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China sentences 1,606

in anti-fake drive

BEIJING: China said on Saturday it had convicted 1,606 people, including 14 who were sentenced to death, in a three-year campaign against counterfeit goods.

In the past three years, anti-counterfeit task forces have uncovered more than 370,000 cases of fake products and 6,419 people have been detained, the China Daily reported.

"Of those, 1,606 have been sentenced," it quoted Zing Penghang, vice minister of the State Economic and Trade Commission as saying.

However, the newspaper added that the battle against regional protectionism and official complicity was not over.

Among those convicted 14 were sentenced to death for making alcoholic products that caused the deaths of 36 people and disabled another 89. Another 16 were jailed for life.

Xu said 146 local leaders had been punished for involvement in the forgeries or offering to protect those who had produced counterfeit goods.

More than three million inspectors fanned out across China, closing 124,000 markets and illegal sales places, he said.

They shut down 53,814 fraud scams, broke up 5,672 criminal gangs and forced 12,000 factories to halt production.

"In total the inspectors found the phoney products were of different types and the labelled value of the fake commodities amounted to 10.4 billion ($1.253 billion)," Xu said.

Fake goods worth $373.5 million have been destroyed, he said.

"However, despite these achievements, the country still faces a very tough task in the anti-fake campaign as the practice of making and marketing bogus products is still a serious problem," Xu said.

He cited protectionism, weak punishment of offenders, disorder in the market and inadequate official supervision and administration as major reasons for the fake-goods epidemic.

China will launch a new crackdown on fake medicine, chemical fertiliser, drinks and machinery products, he said. The previous drive focused on health, construction and production materials.-Reuter