Ghanaian govt to donate seized pirated textiles

06 Jul '13

2 min read

The pirated textile products seized by the Government Task Force would from now on be donated to the needy instead of being burnt.

This was told by the Minister for Trade and Industry Haruna Iddrisu to reporters, when 1,550 pieces of pirated textiles were burnt at the Kpone land fill site, according to the Ghana News Agency.

The Minister said some of the counterfeit textile products that were burnt had ‘Made in Ghana’ written on them, but actually they were fake and had come in from places outside Ghana.

So far, pirated textiles were being burnt as a symbolic act, but the Government would now implement a new policy under which confiscated counterfeit textiles would be donated to places like orphanages so that they benefit the needy, Mr. Iddrisu said.

The pirated textile products that were burnt at the Kpone land fill site were confiscated from markets in Accra, Takoradi and Mankesim.

‘Pirated’ textiles is a major problem affecting the Ghanaian textile industry. The term is used to denote those textile products that are an imitation of traditional Ghanaian textile designs and are available at lower prices.

To address the problem, the Government had set up a Task Force in August 2010 with a mandate to seize and destroy pirated textiles.

Last month, the Task Force was re-constituted by the Government and a Vetting Committee on the importation of African Textile Prints was also constituted.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has announced that all imported African prints would be subjected to 100 percent physical examination with effect from September 13, 2013.

Moreover, the importation of all textiles would be restricted to the Kotoka International Airport, Tema and Takoradi ports from September 2013 onwards.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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