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The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has affirmed that counterfeit electrical products are real danger to safety, business and economy.

“The counterfeiting industry is overwhelming, but that is no reason to give up and let it continue, we need to support and collaborate to deal with the proliferation,” Francis Mensah Akpaloo, an engineer at GSA stated at a workshop organised and sponsored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) at Ho recently.

Mr Akpaloo therefore advised companies to study product portfolio’s vulnerabilities and incorporate prevention of electrical counterfeiting into an existing quality and safety programmes.

The CDA Consult workshop forms part of series of nationwide public education initiative dubbed: ‘Avoid patronage of counterfeit electrical products,’ which seeks to assist stakeholders to identify counterfeit electrical products on the market.

It also seeks to expose stakeholders to dangers associated with the patronage of counterfeit electrical products, as well as create a platform for security operatives and others to enforce laws against sale of counterfeit products in the country.

The anti-counterfeiting educational crusade being undertaken by the CDA Consult also seeks to help professionals understand the dangers associated with counterfeit electrical products.

The GSA Engineer urged companies to build product repository, or data bank, consolidates relevant historical information about internal incidents and industry insights into external incidents.

Mr Akpaloo suggested that the product data bank should contain information about internal counterfeiting incidents, including specific details such as raw material, adulterant, source, date of incidence, cost to the company, and actions taken.

He urged companies to ensure that their raw materials were tested as early as possible.

Mr. Akpaloo also urged companies to employ a comprehensive set of deterrence strategies, stressing that, “A more cost-effective way for a company to protect its brands and its consumers would be to apply a comprehensive set of deterrence strategies to prevent counterfeit products from entering the supply chain in the first place”.

He encouraged companies to enforce the highest manufacturing standards using programmes such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) Standards, and accredited third-party certification schemes like the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Mr. Akpaloo called on stakeholders to understand the implications of local risks, as some regions and markets are more vulnerable to the risk of electrical counterfeiting than others.

Mr. Francis Ameyibor, CDA Consult Executive Director explained that the proliferation of counterfeit electrical products in the country “is on the increase and as a nation we need concerted efforts to deal with the problem”.