Business | General
Customs seeks help in fighting fakes
The Federal Customs Authority (FCA) on Saturday called upon private companies and owners of trademarks to play their part in identifying counterfeit and forged goods, in response to accusations from some quarters regarding the authority's failure to protect patents, copyrights and trademarks.
- By Ahmed A.Elewa, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:44 February 3, 2008
Abu Dhabi: The Federal Customs Authority (FCA) on Saturday called upon private companies and owners of trademarks to play their part in identifying counterfeit and forged goods, in response to accusations from some quarters regarding the authority's failure to protect patents, copyrights and trademarks.
"We are only a supervising authority that monitors the execution of the laws by the local customs authorities, while the owners of trademarks and patents need to cooperate with us in identifying any counterfeit or forged products," FCA Deputy Director-General Saeed Bin Khalifa Al Merri said.
The laws applicable in the UAE include the Trademarks Law, Author Protection Law, and the law regulating industrial intellectual property rights, in addition to the country's obligations within the framework of international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Customs Organisation (WCO).
"The Trademarks Law does not have any reference to protection across borders, but rather the Author Rights Law mandates the Customs authorities to confiscate any counterfeit goods," Al Merri said.
According to the related WTO treaties, the owners of trademarks bear the responsibility to notify the authorities and supply them with relevant information to identify counterfeit products.
"Owners of trademarks are the most capable parties to carry out such a task, in the light of advanced methods used by counterfeiters, especially in packaging where the owners of the trademarks themselves find it difficult to recognise differences, let alone the Customs authorities," he said.
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"Those who criticise us need to take into consideration the wide range of forged and counterfeit products, from foodstuffs to aircraft parts, and hence the burden of identification rests with the trademark owners," he said.
Nevertheless, FCA is undertaking several measures to tighten the monitoring process. These include a draft law to regulate the authority's activities in the field of protecting intellectual property rights.
"We have also agreed with the local Customs authorities to work on a unified legislation regulating the Customs-related measures," Al Merri revealed.
Other efforts include the establishment of Customs intelligence units, utilising advanced methods and technologies in customs inspection, enhancing the staff qualification, as well the data processing.
"The authority needs an additional legal mandate to increase its authority, in addition to more cooperation with other concerned entities such as marine ports, airports, land transport and shipping authorities," he said.
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