses of HP Channel Partners across EMEA in the past five years, to verify that they are not selling counterfeit products to their customers.
The summit will see government officials, law-enforcers and representatives of ministries responsible for anti-counterfeiting gather to discuss consumer protection and raise awareness against illegitimate goods.
“False goods impact businesses and global trade through lost revenue, damage to brands and the negative effects on hard-earned reputation and consumer confidence,” said Jeff Kwasny, brand protection programme manager for HP’s Printing and Personal Systems group.
“At the 2014 Anti-Counterfeiting Africa Conference, we are bringing together those most affected by counterfeits in the region – from policy makers to brands like Unilever and Nike – so we can work towards tackling this criminal activity together.”
