Risking health and safety, the most harmful effect of buying counterfeits

In the midst of the epidemic of the Chinese coronavirus Covid-19 there is no shortage of those who try to make their particular benefit. This is the case of numerous manufacturers and sellers of face and respiratory masks and other medical devices that demand have turned into coveted and valued goods.

The Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) has reported the detection of a false CE marking certificate in disposable surgical masks manufactured by the Ukrainian company Potoky.

The AEMPS has learned of this situation through a communication received from the German health authorities. According to the information provided, the certificate of the German Notified Body Mdc Medical Device Certification GmbH has been detected as false for the products "disposable surgical masks" with certificate number 0483 / D1263400015, issued on September 10, 2019 and expiration date May 26, 2024.

We retrieve the link to the original SPTO page where information related to CE marking was published at the time: https://yosoyoriginal.es/china-y-la-falsa-marca-ce/

Meanwhile, other countries are reinforcing their border security in cases of smuggling of medical and protection material. Last February, the Taiwan Coast Guard announced the capture of a fishing vessel carrying 70,000 surgical masks in defiance of the government's export ban on this material. The government of this country has imposed restrictions since January 24 on the number of masks that can be exported from Taiwan in an attempt to secure the supply to the local market due to fear of the coronavirus.

More recently, the Ukrainian army seized 3,600 masks hidden on the country's border with Romania.

Thus, and so far this month, large Chinese e-commerce companies, such as Alibaba or JD.com, have expelled dozens of unscrupulous sellers from their platforms for selling false or "problematic" masks - of lower quality than required - or for excessively increasing the price of masks and products such as soaps and disinfectants.

The shortage of these products is largely due to demand, but also to the slowdown in production, first due to the celebration of the Chinese New Year at the end of January —when the epidemic began— and then to the reduction in industrial activity due to quarantine and confinement.

To compensate for this, many Chinese companies outside the sector - up to 3,000 of them, from diaper and mobile phone manufacturers to automotive companies such as SIAC or BYD - have been involved in one way or another and to a greater or lesser extent in the manufacture of masks and related sanitary products to meet demand and contain prices. And all of them must comply with the government regulations for mask production (https://www.economiadigital.es/tecnologia-y-tendencias/nuevos-wearables-mascaras-inteligentes-contra-contaminacion-y-virus_20036247_102.html)

Some companies such as Yangzhou or Daddy Baby, manufacturers of children's diapers, have converted part of their production lines of children's diapers to make face masks.

A "black list" of 'unwanted' vendors

In the case of Alibaba, the company announced on Weibo (the Chinese 'Twitter') that it had expelled 15 vendors and removed more than half a million references to counterfeit products, mainly facial sanitary masks.

Amazon will remove from its platform products that claim to combat or prevent coronavirus.

"We asked all e-commerce platforms to join together to incorporate these vendors into a joint 'blacklist'," Alibaba asked a couple of weeks ago.

Alibaba's call was successful, and now that "black list" of unscrupulous sellers has become official: Not only have other major e-commerce platforms in the country joined it - including Ali, Suning, JD.com, Pinduoduo and Weidian, who together have tracked down and expelled nearly thirty more illegal sellers — but the initiative is backed by the Chinese authorities through the market oversight body.

In this way, the authorities and e-commerce platforms jointly maintain an updated and shared access list of all those sellers who are suspected of illegal practices such as —currently in the midst of the epidemic— arbitrarily raising prices, false advertising or selling counterfeit products.

Through this list, the authorities and e-commerce platforms coordinate to close all the stores that the same seller may have on different e-commerce platforms, while the authorities initiate administrative processes.

As a result, files are being opened related to the manufacture and sale of fake surgical and sanitary masks.

SOURCE: Bussines Insider, Redaccionmedica.com (AEMPS), Economiadigital.es.