06 April 2004 16:51
About two-thirds of all goods on sale in Russia counterfeit, official says
Moscow, 6 April: The amount of counterfeit goods on the Russian market is declining, the chief state inspector of
trade, Nadezhda Nazina, told reporters today.
In 2002, 80 per cent of all goods for sale were counterfeit, she said, but this has now been cut by 15-20 per cent.
Working with the police, trade inspectors visited over 100,000 businesses involved with intellectual property during the
first quarter of this year, Nazina said. They seized counterfeit audio and video products and machinery used to make
them to the value of R920m. They also closed down 500 illegal producers, imposed R60m of fines and took administrative
measures against 20,500 companies and individuals, she said.
Work in this direction is continuing, Nazina went on. Inspections are being carried out and there are plans to
tighten the intellectual-property laws.
The head of the Russian Interior Ministry's main directorate for economic crime, Nikolay Kromkin, reported that
articles 180 and 146 of the Criminal Code have already been amended and the penalties made stiffer for breach of
copyright and related rights. There are also plans, he said, to amend the Administrative Code so as to increase the
fines for distributing counterfeit products and to lengthen the time allowed for investigating such cases from two days
to a month.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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