THERE'S A WAR TO BE FOUGHT

There’s a war to be fought: nine out of ten Italian products are imitations. Southeastern Asia is known to be the paradise of fake products, with China and Korea followed by Italy, number one in Europe in the imitation industry.

This system is consolidated throughout the country and provides labor (mostly black market) in the Naples area, Prato and the Milan hinterland. The issue of false labelling is also on the rise, for example, clothing being labelled as “Made in Italy” but produced elsewhere.

Anti-imitation desks were launched in 2004. They consist in officers that monitor imitating industries in loco in areas at risk around the world.

Custom controls should be intensified and labelling made obligatory in order to certificate the origin of the product, as Usa and China are doing already.

But making the customer aware of the underlying fraud still remains the hardest task. Customers should be made aware of the fact that the purchase of imitations can do a lot of harm, even though it doesn’t seem so. To begin with, it could be taught in schools. But most of all, companies are the ones who should be made aware of how detrimental imitation products are.

They should demand that controls be carried out when delegating to contractor firms while  making sure they are doing business with honest suppliers and dealers.

Preservation of the “Made in Italy” brand represents an investment for the country system as a whole for the safeguard of this resource of inestimable value for the nation, which produces revenue, occupation and social well- being

However, we hope it is not too late.