Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Namibia Revenue Agency (Namra) on Tuesday destroyed counterfeit goods worth over N$5 million, which reportedly entered the country illegally.
According to law, Namra can auction off the goods or it can be used by the state, but the agency chose to destroy the goods.
Namra spokesperson Steven Ndorokaze says the items that were set ablaze include several prominent brand items ranging from clothes to shoes, perfumes and bags.
He says young Namibians, in an attempt to mitigate the country’s high unemployment rate, are resolving to ordering goods for resale mainly from China.
Ndorokaze says the destroyed consignment also included sanitisers and electronic devices, such as cellphones.
Quoting from the Customs and Excise Act he says destroyed goods are classified as counterfeit goods, meaning they were manufactured or sold under another brand name without the brand owner’s authorisation.
Ndorokaze says in terms of the act, the importation of counterfeit goods is prohibited in Namibia owing to copyright infringement and protecting society.
The goods were reportedly confiscated by Namra officials at different duty stations as part of the enhanced enforcement of the applicable domestic and international instruments.
“Namra calls upon the public to refrain from importing counterfeit goods as they could lose the acquired stock due to the violation of the law. Further, counterfeit goods may be harmful to society as such goods would have not been subjected to the relevant established standards,” he says.
The destruction of goods in Namibia is not new.
According to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report released in 2019 before the disruption of supply chains due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these goods comprised 3,3% of global trade.
That is over US$500 billion, and leading this pack of counterfeit goods were footwear (22%), clothing (16%) and electronics (12%).
The OECD report said the majority of fake goods picked up in customs checks originate from mainland China and Hong Kong.
Other major points of origin include the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Singapore, Thailand and India.
Some of the traders of these goods who spoke to The Namibian on condition of anonymity said despite the destruction of their goods, they will continue trading.
“What else can we do? There are no jobs. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It is a normal business loss,” one trader said.
Another said it did not make sense that Namra detects counterfeit goods at the border, but not those in plain sight.
“We have Chinese shops not more than 200 metres from the Namra building, yet those counterfeit goods are still traded freely. They do not even pay taxes, yet they are allowed to operate,” the trader said.
The tax office has in the past been accused of going after small tax offenders and allowing known offenders to go scott–free.
At the launch of the agency last year, founding commissioner Sam Shivute said Namra would not discriminate against taxpayers.
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