Fake it ’til we make it: regulating dangerous counterfeit goods

Abstract

The lucrative global trade in dangerous counterfeit goods—everything from fake or adulterated pharmaceuticals to mislabelled electrical components—grows annually. Despite the obvious public health dangers posed by these products, most jurisdictions lack an integrated legal regime to prevent the flow of dangerous counterfeits.

This article uses survey data gleaned from representatives to the ECTA to broadly characterize anti-dangerous-counterfeiting legal regimes in the US, EU, China and India. After setting out these archetypes, this article analyses certain ‘best practices’ including consumer education on the public health impact of dangerous counterfeits (particularly food and medicine), integrated product tracing systems and greater international coordination in enforcement efforts.

The article seeks to add to a growing international conversation between law enforcement, non-governmental organizations and private stakeholders on the most effective means to curtail the growing dangerous counterfeit problem.