To win confidence from consumers by No Fakes Pledge

Date: 17/10/2005

Retailers from different sectors today (June 3) joined together and discussed how to win the confidence of consumers through participating in the "No Fakes Pledge Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Protection Seminar".

The Director of Intellectual Property, Mr Stephen Selby, and the Assistant Commissioner of Customs & Excise, Mr William Chow, jointly officiated at the opening ceremony.

Mr Selby said Hong Kong had long been recognised by tourists all over the world as a shopping paradise. To keep this goodwill, it was important to reinforce the importance of IPR protection to the front-line ambassadors - retailers.

"It is clear that participants of today's seminar are willing to find ways to win consumers' confidence and to safeguard our reputation as a world-class shopping bliss," Mr Selby said.

"We strongly believe that our effort in combating the selling of pirated and counterfeit goods in Hong Kong has strengthened the confidence of local and overseas consumers in shopping in Hong Kong," Mr Chow said.

"Today's seminar provides a direct channel for us to use a soft approach to disseminate this message to retailers. Our retailers' participation in the No Fakes Pledge Scheme demonstrates their self-commitment to IPR protection. We fully support them."

To enhance the awareness of the protection of IPR of members in the retail sector, the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) and the Customs, with the full support of the Consumer Council, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries and eight supporting organisations of the "No Fakes" Pledge, today held the seminar on how to guard against dealing in pirated and counterfeit goods, how to be a responsible retailer, and the latest developments in intellectual property law and its enforcement.

Guest speakers of the seminar include experts from Customs and Excise Department, the Consumer Council, Mannings, the City University of Hong Kong, The Walt Disney (Asia Pacific) Limited and the Federation of Hong Kong Industries.

The IPD, together with the Hong Kong Record Merchants Association, the Hong Kong Retail Management Association and the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, launched the "No Fakes" Pledge Scheme in 1998 to encourage retail traders not to deal in counterfeit and pirated goods so as to strengthen the confidence of consumers in shopping in Hong Kong.

Other supporting organisations include the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the Hong Kong & Kowloon Electrical Appliances Merchants Association, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Pharmacy, the Chamber of Hong Kong Computer Industry and the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong. At present, more than 620 companies with more than 4,100 retail outlets are joining the scheme. Participating retail outlets have to display the "No-Fakes" stickers for identification.

Details of the seminar, which was held at the Hong Kong Central Library, are available at the IPD web site at www.ipd.gov.hk.

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