Ministry disposes counterfeit goods worth RM36.49 mln
NILAI: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) has disposed of various counterfeit goods estimated to be worth RM36.49 million, from January to November this year.
Its enforcement director Datuk Iskandar Halim Sulaiman said the total involved 2,822 cases under the Copyright Act 1987, the Trade Descriptions Act 2011 and the Consumer Protection Act 1999, involving goods that were pirated, fake, and did not meet safety standards.
He said the counterfeit goods were seized from operations in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.
“Based on compounds and charges imposed on cases of the seized items, a total of RM2.23 million in temporary collection proceeds was realised as government revenue, besides from auctions, quotations, tenders and direct sales, worth RM429,921.
“Besides that, government revenue was also acquired from financial forfeiture by court order worth RM1.77 million and the destruction of case items worth RM32.06 million,” he said in a press conference at KPDNHEP Enforcement Division Storage Complex, here, yesterday.
He said, this year, the ministry conducted 731,102 inspections with 9,448 seizures over various offences worth RM74.09 million.
Iskandar Halim said a total of 6,772 cases had been compounded involving retail traders, wholesalers and factories for various offences, worth RM19.68 million, while 35 cases had been charged in court with fines worth RM7.42 million.
He said KPDNHEP is targeting to continue efforts in identifying wholesaler and storage premises that are keeping counterfeit goods to stop the items from being distributed to retailers, thus easing the task of its officers in tracking down errant retailers.
“The counterfeits are from cheap sources with most of them coming from China. Usually they import non-branded goods but when the goods arrive here, they are labelled with related brands for sale, this what we are concern of,” he said. - Bernama