Anti-Counterfeiting Law To Be Introduced
The Ghana Institute of Packaging has called for an anti-counterfeiting law to help fight piracy and illicit trade. According to the Institute, Ghana currently has a fragmented intellectual property legal framework.
This has resulted in the inadequate implementation of existing regulations, hence the need to focus more on the criminal code, the customs law and the food and drugs law in the country’s quest to curb counterfeit products.
The President of the Institute, Kofi Essuman, stated this at the opening of a two-day Capacity Building Workshop organised by the Institute in collaboration with the Coalition against Counterfeiting and Illicit trade, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Accra.
The two-day workshop is to provide an opportunity for officers of the law enforcement agencies and the regulatory bodies such as the Police Service, Food and Drugs Board etc., to acquaint themselves with the challenges of counterfeiting and piracy as well as look at the way forward.
Mr Essuman contended that counterfeiting negatively affects employment, the credibility of the national economy, consumer confidence and investment.
He stressed that many West African industries have collapsed as a result of counterfeiting, piracy and the infringement on intellectual property rights, saying the time has come for policy makers to enact laws against counterfeiting and piracy in order to offer stiffer punishment to serve as a deterrent to offenders.
He further explained that it is necessary for Ghana and other ECOWAS countries to invest heavily in the knowledge-based industries in order to manufacture globally-recognised value-added products and build effective institutions which will adequately protect the intellectual property rights of all citizens and enforce the laws on same to assure the safety of investments in the country.
Thirty students who took part in the Essay and Art competition on Counterfeiting and Piracy organised by the Institute were duly rewarded.
Source ISD: (Nii Otabil)
