Kenya is losing at least Sh100 billion annually in revenue due to the infiltration of counterfeits and related illicit trade in the local market.
The latest intellectual property crime study by the Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) indicated that the country was losing billions, a figure economists expressed fears could be higher and increase each year.
In a statement released Wednesday, the authority said that the National Baseline Survey between October 2019 and February 2020 painted a worrying trend on the extent of counterfeiting and other forms of illicit trade in Kenya.
The report said the scope of the survey included counterfeiting, piracy, substandard goods, unaccustomed goods, restricted goods, and unexercised goods as some of the major avenues through which the country lost revenue.
However, the World Economic Forum estimates indicate that neighbouring countries of Uganda and Tanzania were worst affected by the revenue leakages after posting annual losses of $1.8 billion (Sh195.8 billion) and $1.6 billion (Sh174.1 billion), respectively.
And as the world marks this year’s World Anti-Counterfeit Day on June 8th, 2023, ACA, together with other partners, has organized its first international symposium on IP protection and enforcement to be held on June 13th–15th, 2023, at BOMAS of Kenya.
The theme for this symposium is “Addressing the IPR infringement and related forms of illicit trade enforcement to spur a digital economy”. The symposium aims to bring together policy makers, judicial officers, enforcers, leading academic scientists, research scholars to symposium on bettering the global protection of IP.
The day brings together National and international IP organisations to raise public awareness of the negative impact of counterfeit and pirated goods on the health and safety of consumer.
The symposium is expected to take stock of the global innovative practices towards the protection of Intellectual property after the Authority early this year launched the IPR Recordation system for imports into the country.
The system involves the creation of a database of information relating to trademarks, copyrights, trade names, or any other protected intellectual property rights, for all goods to be
Imported into Kenya and has been lauded as one of the most effective international best practices in prohibiting the importation of counterfeit goods.
The day is globally organised by the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group (GACG) – an international network of national and regional IPR enforcement and protection organisations.
In Africa, Kenya is the only member of the GACG through the Anti-Counterfeit Authority from East Africa, besides Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Counterfeiting and other forms of illicit trade are a global phenomenon that continue to thrive despite numerous legislative and regulatory frameworks by employed by countries around the world.
The increase in intellectual property right infringements and illicit trade in general is viewed to be as a result of weak legislative and institutional frameworks as well as lack of a collaborative networks to counter the vices.
By Wangari Ndirangu
