Crackdown on counterfeiters

Sales of authentic shirts are being undermined by counterfeiters.

A national campaign aimed at stopping the multi-billion pound industry in counterfeit goods has been launched by the government.

Consumer affairs minister Kim Howells kicked-off the two-day roadshow with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

United has seized £6 million of fake goods since it set up its own anti-counterfeiting unit in 1990, while estimates say that £6 billion of trade is lost every year nationally through counterfeiting.

This is not a victimless crime

Dr Kim Howells, Consumer Affairs Minister

The new campaign aims to raise awareness of fake goods and the fact that counterfeiting is part of a wider criminal network, with links to fund drug-dealing and organised crime.

With the Euro 2000 Championships approaching, campaigners are hoping that shoppers will think twice before buying a fake football strip if they know their money could be going to drug dealers working in their area.

Organised crime

The trade in fake goods all has dramatic effects on industry, using cheap labour and sub-standard materials, making it more difficult for genuine businesses to compete.

Dr Howells said: "This is not a victimless crime, there are victims, they are British workers, shops and taxpayers in general."

"It costs the Treasury £1 billion a year in lost taxes, that's lost hospitals, lost playing fields for kids to play on."

Dr Howells also stressed the link to other crime, by saying that while the fake goods were cheap, they could be funding drugs cartels: "The money is going into the pockets of gangsters."

The new campaign has been backed by the Sports Industries Federation.

Potential danger

Dangerous products found in the UK include washing powder which caused burns, perfume which caused skin reactions and hand toold made of such brittle steel that they broke into sharp fragments.

Dr Howells said: "If you knowingly buy a counterfeit product, you could be bringing an unknown danger into your home."

"We cannot allow this menace to continue to damage local economies and fund criminal activity."