Anti-Counterfeit Authority has released findings of the National Baseline Survey on the extent of counterfeit and other forms of illicit trade in Kenya. According to the study conducted between October 2019 and February 2020, the Government revenue lost in 2018 stood at Kes 102.99 billion up from Kes 101.23 billion in 2017. From the 16 sectors of the economy that the study concentrated on, building, mining and construction was heavily affected by counterfeiting with a share of 23.37% in value of total illicit trade, followed by energy, electrical and electronics with a share of 14.67% in 2018. The sector with the most government revenue loss was food, beverage and non-alcoholic drinks with a share of 23.19%, followed by textile and apparel at 20.09%. Thirty (30) percent of the firms were aware that their products were being counterfeited and sold in the market, whereas 56.4% of the sampled firms were not aware that their products are being counterfeited and sold in the market. Between 2016 and 2018, 7,484 jobs were lost in Kenya due to illicit trade with counterfeiting accounting for 32.59% of the jobs lost. The study also cites piracy as a critical form of illicit trade. According to the findings, the loss of sales as a result of pirated products stood at KES 2.2 billion over the period 2016-2018. Although the trend depicts marginal decline between 2017 and 2018, the loss as a result of total sales is quite high ranging between 37.69% and 42.14%, which is a clear...

The Anti-Counterfeit Authority has Wednesday released findings of the National Baseline Survey on the extent of counterfeit and other forms of illicit trade in Kenya. The purpose of the study is to determine the extent and magnitude of illicit trade in the country. According to the study conducted between October 2019 and February 2020, the Government revenue lost in 2018 stood at Ksh 102.99 billion up from Ksh 101.23 billion in 2017. From the 16 sectors of the economy that the study concentrated on, building, mining and construction were heavily affected by counterfeiting with a share of 23.37% in value of total illicit trade, followed by energy, electrical and electronics with a share of 14.67% in 2018. The sector with the most government revenue loss was food, beverage and non-alcoholic drinks with a share of 23.19%, followed by textile and apparel at 20.09%. Thirty (30) per cent of the firms were aware that their products were being counterfeited and sold in the market, whereas 56.4% of the sampled firms were not aware that their products are being counterfeited and sold in the market. Between 2016 and 2018, 7,484 jobs were lost in Kenya due to illicit trade with counterfeiting accounting for 32.59% of the jobs lost. The study also cites piracy as a critical form of illicit trade. According to the findings, the loss of sales as a result of pirated products stood at Ksh 2.2 billion over the period 2016-2018. Although the trend depicts marginal decline between 2017 and...

The Anti-Counterfeit Authority of Kenya has released findings of the National Baseline Survey on the extent of counterfeit and other forms of illicit trade in the country. According to the study conducted between October 2019 and February 2020, the Government revenue lost in 2018 stood at KES102.99-billion up from KES101.23-billion in 2017. Around $900-million each year. From the 16 sectors of the economy that the study concentrated on, the most affected were building, mining and construction. These three sectors were specifically and heavily affected by counterfeiting with a share of 23.37% in value of total illicit trade, followed by energy, electrical and electronics with a share of 14.67% in 2018. The sectors where most government revenues were lost are the food, beverage and non-alcoholic drinks sector with a share of 23.19%, followed by textile and apparel at 20.09%. 30% of the firms in the sectors were aware that their products were being counterfeited and sold in the black market, whereas 56.4% of the sampled firms were not aware that their products were being counterfeited and sold. Between 2016 and 2018, 7484 jobs were lost in Kenya due to illicit trade with counterfeiting accounting for 32.59% of the jobs lost. The study also cites piracy as a critical form of illicit trade. According to the findings, the loss of sales as a result of pirated products stood at around  $2 million (KES2.2 billion) over the period 2016-2018. Although the trend depicts marginal decline between 2017 and 2018, the loss as a...

Total volume of illicit trade stood at Ksh 726 billion in 2017 and increased to Kes 826 billion in 2018 which represents 8.9% and 9.3% of Kenyan GDP respectively. Total government revenue loss from illicit trade in all sectors stood at Kes 101.23 billion in 2017, rising to Ksh 102.99 billion in 2018. Kenya is losing billions of shillings in revenue according to the Anti-Counterfeit Authority’s findings of the National Baseline Survey on the extent of counterfeit and other forms of illicit trade in Kenya. According to the study conducted between October 2019 and February 2020, the Government revenue lost in 2018 stood at Ksh 102.99 billion up from Ksh 101.23 billion in 2017. From the 16 sectors of the economy that the study concentrated on, building, mining, and construction was heavily affected by counterfeiting with a share of 23.37 percent in value of total illicit trade, followed by energy, electrical and electronics with a share of 14.67 percent in 2018. The sector with the most government revenue loss was food, beverage, and non-alcoholic drinks with a share of 23.19 percent, followed by textile and apparel at 20.09 percent. Thirty (30) percent of the firms were aware that their products were being counterfeited and sold in the market, whereas 56.4 percent of the sampled firms were not aware that their products are being counterfeited and sold in the market. Between 2016 and 2018, 7,484 jobs were lost in Kenya due to illicit trade with counterfeiting accounting for 32.59 percent of...

The fight against Covid-19 pandemic will not be won if smugglers continue bringing counterfeit goods into the country. Industrialisation and Trade Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina has warned that as the country puts efforts to fight the global disease, unscrupulous business persons are taking advantage to sell counterfeit goods. In a speech read on her behalf by Trade CAS Lawrence Karanja during the destruction of counterfeit products worth Sh27 million in Athi River yesterday, Ms Maina said the impounding and destruction is proof of the government’s seriousness and commitment to rid the country of fake goods. “If you look at the description of these goods, you will feel disturbed. Most ofthem are of poor quality, meaning they have no value to the consumers. Some of them like electric cables and circuit breakers can cause danger and result to health and safety issues,” she said. The CS noted that with support from the Trademark East Africa, the Ministry of Trade and Industrialisation is finalising the national baseline survey on illicit trade. The report will be launched on June 10 during the World Anti-Counterfeit Day. Some of the goods destroyed through burning included face masks, medicines, clothing, electronic items, cosmetics and stationary, which were replicas of some popular local and international brands. Source: Standard Media

East African Community (EAC) partner states have adopted a Regional Electronic Cargo and Drivers Tracking System that will be hosted at the bloc’s headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The system will share the truck driver’s information leveraging on that which is already managed and operated by Revenue Authorities in the region, and the existing health information systems in the six EAC countries.An official explained that the development of a regional Covid-19 surveillance system for trucks and their crew is another tool to help mitigate the disruption of domestic, regional and global supply chain systems serving the region. On Monday, June 1, Daniel Murenzi, the Principal Information Technology Officer at the EAC headquarters, took The New Times through “the technical functionalities of the system” which allows users to share information across borders in a transparent manner. Murenzi said: “The system will work in all EAC Partner States. It will be interlinked to EAC Ministries of Health and accredited laboratories for the accurate information. “The system will bring on board the truck owners or companies so that information can be shared across. In case a truck driver is tested positive in another country the system will notify the Ministry of Health of the driver’s originating country.” The EAC is collaborating with Trademark East Africa in the development, implementation and operation of the surveillance system. Explaining what they hope will be achieved, Patience Mutesi, TMA country director, noted that lately, the new coronavirus has been spreading between countries largely through land borders which economies...

Kampala, Uganda: The UK Government announces its support to the Government of Uganda’s efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 disease and to respond to the impacts of SARS-COV-2 coronavirus. We are supporting Government of Uganda (GoU) at both national and district levels.  We have provided £500,000 to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to strengthen testing, surveillance and contact tracing, as well as screening at Uganda’s borders. With a contribution of £167,000 to the World Food Programme we have established a temporary screening facility for international arrivals at Entebbe Airport.  Our health programmes continue their work to protect health workers and essential health services. The UK recognises the importance of maintaining safe trade routes between Uganda and her neighbours.  Through Trade Mark East Africa, we support the ongoing expansion of a regional electronic cargo tracking system and are working to help protect drivers and communities at points of entry and along transit routes.  We continue to support the GoU to protect elderly people and refugees; as well as in maintaining learning while schools are closed. The Head of Office of the UK’s International Development arm in Uganda, Andrew Ockenden said: “Our contribution will help cater for the most immediate public health needs in Uganda to help counter the spread of the virus. The UK has already been a strong and constant international partner throughout the Ebola response and is key player in the fight against malaria. We remain committed to the Ugandan people and are proud to now be able...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an impact on the East African Community (EAC) economies both directly and indirectly as a result of the measures being taken currently to contain the spread of the disease. Realizing that the spread of COVID-19 was mainly through travel, several measures were imposed. These include closing of airports and borders, curfews, social distancing necessitating the need to stay at home, reduction on movement and lock-downs. The closure of businesses has led to a near-collapse of the air travel industry, tourism and hospitality, agriculture, livestock and fisheries, industry and manufacturing, trade and distribution, cargo and passenger transport and logistics as well as the banking and other financial services sectors. The net result is unemployment, food insecurity and economic slow-down with a risk of total collapse if the situation is not arrested. Initial projections indicate that as a result of the pandemic, economic growth in East Africa as well as other sub-Saharan African countries will decline from 2.4 percent in 2019 to between -2.1 to -5.1% in 2020 (World Bank predictions), depending on the success of measures taken to mitigate the pandemic’s effects. It is estimated that the Pandemic is costing the region between US$37 billion and US$79 billion in terms of output losses. The biggest impacts in terms of loss to GDP are reductions in household and business spending (about 50 per cent), disruption to supply chain for key inputs in machinery and chemicals (about 30 per cent), and tourism (about 20 per cent). The result...

KAMPALA – The Minister of Trade, Industry, and Cooperative, Amelia Kyambadde has reported an increase in Uganda’s merchandise exports, a majority of which are agricultural which rose by 40.2% between 2016 to 2019. While giving the sector’s performance at the Office of the Prime Minister, Kyambadde said the exports increased from $2.92125bn in 2016 to $4.09565bn in 2019. She further said since the launch of the Buy Uganda Building Uganda (BUBU) policy, there has been the growth of locally produced programs. “Locally owned companies have continued to have an equal share of the national cake in terms of contract award in the value chain,” she said. Kyambadde said with the COVID-19 epidemic, the responsiveness of local Industries has been enabled by BUBU policy to produce sanitizers, salt (Kampala), NYTIL (masks and protective wear). She also said that the BUBU logo has been registered under the Trade Marks Act of 2010 and gazetted in the Uganda Gazette and will be rolled out in the next Financial Year 2020/2. Kyambadde said “The Ministry trained and continue to train professional bodies and their membership on the reservation and preference schemes under Government procurement and the BUBU initiative.” The minister further revealed that a total of 1,258 cooperatives were registered during the year, bringing the total number of registered cooperatives to 21,454. “The cooperatives provide range services to their members which include financial services, agricultural marketing, transport, energy, housing among others,” she said. She added that the ministry conducted offsite and onsite supervision of...

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