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COUNTERFEITS/
COSMETICS & PERFUMES
source:
www.goldsec.com/PR/05-01-04-2.htm
www.eubusiness.com/topics/Trade/
piracy.2005-02-09
www.cosmeticsdesign.com/news/
news-ng.asp?id=48046-counterfeit-c
osmetics-challenge
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Cosmetics and perfumes continue to be popular choices for counterfeiters… Are they unhealthy, even dangerous? Consumers don’t care! - On 28 November 2003, CosmeticsDesign.com launched the alarm: “With 5 million contaminated and unregistered cosmetics being seized in stores across Thailand this week, counterfeit cosmetics and perfumes are becoming a serious global issue. As increasing numbers of fraudsters turn their activities from luxury to consumer goods it is not only personal safety that is at risk but whole economies; (1)
- according to Gieschen Consultancy’s counterfeit-intelligence analysts, in the last quarter of 2004, India tallied the highest number of counterfeit perfumes and cosmetics worldwide; (2)
- in Europe, between 2000 and 2002, fraud trebled in the cosmetics & perfume (C&P) sectors. Annual losses caused by counterfeiting of European cosmetics were estimated to exceed US$3 billion; (3)
- custom seizures of counterfeit C&P across the 15 European Union countries are reported to have risen by a staggering 300% between 2001 and 2002. However, after the beginning of enlargement procedures, things are getting even worst. C&P continued to be popular choices for counterfeiters in 2003, with an increase in seizures of 800% compared to the previous year, according to statistics published on February 2005 by the European Commission;
- in Russia, according to official statistics released mid 2003, up to 50% of C&P sold in the country are believed to be falsified. This spread of counterfeit goods has had a huge impact on Russia's economy, suffering annual losses of €2.5 billion. The Ukraine is also thought to have suffered over €1 billion in annual losses; (4)
- according to MediaSec Technologies LLC, a provider of digital watermark and anti-counterfeiting technology, in China virtually 90% of cosmetics sold are counterfeit. In December 2001, the Chinese State Administration of Quality Supervision and Quarantine closed down 1,090 factories and settled 13,000 cases that pertained to counterfeit goods;
- according to the Cosmetic and Perfumery Retailers Association, there are as many as 160 websites offering ‘genuine’ Chanel products despite the fact that Chanel doesn’t sell any of its products on the Net.
More often than not, counterfeit perfumes and cosmetics pose a risk to consumer health and safety…- in the United States, in the mid 1990s a major shampoo producer was forced to place newspaper ads in over 25 papers to warn consumers to the presence of fake shampoos that contained unsafe levels of bacteria; (5)
- according to the World Customs Organization, bounterfeit perfumes tend to be produced in the EU countries where they are consumed. Some, however, are of extremely poor quality. In Belfast (Northern Ireland), for example, analysis of seized fake perfume found that urine had been used as a stabiliser.
(1) CosmeticsDesign.com is a North American daily online news service available as a free-access website and provides daily and weekly newsletters to subscribers.
(2) Based on the 2004 last 3 months of worldwide counterfeit enforcement activity (investigations, raids, seizures, arrests, charges, convictions, sentences, public announcements), as reported through the DOPIP Security Counterfeit Intelligence Report, more than 560 incidents were analysed.
(3) Study by the Centre for Economic Business Research, mentioned in Global Cosmetic Industry, November 1, 2003.
(4) www.cosmeticsdesign.com/news/news-ng.asp?id=48046-counterfeit-cosmetics-challenge
(5) Henry Gilgoff, “Counterfeit: Rip-offs of Popular Products Victimize Both Consumers and Manufacturers”, Newsday, August 27, 1995. Fake toothpaste has also found its way into drug stores. “Colgate Warns People Against Fake Toothpaste”, Austin American Statesman, August 12, 1996.
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