The Dhaka South VAT Commission-erate (Segunbagicha) conducted an operation at some factories on May 14, 2017. While conducting the operation, the inspectors seized a stockpile of counterfeit tooth brushes (Sensodyne, Colgate, Oral-B and Dr. West), ball pens (Linc and Fort) and aromatic incense sticks branded as Gurudev Agarbatti - originating in India.
The commissioners were stunned at the gravity of the situation and afterwards they sealed off three factories and four warehouses belonging to one company. Surprisingly, the company has reopened its closed factories to restart the operation of its counterfeit business with a fresh intention to freely distribute the fake products in the market. Unfortunately, this will encourage dubious tradesmen to continue their unscrupulous activities.
The Bangladeshi market is increasingly becoming susceptible to such fake products. As a result, the government's overall revenue growth is being affected negatively and consumers are likely to suffer from various diseases using such type of substandard fake products. The authorities should give urgent attention so that necessary actions are taken in this regard. Otherwise, recent growth of local toothbrush and ball-pen industries will breakdown.
At the same time, IPAB would like to thank assistant commissioners of the divisional commissionerate for their success in this raid and request them to continue such operations while taking more rigorous steps in the future. It should be mentioned here that Intellectual Property Association of Bangladesh (IPAB) in collaboration with the government has been working for some time in Intellectual Property Rights to protect Bangladesh's local industries from counterfeiting and smuggling.
Md. Azizur Rahman
DG, Intellectual Property Association of Bangladesh (IPAB).
[email protected]
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