Thai Crackdown on Border Vendors is Counterfeit Policing

[geovalin]

Alan Parkhouse

The wrong people are being targeted in raids carried out by Thai authorities at the Rong Kluea border market opposite Poipet. Cambodian traders in the market appear to be the focus of the latest round of raids on Saturday, as Thai officials attempted to crack down on counterfeit goods entering their country.

For decades Thailand has been a major center for counterfeit goods, ranging from pirated movies to brand-name clothes and shoes and more recently electronic devices. For many years the United States and organizations in Europe representing well-known brands have threatened a litany of sanctions against Thailand unless it cleans up this trade.

It is good to see that Thai officials have made some efforts to stamp out a trade which unless it is reigned in will lead to penalties of various kinds being imposed on it.

But to target low-level Cambodian vendors in a border market is not a step in the right direction. It is simply a way of finding scapegoats for a trade firmly rooted in Thai soil.

Any visitor to Bangkok who takes a stroll through the street markets in the tourist centers along Silom or Sukhumvit roads will see that the majority of the products on sale are fakes. The same can be said of the MBK Center, one of Bangkok’s major shopping centers, which caters to thousands of tourists every day.

According to a report in yesterday’s Bangkok Post, the latest crackdown at the border market on Saturday uncovered “a large assortment of bags, sunglasses, eyeglasses and shoes copied from famous brands. The fake products found on Saturday alone were estimated to be worth more than 10 million baht,” which is roughly $283,000.

This is a small drop in the ocean of Thailand’s massive counterfeit market, and will have no impact on the trade.

For many years the Rong Kluea market on the Thai side of the border from Poipet had been a paradise for Thai shoppers looking for second-hand clothes brought in from Cambodia, but in recent years it has become better known for the illegally copied products on sale there. Traders at the market say the switch to fake goods came about due to growing demand in Thailand.

Thai officials have taken the wrong approach – if their goal is to eliminate the trade. The crackdown on Cambodian vendors will only shift the trade in counterfeits to a new place. Until the Thai authorities start targeting those behind the trade – the “influential people” as they like to say in Thailand – it will never go away.

It is like arresting and jailing small-time drug dealers on street corners and then announcing a crackdown on the drug trade has taken place. Until the major figures behind illegal activities have been arrested they will continue to flourish.

Thailand needs to look within and identify the big players in its massive fake-products market, rather than point the finger at a few vendors along its border with Cambodia. The trade in counterfeits has flourished all over Thailand for decades, and that is also where the demand is.

A karaoke crackdown on the border only causes Thailand’s trade partners to wince.

source http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22337/thai-crackdown-on-border-vendors-is-counterfeit-policing/

[Srikcir]

Cambodian vendors will only shift to Thai vendors.

Nothing else will change.

[ChrisY1]

Alan is so right......we all know this to be the case...........and of course, the big malls and shopping centres will never be targeted....there's just too many influentials and too much money involved!......but as an aside....the international community knows only too well and their tourists flock here to buy fakes!

[buythisdashcam]

Luckily nothing will change :-)

[timendres]

The brand guys would be much further ahead investing in a means of verifying legitimate products.

A person making 8,000 baht a month is never going to pay 50,000 baht for a Gucci bag!!!! Simple as that. Who really cares if they buy a cheap knock-off.

A person making 1,000,000 baht a month is never going to buy a cheap knock-off. HEAVEN FORBID.

Just come up with a way to verify the real product from the knock-off and move on...

[bheard]

The approach of cracking down on vendors is just another iteration of "shooting the messenger" - a Thai speciality so as to be seen to be doing something - get the low hanging fruit - it's easier.

And in the Thai case, as others have noted, the big players are the annonymous suppliers with upper level connections. Don't go after them, too hard. Besides, that would be cutting off the brown envelope supply.