Textiles
The Textile, Garment and Leather Employees’ Union (TGLEU) of the Ghana Federation of Labour has appealed to the Ministry of Trade and Industry to reconstitute and inaugurate the Anti-Textile Piracy Taskforce to save the garment industry from unbridled smuggling, gambling and dumping of textile fabric by some traders.
TGLEU also wants a new representative to serve on the taskforce on textile.
The Trade Ministry set-up a taskforce in August 2010 to ensure the implementation of aspects of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement under the World Trade Organisation, which mandates governments not to allow infringed goods to enter the channel of commerce and also not to allow the re-exportation of such goods.
The Ministry announced it will reconstitute the Anti-Textile Piracy Taskforce in July 2017 to among others, ensure curbing the menace of illegal importation of pirated Ghanaian textile prints and to ensure that importers, who engage in “these nefarious activities are arrested and prosecuted”.
TGLEU, in a letter to the Trades Ministry cited by ClassFMonline.com said: “The fight against pirated textiles has been challenging and there is the need to re-strategise to win the war. The ministry has therefore developed a new policy direction to help make the textile sector competitive. To this end, we wish to request you to nominate a new representative to serve on the taskforce.”
TGLEU further disclosed that its members have embarked on intelligence gathering across the country on the Modus Operandi of the perpetrators of the illicit trading which is “frightening and deepens the vulnerability of the local industry and threatens workers job security”.
In this regard, they have appealed to the ministry to inaugurate the taskforce without further delay.
-Starrfmonline