We often see name brand goods in local stores throughout Belize, but many of the products are bogus, counterfeit versions of top shelf products. It's a global issue that happens with not just with shoes and hats but also with medicines. Today a four-day workshop to discuss this subject began at the Ramada hotel in Belize City.
It's called a Sub-Regional workshop on Border Control and the main goal is to combat counterfeits. 7 news was there and we spoke to a few of the participants.
Sandra Wens, Technical Expert Consumer Protection/IPR Programs Compliance Directorate
"Counterfeit is a big problem globally. We see it in every country. Every country has their specific problem. We see also in this region that there are certain specific problems when it comes to certain goods and it is important to the region that we work together and as a good cooperation between the different custom agencies in the region to tackle to problem together and by hosting this event Belize clearly shows their intent to tackle the problem in the region."
Collin Griffith, Comptroller of Belize Customs and Excise Department
"Belize Customs is of the opinion that the goods are suspicious so we communicate with the agents or the right holders and then they would come in and determine to whether the goods are counterfeit or not. They would then have indemnified the government of Belize and customs department against any action because then it moves into a civil matter with them and the goods, so it is not a customs offence but we recognize our responsibility and they ought to inform us that we should treat the goods as prohibited."
Luis Reveiz, Pharmaceutical Company Representative
"Pharmaceutical companies are victims of large spread counterfeit of their products which indifference of counterfeit products which relates to clothing or watches or hats it is affecting the health of all the citizens across the globe."
"One of the issues that we face is the legislation in most countries is very weak as it relates to criminals that are counterfeiting pharmaceutical products and therefore one of our objectives is to provide training and awareness to local authorities of the issues involved around the counterfeiting of our products and potential health issues the public is exposed to by counterfeit pharmaceuticals."
The participants will learn many skills, one of the most important ones is how to distinguish counterfeit and authentic products. The participants are from Belize, Honduras, Mexico, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.
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