The Speaker, Anita Among, has classified as urgent, the need to enact a law to curtail the proliferation of counterfeit products on the market.
Speaker Among said due to lack of a strong legal regime to stop counterfeits, consumers’ lives are at risk and the country suffers revenue and economic distortions to the disadvantage of legitimate manufacturers.
The Speaker made the remarks at an Anti-Counterfeit Expo taking place at Parliament on Wednesday, 16 October 2024.
She committed to oversee the speedy enactment of the Anti-Counterfeit Goods and Services Bill, 2024 on which Hon. Asuman Basalirwa (JEEMA, Bugiri Municipality) is consulting to introduce as a private members’ legislation.
“It is out of counterfeit products that people get sick and this explains the rise in cancer cases in the country and the accidents on our roads which can be attributed to the quality of tyres, break-pads, fuel,” she said.
She added, “you find people who are selling genuine things having to contend with others selling dangerous counterfeits at a cheaper price, causing tax distortions but also bringing unfair competition against the genuine manufacturers”.
The dangers of counterfeits, she said, does not spare President Yoweri Museveni’s crusade on value addition underscoring the urgency of the legislation to protect industrialisation.
“The adulterators must not take advantage of those engaged in value addition; this is why I call upon the Uganda National Bureau of Standards to conduct aggressive audits and bring down counterfeits,” she said.
The Speaker tasked MP Basalirwa to expedite his consultative process and table the Bill in time for enactment by Parliament before the end of the year.
“You [Hon. Basalirwa] said this Bill should be a Christmas gift to Ugandans; bring the Bill and have it tabled,” she said.
Basalirwa hailed efforts to enact the law as timely, saying the existing legal regime does not adequately address the counterfeits challenge.
“The existence of fake products on our markets across the board is alarming. The existing legal framework is insufficient to address counterfeits in Uganda; we have done the consultations countrywide and we are ready for first reading,” he said.
Lawyer Fred Muwema, who has been collaborating with Basalirwa on generating the Bill said Uganda is the only country in the region without a law on counterfeits.
“Counterfeits affect not only our well-being, but also our economy. The Uganda National Bureau of Standards issued a report that 58 per cent of the products on our market is fake; we are the only country in the region with no law on counterfeits,” he said.
