CACIT, Ghana

CACIT Events

Up-coming Events

Date	Activity
July 22 & 23, 2008	Conference on West African Sub-regional and Inter-agency Collaboration in the Fight Against Counterfeit and Pirated Products.
July 2, 2008	CACIT Quarterly Meeting, Time: 9:00am Venue: GEA conference Room.

Workshop and Launch of the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade

A workshop organized by the Ghana Employers Association and Association of Ghana Industries, on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 at La Beach Hotel. The objectives of the workshop were to discuss the impact of counterfeits and anti-illicit trade and the efforts being made to counter the issue and to launch a business coalition to work towards creating an operating environment and regulatory regime that makes Ghana unattractive for counterfeit products and illicit trade.

The meeting was attended by stakeholders from industry, regulatory bodies and other agencies such as GIPC, AGI, TUC and GUTA.

The Chairman for the meeting was the President of the Association of Ghana Industries, Mr. Tony Oteng–Gyasi and the special guest of honour was the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Honourable Akoto Osei. Speakers at the meeting included the CEO of FDB, Mr. E. Agyarko, the Executive Director of GSB, Mr. Adu Darkwah, representatives of the Police Service, Revenue Agencies Governing Board and the Nigerian Standards Board. There were also speeches on the Nigerian experience with counterfeiting by the Head of NAFDAC, Prof. Dora Akunyili and a response from Mr. Peter Nwajagu, the representative from the Nigerian Standards Board.

At the end of the meeting the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade was launched by Mrs. Ama Banful on behalf of the Attorney General.

There was media coverage by TV3, Metro TV, GBC Radio, Joy Fm, The Ghanaian Times, the Chronicle, Business and Financial Times, Ghanaian Times Democrat and The NewNation Times.

April 2008 - Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade Ghana Celebrates World Intellectual Property Day

The Ghana Anti-Counterfeiting Project comprising stakeholders such as the Ghana Employers' Association, Unilever Ghana Limited, the Institute of Packaging Ghana, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Standard Board, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Ghana Police Service, Unilever and Ghana Union Traders Association in collaboration with the Food Drugs Board (FDB) celebrated the World Intellectual Property Day on 26th April 2008.

The day was marked by creating awareness on the importance of protecting intellectual property rights and paying tribute to investors and artists both great and small who have enriched the existence of mankind with the fruits of their innovative thoughts and creative vision, and included the following events:

WIPO IP Awareness Day fell on Saturday so a Press Conference was organized on Monday April 28, 2008 at the conference room of the Food and Drugs Board. Several press houses were present together with some members of the Ghana Anti Counterfeiting Project. The press conference attracted over 40 participants from the various media houses (print and TV).

The Chief Executive Officer of Food and Drugs Board (FDB) Mr. Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko who chaired the function, cautioned consumers to be acquainted with the key characteristics of their popular products and medicines. This he said would enable them detect any fake products and report to the Police or the FDB. Mr. Agyarko said that counterfeited goods were of bad quality because the sole aim of the counterfeiter was to make excessive profit at the expense of the innovator and the consumer. He also urged the media to assist in the fight against counterfeiting and illicit trade by holding discussions on the issue and publishing issues on counterfeiting in the newspapers. Mr. Kofi Essuman, Director of the Institute of Packaging, advised importers to carefully check the source of the products they imported into the country to avoid the goods being destroyed.

The Ghana Anti-Counterfeiting Project preceded the press conference with a documentary on counterfeit products on TV Africa and TV 3 to mark the occasion.
An advertisement containing messages from WIPO Director General Kamil Idris, and CACIT, and an article prepared by FDB and edited by CACIT and the project team leader were also published in "Daily Graphic" to mark the day.
Bumper stickers on counterfeiting and illicit trade were distributed to members of the public and the press.

World IP Day 2008 - A Message from WIPO Director General Dr. Kamil Idris

World Intellectual Property Day is rapidly growing in popularity. Since its launch, eight years ago, increasing numbers of governments and organizations are joining WIPO in the annual celebrations on 26 April.

The man or woman in the street might wonder just what makes intellectual property worth all this effort. What, they might ask, do the workings of copyrights, patents, industrial designs or trademarks have to do with the really big issues, like how to stop global warming; or with the things that add spice to life, like watching their favourite athletes perform in this year’s Olympics? The answer is that, without intellectual property rights, many new technologies developed to tackle global problems would never see the light of day and the great sporting events, which entertain and unite us, would not be broadcast into homes across the globe.

On World Intellectual Property Day we are celebrating not only the enormous power of human creativity, but also the intellectual property rights that help to fuel and channel it, making it such an important driving force for economic, cultural and social development.

The ingenuity of our species has propelled us from the invention of the first wheel, to effortless air travel and th e latest generation of clean fuel technologies. It has led us from the creation of drawings on a cave wall, to the printing press, and on to the Internet, which puts the world literally at our fingertips. It has given us technical advances which allow pole-vaulters to soar ever higher, footballers to shoot ever further and millions of ordinary people to have a level of well-being which would have been unimaginable only a few generations ago. WIPO is committed to using intellectual property as a means of harnessing and spreading the power of human creativity and innovation so that the people of every country, of every community, can share in their bounty.

And so, on World Intellectual Property Day, we pay tribute to the inventors and artists, great and small, who enrich our existence with the fruits of their innovative thoughts and creative vision. And we remember why it is that their intellectual property rights, the rights that they have earned through their individual and collective talents, deserve our admiration, our protection, and our respect.