…working on new legislation to beef up enforcement By: Anastacia Clementson With the global trade in fake and substandard goods increasing, the Guyana National Bureau of Standard (GNBS) said it is currently working to draft new legislation to beef up enforcement. The agency however, acknowledged its limited capacity in the fight against this form of trading, but said it gets help from several others agencies.
GNBS Director Evadnie Enniss
Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) facilitates the monitoring of 20 categories of goods that are either made or imported into Guyana. However, due a limited testing facility and a lack of enforceability, the agency is unable to execute its mandate effectively. In a recent interview with Guyana Times, GNBS Director Evadnie Enniss said the bureau is limited in its efforts to protect consumers from inferior goods. Ennis’ comments come shortly after Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur told Guyana Times that one of the advantages Chinese businesses have over their local counterparts is that they often trade in substandard goods. He said that some Chinese businesses, which are not registered for Value Added Tax (VAT), may be “under pricing” the other businesses they compete with as a result of trading in “substandard” goods that are relatively inexpensive as stock in trade. “That is, because the cheap, substandard goods they import, on which the GRA collects VAT, coupled with the minimum number of overheads, make the retail selling price very competitive and other businesses are unable to match the selling price,” explained Sattaur. This can be addressed, for instance, by a consumer bureau of standards ensuring that minimum standards on all goods are maintained. According to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), counterfeiting is one of the fastest growing economic crimes of modern times. It presents companies, Governments and individuals with a unique set of problems. What was once a cottage industry has now become a highly sophisticated network of organised crime that has the capacity to threaten the very fabric of national economies. It devalues corporate reputations, hinders investment, funds terrorism, and costs hundreds of thousands of people their livelihood every year. The chamber said counterfeiting accounts for between five to seven per cent of world trade, worth an estimated US$600 billion a year. Shared responsibilities The GNBS Director explained that the bureau does not monitor all the goods that are in circulation on the local market. She said while GNBS monitors 20 categories of goods, the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department and other standardisation agencies monitor other goods.
Source: Guyanatimes
