According to the draft government decree, fines for the sale of counterfeit products can reach up to 300 thousand rubles.
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GOOD SIGN
“The slippers are suspiciously cheap. Definitely not fake?” Surely you, too, have often asked yourself similar questions when looking for a suitable product for yourself on the markets (this is what large online trading platforms such as Yandex-Market, Wildberries or Ozon are called). After all, it is impossible to tell from a photograph whether there is a fake in front of you or not. And if you order such a product and a pallet arrives, you will have to pay a penalty for its return.
But now market customers will have fewer doubts. The government intends to impose liability on online trading platforms for selling products without mandatory labelling. In addition, according to the draft government decree, fines for the sale of counterfeit products can reach up to 300 thousand rubles.
What is mandatory labeling? In Russia, it was introduced in 2019 and new product groups are included every year. And already in 2024, the unified national system of labeling “Honest Sign” should cover all industries, from medicines and cigarettes to baby food. This system is necessary so that the State can track the movement of goods from the manufacturer (or importer) to the buyer. Therefore, there should simply be no place for counterfeit products in the trade chain, because the responsibility for the transfer of data on the movement of goods lies with manufacturers, distributors and sellers. For violation – fines with confiscation and even a criminal offense.
LEGAL GAP
However, from a legal point of view, the markets have remained in the shadows until recently. Not all agreed to recognize themselves as participants in the movement of goods and insisted on providing only logistics services. But the Ministry of Industry and Commerce does not share this position.
“In addition to online storefront functions, the marketplaces offered storage, pre-sale preparation, sale of goods to the final consumer, acceptance of funds, that is, they were actually participants in the product chain,” Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. said in the press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. – The proposed Government Decree closes this legislative loophole and will lead to a decrease in the proportion of illegal circulation of goods.
Since March 1, markets must be in charge of monitoring the labeling of products belonging to the light industry: coats, jackets, raincoats, etc. And now it is planned to extend the liability to all products subject to mandatory labeling, for example, fur coats, medicines, cameras, perfumes and toilet water, tires and tires, dairy products, bottled mineral water and drinking water.
The markets must transfer complete data on the turnover of these products to the informative labeling system from the moment the corresponding government decree drawn up by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce enters into force. There were reports that this would happen as early as September 1, but the department has yet to name specific dates.
– Now the draft resolution is in the regulatory process, so it is premature to announce the moment of its entry into force. We hope that it will be adopted in the near future, – the ministry explained to KP.
Markets must transfer complete product billing data to the information labeling system from the moment the corresponding government decree enters into force. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS
MARKET POSITION
– Today, markets should not accept products from the mandatory labeling list into their warehouses without a special label. And in general, the obligation to transfer data to the Chestny Znak system, in our opinion, is an additional mechanism to combat counterfeiting – this significantly reduces the chances of unscrupulous vendors today trying to sell goods of unknown origin through platforms. said the president of the Association of Companies to KP e-commerce (AKIT), Artem Sokolov. -However, if the seller ships the orders from his warehouse, the responsibility is his.
As Komsomolskaya Pravda reported on the Ozon market, the draft resolution was drawn up in dialogue with business, so it did not surprise online trading platforms, which generally support this initiative.
“The Decree takes into account the model of operation of the markets and clearly defines its area of responsibility when working with labeled products,” Ozon Deputy General Director Vladimir Goncharevich told Komsomolskaya Pravda. – We comply with all state requirements for working with labeled products. Ozon prohibits the sale of counterfeits and any other counterfeit products. We constantly use a wide range of measures to combat it: we review cards manually and using machine learning models, we use neural networks, and we study customer reviews. For the most popular brands among buyers, we check the originality of the products in advance and only after that we allow them to enter the site. For a number of categories, including clothing, shoes, dairy, perfume, etc., the product must now carry the “Honest Mark” label. If the code is not read on the item subject to tagging for any reason, then it will not be able to be placed in the Ozon warehouse, which means the item will not be available for purchase.
Wildberries also expressed their support for the initiative.
– We believe that the online shopping space should be completely safe for consumers, so Wildberries independently implements a set of measures to counter the emergence of questionable products and supports various initiatives by other market players and federal agencies, including the Industry and commerce ministry. ,-he told KP in the press service of the market. – Since February, we have significantly increased control over the presence of labels on products. If there is no marking code on the product or it is impossible to scan, Wildberries returns such products to the seller.
HOW TO REPORT
If you are still sold a fake on the market, then the algorithm of actions should be the same as if you bought a fake in any other store. First, scan the mandatory labeling badge that must be on the packaging of the product subject to such labeling. It looks like a qar code and you can scan it using the Honest Sign mobile app, which you can download on your smartphone. If there is no information about the product in the system, then there is a violation. In this case, it is necessary to write complaints to Rospotrebnadzor.
