Gulu resident responding to the nature of the bill as Fred Mwema (seated left) and Kizito from UCC listen. Photos by Arnest Tumwesige
By Arnest Tumwesige
Gulu: Residents in Gulu want to see changes in the mode of operation by the government enforcement agencies to achieve effectiveness from the Anti-Counterfeit Goods Bill.
According to residents, the bill is not only long overdue but might remain on the shelves like other good laws in Uganda.
Samuel Lagu the Gulu district Deputy Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) said the momentum for enacting the law should be proportional to implementation. If not, it will be a waste of time.
The concerns were raised during the consultative meeting held in Gulu City by the Anti-Counterfeit Network (ACN) and attended by taxi operators, SACCO leaders, boda-boda riders, market vendors, and politicians.
Deterrent measures
Fred Mwema the Chairperson of the ACN said once the bill becomes law, it will unleash deterrent measures against anyone producing or selling counterfeit.
Mwema explained that under existing laws like the Trade Mark Act, where product brand names are registered, convicts are penalized for between two and five years’ imprisonment, which now goes for 10 years.
“Wherever we’ve been in the country, most people have asked for the death penalty. Others have asked for life imprisonment and they reason that a counterfeiter is a murderer,” Mwema noted.
Mwema noted that there are fake products on the market such as antimalarials that kill between half a million and one million Africans every year.
Some of the products that the law intends to address are cosmetics believed to have cancer-causing properties, unbranded products, aiders and abettors of a counterfeiter, and directors and their companies dealing in counterfeits.
Similarly, under the bill, anyone caught with a counterfeit product will be sentenced to a fine of five times the value of the recovered quantity.
The proposed law will be used by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), Dairy Development Agency (DDA), Uganda Communication Commission (UCC), and the National Drug Authority (NDA), among other government agencies.
Uganda has been lagging behind
Joseph Kizito the Head of the Consumer’s Affairs Function at UCC, said for communications to be meaningful to users, they must be trusted, safe, and traceable.
To that effect, UCC rolled out a SIM clear campaign that aims to limit access to fake communication services in its network.
“When anti-counterfeit came through, we saw it as an opportunity to strengthen our fight against counterfeits not only at our sector level but also with others that we collaborate with,” Kizito said.
Kizito regretted that only Uganda among the East African countries still has counterfeits such as electronic devices.
“In certain countries within the East African region, you can no longer take a fake device and it connects to the network,” he said.
He revealed that UCC will soon limit access to communication services to people who commit Mobile Money fraud, or those who register their SIM cards using other people’s National Identification Number.
Gulu residents concerned
Richard Komakech Oketayot, the Bardege-Layibi division councilor IV suggested that agencies responsible for ensuring standards should also be culpable and penalized for neglecting their responsibilities.
Joyce Aloyo, a person living with a disability said that while the bill is very good, it has come a bit late due to the fake products that people have already consumed in the form of foodstuff which is causing a big health problem.
Background on the bill
In July 2023, the Parliament of Uganda granted leave to Bugiri Municipality Member of Parliament, Hon. Asuman Basalirwa, to introduce a Private Member’s Bill entitled, “The Anti-Counterfeiting Bill, 2023” and consultations started in March this year.
The proposed Bill will prohibit trade in counterfeit goods that infringe upon protected intellectual property rights require intellectual property rights to cover only copyrights and trademarks and prohibit the sale of counterfeit goods.
It will also empower the Commissioner General of the Uganda Revenue Authority to confiscate suspected counterfeit goods, and allow inspectors appointed by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards to do the same.
