Economic impact
Copiers do not pay product development or safety compliance costs, proper wages, tax or VAT, which lead to:
- Reduced profit for legitimate companies, lower wages, lost jobs, less growth
- Deterioration of revenues for governments, unemployment costs, leading to fewer funds for other social priorities or developments.
Multiple risks
You can imagine the impact of fake products on all market actors in terms of credibility, reliability and image. But the undeniable major risk remains quality. Indeed, as copies do not comply with international standards or bypass quality management controls, they expose everyone to serious threats:
- Health and safety hazards
- Installation damages or loss
- No services, no warranty, no insurance
Moreover, all business actors can face civil and criminal liability risks because we are all responsible of what we buy and sell.
Safety cannot be imitated
In the electrical field quality is not a luxury. In an installation, each electrical component has a vital function. When a component must operate for protection, control or supervision, it has to work immediately and in a 100% reliable way.
- Copies are generally made of cheap and unsafe material (flammable plastic, poor plating…)
- Copiers reduce production costs by not respecting quality and safety standards constraints
- Copiers generally imitate the external aspect but do not have the know-how for the technology.
The fight against counterfeiting is one of the strategic axis of Schneider Electric
We have dedicated teams whose mission is to enforce this strategic orientation to local operations.
Every effort is put into preventing, rooting out and eliminating counterfeiteiting through the following actions:
• Protection of our products by registering our trademarks, patents, designs
• Markets monitoring to detect and track the copies
• Enforcement of a strict policy with our partners
• Cooperation with relevant government authorities and professional organisations to develop and enforce laws, regulations and standards
• Enforcement of our Industrial Property rights by taking legal actions
• Implementation of communication campaigns to raise awareness
• Development of products authentication systems
You are an essential actor in this fight
You can easily adopt a responsible attitude by following simple advice such as:
 |
- Avoiding products with no brand
- Purchasing from authorized distributors or manufacturers
- Watching for products with unusual trademarks
- Buying only products with their original packaging / beware of packaging with blurred marking
- Getting only certified electrical products
- Beware of « too good to be true » prices |
We are always available to support you in this fight. Contact us through your usual local correspondent .
