“Slow action from local authorities.” US government names Petaling Street as a notorious hotspot for fake goods

As Malaysians, one of the most famous hotspots that people would visit is definitely Petaling Street. For those who are unfamiliar, Petaling Street, otherwise also referred to as Chinatown, is known for its myriad of street food offerings such as muah chee, wantan mee as well as other daily necessities and accessories for cheap. With that said, it has also a growing reputation for their sale of counterfeit items.

United States government names Petaling Street as fake goods hotspot 

Just yesterday, the US government has released a 57 page press release about notorious markets that sells counterfeit items. in their list a total of 33 physical markets and 39 online markets spread within 18 countries which includes, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.

And where Malaysia is concerned, the United States Trade Representatives (USTR) taps Petaling Street as a hotspot for counterfeit consumers goods such as handbags, sunglasses, clothes, shoes, watches, and many more.

While market activity for fake goods along the strip has yet to skyrocket or return to its pre-pandemic stages due to the depressed tourism rate, it’s apparent that most of the items sold in the market are counterfeit items. Other than that, it was also mentioned that when it comes to counterfeit items, the local authorities were slow to take action.

The report claims that local authorities are ‘not proactive when it comes to enforcement activity without right holders’ initiative.’ However in related news, a report from 2022 by Malay Mail mentions that from the period of 2019 to May 2022, a total of RM94.7 million counterfeit items have been seized.

Quoting Datuk Rosol Wahid, the amount of seizures made were from inspections conducted across the country.

“We’ve conducted over 14,187 inspections across the country in hopes of curbing the production of pirated and counterfeit items under the Trade Descriptions (Amendment) Act 2019 after receiving complaints from consumers and trademark owners”, he said.

Here’s to hoping that the issue surrounding counterfeit items can be stamped out for good!

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