Task force to clear pirated textile stocks from Ghanaian textile market

Ghanaian textile market is currently full with African textile prints poorly and cheaply printed using stolen designs moreover; some of these unoriginal African prints have logos and trademarks of the original owners, which have created confusion amongst the buyers.

A special Task Force on the Seizure and Disposal of Pirated Ghanaian Textiles will soon be systematically working on this issue faced by the Ghanaian textile sector. The Force has advised all categories of textile dealers, to clear their stocks of the proscribed products, as the market swoops to discover and destroy were eminent.

The Quality Control Manager of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Eugene Adarkwa-Addae gave a word of warning at a well-attended sensitization workshop in Ho that illegally using others designs was revoltingly inappropriate, in fact criminal as it is violating the copy rights laws of the state.

Apart from copying designs, some of the textile products are printed using colours which are health hazards for users and therefore, have to be banned.

The authorities are not against the importation or trading in textiles, but the plagiarizing of the designs of others. Hence, all importers of textile products need to register their designs with the GSA.

The sensitization programme was as a result of a directive by the President that stakeholders in the textiles business were educated on the negative impact of trade in pirated textiles on the economy of Ghana as prelude to implementing the law.

As part of the sensitization tours, the general public was also educated on the special features differentiating pirated textile products from genuine ones.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division, Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Ministry of Trade, Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Associations of Textile Producers and marketers, has collaborated to ensure the policy worked.

The burning of seized pirated good conformed to international statutes which said such goods should not find their way into any market.