The Africa Consumer Union says as Zambia commemorates World Consumer Rights day, it is important to address issues of influx of counterfeit goods.
Consumers International (CI) has chosen “Trusted Smart Products” as the global theme for this year’s World Consumer Rights day (WCRD).
Union First Vice President Muyunda Ililonga says notes that the spread of counterfeit goods has become very wide in Africa, and Zambia is no exception.
Mr. Ililonga says the range of counterfeited goods is extremely broad increasingly exploiting not only luxury goods but also every day consumer goods.
“This constitutes a serious threat to public health and safety since counterfeit products are not subject to safety checks. Beauty products, medicines, fragrances, electronic products such as mobile phones are some of the frequently counterfeited products,” he said.
He further noted that this trend exacerbate poverty in Africa as consumers are robbed of their money without realising the full benefit of the product they purchase.
“Further, African economies are impacted negatively as traders of these products invade paying taxes and in some cases provide unfair competition to legitimate domestic producers. Although some counterfeit goods are produced within the domestic economy, there is ample evidence indicating that the largest share of such goods entering Africa are dominated by those exported from China which has become the continent’s major trading partner,” said Mr. Ililonga.
“ACU implores African leaders to safeguard their economies by negotiating fair trade relations with China to thwart the flow of counterfeit goods.”
He said there is need to adequately resource countries ‘ anti-Counterfeit agencies and strengthen their cooperation in order to prevent entry of such goods into the continent.
He added that although the actual financial losses, jobs lost and economic impact associated with counterfeiting is difficult to quantify it is not far-fetched to imagine it’s substantial.

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