The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has directed all collectors of customs to take punitive measures to check the movement of counterfeit products, inwards as well as outwards.
The CBR has issued this directive after receiving reports pertaining to significant level of optical media piracy by manufacturers of CDs, DVDs, CD-Rs and CD-ROMs in the country.
This area of counterfeiting which was once a localised industry concentrating on copying of high-end designer goods, has now become a massive global business involving manufacturing and sale of counterfeit versions of a broad range of products.
According to estimates, the bulk of pirated optical media ultimately head for other countries which damages foreign markets and may undermine government efforts to attract trade and investment.
Therefore, the problem needs to be addressed direly through combating piracy and to enact the necessary intellectual property rights legislation.
Meanwhile according to a spokesman of Customs, field formations of the collectorates have been directed to use necessary means to control the movement of such counterfeit products by strictly implementing the provisions of Customs Act, 1969 (Section 15, 16 and 17), Patent and Design Act, Copy Rights Act Ordinance and other allied laws which provide for implementation of intellectual property rights in the country.
Provision for export policy order 2000 (S.No,. 10 of Schedule-1) also requires that strict preventive measures are adopted to check export of counterfeit goods which also include pirated products of optical media, he added.
The CBR has further directed to strictly enforce the above provisions and take preventive measures to check exit/entry points to counter the effects of unscrupulous elements in smuggling of such articles, the spokesman added.