Are you getting what you’ve paid for?

Customs prevent sale of dangerous products imported into Europe.

French customs authorities have halted an international counterfeit supply route and prevented many potential injuries by seizing 122,000 dangerous counterfeit cables. The seizures were made across three locations and were triggered by the discovery of 15,700 counterfeit electrical cable reels in a discount store in Vendee.

After further investigation the rest of the counterfeits were tracked down in two other regions, and the supplier, based in Hong Kong, was also identified.

The French Directorate General of Customs and Excise explained that the cables were made to appear to be copper. However, they were in fact made of an iron alloy and were highly flammable and of poor quality. As a result they would have been highly dangerous to installers and occupiers of buildings as a serious fire risk.

The Directorate emphasised that an international counterfeit network had been broken down, as three men behind the French shell company that sourced the cables were arrested.

The Directorate’s statement lends further weight to the UK industry’s opinion that an international effort is important to effectively combat the trade in counterfeit and non-compliant electrical products and protect the public.

The customs operation follows recent close attention from the French building industry on the issue of counterfeit and non-compliant goods.

With British, European and International initiatives in place, there is a determination in many parts that the trade in counterfeit and non-compliant goods will be increasingly restricted.

• May 31, 2017

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