The Imaging Consumables Coalition Europe (ICCE) gave an overview of its achievements last year.
The ICCE, which is a “non-profit making association”, features 10 OEMs in its membership, including Brother, Canon, Epson, HP Inc, Kyocera, Lexmark, OKI, Ricoh, Samsung and Xerox, and it noted that “a collaborative approach to tackling counterfeit imaging supplies” formed its activities in 2016. Last year saw it continue a campaign to “raise awareness of the growing issue of counterfeit imaging supplies”, as well as “work in collaboration with law enforcement to help pursue counterfeiters”.
The organisation claims it “went from strength-to-strength” in 2016, and “continued to expand its face-to-face education and engagement programme with law enforcement officials” across the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) through “attending or facilitating training events”. Members also “met with hundreds of police, customs officials and members of other bodies involved in the enforcement of intellectual property rights […] during the course of the year”.
It added that the coalition also “made a concerted effort to support events across Africa”, including “new counterfeit training in Kenya” as well as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Europe, while in the UK it “achieved significant exposure at the Interpol IP Crime Conference through a sponsorship agreement”. Training and education services alongside “its close collaboration with law enforcement” also saw a “number of successful raids during the year”.
These included one “seizing thousands of counterfeits in Ajman and Dubai in June” and another in Ras Al Khaimah in August, and “two new videos” were launched that “targeted law enforcement officials and consumers”, aiming to “help raise the profile of ICCE and its purpose”, alongside “awareness of counterfeiting and issues affecting the imaging supplies market”, with both said to have “inspired action to help combat these issues”.
Both videos were supported by Interpol as well as the UK’s HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, with both said to have “proved very successful”, as the law enforcement video has been viewed “by officers in countries as far as Zimbabwe, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico and Oman”. In future, the ICCE “intends to use the videos as part of its ongoing work”, with plans to launch two more in 2017.
Another area of growth was its continued expansion of its “online presence to help reach its target audiences”, including “new and informative videos and news articles” on the ICCE website, YouTube and “online platforms of stakeholders”, while social media “played a significant role” in helping “engage with a wider audience about tackling counterfeit imaging supplies”, the ICCE’s Twitter followers “increasing by over 110 percent”.
Focusing on this year, the ICCE will “celebrate its 20th anniversary in its fight against fake imaging supplies”, and will “continue to expand its educational programme and awareness-raising initiatives across [the] EMEA”, as well as proceed with “further collaboration with governments, police and customs agencies to clamp down on illegal supply chains”.