Don't be caught out! - Validate!

The Imaging Consumables Coalition of Europe Middle East and Africa, today announced the re-launch of the ‘Check it Out’ service as ‘Validate!’

Jag Gill, Director of Legal and Marketing Affairs commented, “Essentially, Validate! Is a product authentication service, available to the supplies channel, whereby printer cartridges can be sent to the ICCE, for validation purposes. If the product is counterfeit then we will request details from the sender, regarding the supplier. The service is completely confidential.”

The ICCE has identified a number of counterfeit operations through this service in the past, leading to a number of raids. Phil Scrase, Chairman of ICCE and Vice President Consumables at Oki Europe added, “It makes good sense for distributors or resellers, who are unsure about the source and nature of certain products, to make use of this service. It provides them with peace of mind and leads to ICCE assisting in eradicating this illegal competition from the market place.”

The supplies channel can further get involved with the fight against the counterfeit dealers, by joining the ICCE Partner Program. The ICCE Partner Program enables supplies channel members to obtain a trademark license from the ICCE, permitting the use of an ICCE logo. The logo denotes that the licensee is a supporter of the goals of the ICCE.

The European Commission Press Release (24th of November 2003), confirms the growth of mass consumer market counterfeit products, and notes that Customs seized 85 million counterfeit/pirated goods at the external EU border in 2002 and 50 million in the first half of 2003.

If you have any concerns or would like to join the ICCE Partner Program, please e-mail icce@icce.net or visit our website www.icce.net for more information.

Alternatively call +44 (0)208 408 5408. All calls are confidential.