The United States has accused Bangladesh of exporting counterfeit clothing of popular American and French brands.

The US has initiated a special review against Bangladesh and if the charge is found justified quotas, sanctions and additional duties loom over Bangladesh’s garment exports to the United States.

Bangladesh will have to brace for multiple forms of penalties. This is the first time the US has decided to conduct such a review against any least-developed country. On its part Bangladesh has promised to investigate the allegations and take disciplinary action against the accused.

Raids across the world testify

Counterfeit goods sourced in Bangladesh have been seized in countries like Australia, Italy, the UK, the US, Germany and Saudi Arabia.Out of the roughly 1,75,000 items seized in 2022 from across 17 raids in Malaysia and the Philippines, all the goods were manufactured in Bangladesh. Some 5,000 listings linked to counterfeit Bangladesh-sourced goods have been identified on online platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Whatsapp, Lazda and Shopee, among others.

What do Intellectual Property rights say for low develop countries?

Bangladesh is preparing to respond. As a least developed country Bangladesh has some flexibility in terms of intellectual property rights. Moreover, Bangladesh has implemented the Trademark Act, where counterfeiting is a punishable offence. The country will concede that export consignments were not as thoroughly checked as import consignments, which may have resulted in the trade of some counterfeits, but in that case, it will argue, customs authorities of the countries where counterfeit garments are imported are also responsible for stopping those and that the responsibility of punishing those who import and sell counterfeit products in different countries lies with the countries concerned. But the problem also lies with factories in Bangladesh. While garment manufacturers maintain that they have never engaged in such practices, sometimes there are stocks left, which are sold in the open market. Some foreigners buy these products and sell them in their own country. Some products do go through this process.

Zero exports from Bangladesh amid order cancellations during Covid might have led to more stocks and, thus, more products reaching foreign destinations through black markets.