Trade Ministry Anti-Textile Piracy Committee ‘Dead’ – GTP

Print and textiles brand, GTP has taken a swipe at the Ministry of Trade and Industry describing the ministry's vetting committee as a 'dead' one.

GTP said the vetting committee has failed in executing its core mandate of checking the importation of pirated textiles in the country.

In May 2018, the Ministry of Trade and Industry set up a 12-member vetting committee to assist the Anti-Textile Piracy Task-force to check textiles piracy in Ghana.

But according to Rev. Stephen Badu, Marketing Manager of GTP, the committee has failed as the smuggling and piracy of designs continues to be a disadvantage to local producers.

“Anybody who wants to import textiles into the country is supposed to send the design to this vetting panel which meets periodically to be able to vet them”, he intimated.

When asked how effective the committee is, Rev. Badu said “unfortunately no, I think perhaps we as GTP go there. So it's virtually a dead committee”.

The government set up Anti-Textile Piracy Taskforce

The government, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI,) set up a task-force to check entry of fake textiles into the country.

It subsequently inaugurated a twelve-member vetting committee to facilitate the work of the Anti-Textile Piracy Taskforce.

The committee was to among things determine the authenticity of textiles impounded by the task force.

The move came barely a month after the textile workers union hit the street to demonstrate against the inflow of counterfeit textiles.

Textiles Piracy in Ghana
The textile industry in Ghana is increasingly facing competition from cheap copies smuggled in from abroad, especially from China.

Manufacturers complain bitterly about the invasion of pirated textiles due to what they describe as government's failure to eliminate the practice.

The government instituted several interventions such as tasking Ghana Revenue Authority to bring all textile companies under the tax stamp programme to fish out the smuggled textiles and a single corridor policy for textile imports but to no avail.

In some instances, the pirated products have been confiscated and destroyed.