United World

Sri Lanka being on the southernmost tip of the Indian Sub Continent is a key destination for trade and commerce in the South Asian region. The recognition with well-known global brands and their awareness on the quality of goods in the nation has resulted a rise in consumption of branded goods which has in due course of time given rise to counterfeiting activities and thus resulted in import as well as manufacture of counterfeit products of some
of the globally renowned brands.

The affect of counterfeiting activities have a far reaching impact on not only the consumers and the right-holders, but also on the government and the society at large. In order to propagate the importance of IPR enforcement in the region, United IPR in cooperation with the right-holders that included Apple, L’Oreal, Nike and Charles & Keith organized training with the Sri Lankan Customs on 26th October 2016 at their office in Colombo. The training was targeted to bridge the gap between the industry and the Custom authorities for optimal enforcement at the ports. The training was spearheaded by the Learned Deputy Superintendent of Customs Mr. Ashraf Samsudeen and attended by several other Custom Superintendents.

During the training, the Sri Lankan Customs, who can suo motu interdict and seize any suspicious consignment either imported into or exported out of Sri Lanka, have assured of their complete cooperation to the right-holders in preventing the entry/exit of any counterfeit or infringing goods from its territorial borders. In addition, Sri Lanka acts as a central point for the transit of goods due to its strategic location in the South Asian region and has well developed IPR laws also for in-transit goods. Such trainings would therefore lead to optimization of interception and seizure of counterfeit goods.