Counterfeit textiles smuggled into Ghana to be destroyed
Counterfeit textiles smuggled into the country will henceforth be destroyed, either through burning or any other means possible, when they are seized.
The move is part of efforts to clamp down on the illicit trade to discourage the practice, save the economy from the loss of revenue, save the textile industry and protect jobs in the industry.
The destruction of the seized textile materials will be carried out in the presence of representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), Police, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the Textile, Garments and Leather Workers Union (TEGLU), manufacturers of textiles and the media.
This was the outcome of a meeting held at the Ministry of Trade and Industry on March 31, 2010.
The meeting was attended by the sector Minister, Ms Hannah Tetteh, the acting Director of Import and Export, Mr Appiah Doyina, and the Deputy Commissioner of CEPS in charge of Operations, Mrs Victoria Seda.
Others at the meeting were representatives of Ghana Textile Printing (GTP), Printex, Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL), TEGLU, Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF), Ghana Employers Association (GEA), Ghana Chamber of Commerce, CEPS and the Ghana Revenue Authority.
It was agreed that a task force constituted by representatives of textile manufacturing companies, CEPS, TEGLU and the police would be established to ensure effective implementation of the decision.
Addressing the meeting, Ms Tetteh tasked textile manufacturers to ensure the registration of their designs to enable CEPS to curtail pirating and the smuggling of textile designs.
She called for a meeting between CEPS officials and the textile companies for an effective orientation for the custom officials which would help the security officials to understand the importance of the exercise.
She said when implemented successfully, the programme would help sustain the textile industry and prevent the shutting down of textile factories and the eventual collapse of the industry.
Participants, however, stressed the need for effective public education to sensitise textile dealers to the effects of engaging in the negative practice of smuggling.
Local manufacturers were also impressed upon to patent their designs and logos, among other things, for the effective protection of their intellectual property.
When contacted, the General Secretary of TEGLU, Mr Abraham Koomson, welcomed the decision and described it as a great move to protect the state from the illegal business.
“We are happy about it; this is a major decision,” he said, adding, “If goods bought with hard cash are seized and destroyed, it will become a disincentive to engage in the act of smuggling.”
He said TEGLU, which had long advocated such a decision, was not happy about destroying goods, noting, however, that since the smuggling was rampant, it was imperative to take a hard decision.
Mr Koomson said the smuggling of the materials was killing the local textile industry, as it had resulted in job losses over the years.
He said Ghana was not the only country adopting the measure of destruction, arguing that some countries in the sub-region, such as Cote d’Ivoire, had been doing that.
He said imposing duties on the seized counterfeited materials was not deterrent enough, as the goods ended up on the markets, competing with the local textiles whose designs had been pirated.
Mr Koomson said the union was not against imports, saying that anybody who would import genuinely and pay the right taxes could do so.
For his part, Mr Doyina told the Daily Graphic that the destruction of the counterfeited textiles was part of a World Trade Organisation (WTO) measure to stop the transaction in such goods across the world.
Earlier in January 2010, the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) had called on the government to destroy seized textile materials smuggled into the country.
It suggested then that the influx of cheap foreign textiles which had embossed on them pirated designs of local textile firms should either be burnt or destroyed through other processes to prevent them from finding their way onto the local market.
The measure, the GFL said, was to deter people from continuing to engage in smuggling, which had led to the collapse of textile companies and made the state to lose millions of Ghana cedis.
It said from a total workforce of 25,000, the industry now employed 3,000 workers and attributed the problem to the influx of cheap textiles on the local market.
Source: Daily Graphic