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Work item:
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L.Counterfeit
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Subject/title:
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Adequate Assessment and Sensitisation on Counterfeit ICT Products and their Environmental Impact
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Status:
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[Carried to next study period]
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Approval process:
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AAP
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Type of work item:
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Recommendation
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Version:
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New
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Equivalent number:
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-
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Timing:
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-
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Liaison:
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ETSI EE
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Supporting members:
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Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Egypt
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Summary:
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Counterfeit ICT products are prominent in developing economies. This can be attributed to many reasons including their low pricing, porous borders, insufficient regulatory surveillance (Type Approval/Acceptance) and uncontrolled export-import business. Counterfeit products have an extremely short life span and easily reach end of useful life and are discarded as e-waste. The rate of accumulation is too high leading to volumes in places designated and undesignated.
The ITU-T SG11 on Signalling requirements, protocols, test specifications and combating counterfeit products is responsible for studies to combat counterfeiting products including telecommunications/ICT and mobile device theft.
The recommendation will specifically define and assess the health and environmental impacts of counterfeit ICT products (including separate parts and assembled components) and assess their contribution to the generation of e-waste volumes with the intention of reducing their environmental impact and creating awareness and sensitization on the same.
It will provide a guide on what consumers and/or retailers should consider as counterfeit. The recommendation shall thus provide the definition of counterfeit ICT products in this context in order to guide the assessment, sensitization and management of the counterfeits.
East African countries separately have done studies to find out quantities of counterfeit phones in their countries. Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) for example did a study (year) which estimated that 10% of all phones on the local market were counterfeit. Using the IMEI database and an associated blacklist, the CA later ordered Kenyan operators to switch off counterfeit phones in October 2013. In Rwanda, the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) estimated that 47.5% of the phones used are counterfeit, while in Tanzania the estimate was at 22%. A study by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) in 2013 found that 29.5% of all phones used in Uganda are counterfeits
A report by the OECD (2017) on the trade in counterfeit ICT products found that nearly 1 in 5 mobile phones and 1 in 4 video games consoles shipped internationally is fake. The report further indicates that smartphone batteries, chargers, memory cards, magnetic stripe cards, solid state drives and music players are also increasingly falling prey to counterfeiters. On average 6.5% of global trade in ICT goods is in counterfeit products according the analysis of 2013 customs data (Source). This is well above the 2.5 % of overall traded goods found to be fake.
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Comment:
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-
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Reference(s):
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Historic references:
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Contact(s):
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First registration in the WP:
2018-10-03 11:18:11
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Last update:
2021-12-13 16:41:17
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