At the height of counterfeit products that flocked the Ugandan market in 2015, government acted swiftly to contain the situation by introducing theAnti-Counterfeiting Goods Bill 2015.
Records from Parliament indicate that the bill was read for the first time on November 26, 2015, during the 9th Parliament.
Following the tabling of the Bill, the speaker referred it to the Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry for scrutiny.
However, it wasn’t long before the 9th Parliament was dissolved before the Bill was considered by the committee and therefore, leaving the draft law down and out.
But not dead and buried.
On July 21, 2016, the 10th Parliament through a resolution of the August House, the Anti-Counterfeiting Goods Bill 2015 was reinstated and was then referred back to the same committee.
The draft law seeks to prohibit the manufacture and trade in counterfeit goods, whose practice the state argued was infringing upon protected intellectual property rights.
Crisis Beneath the Pumps: Kenya’s Unfolding Fuel Scandal and the Fall of Top Energy Chiefs - Why it Matters to UgandaThe government says, if passed by into law, it would be critical in prohibiting the release of counterfeit goods into the market, as well as create punitive offences related to trade in counterfeits goods.
As a result, the committee embarked on a journey to seek views from the stakeholders of the bill with one of them being Uganda registration service bureau (URSB), a body mandated with the obligation of registering patent rights and copy rights.
In the Bill, the government entrusts the standards body with the duty to enforce the new legalprovisions, a suggestion that was highly rejected by URSB.
The agency warned Parliament against passing the Bill in its current form, saying it would lead to duplication of duties between the two government agencies.
“Pursuant to the Trademarks and Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Acts, URSB already appointed police officers to the role of trademark and copyright inspectors to enforce the law against counterfeits and piracy. As a result, the Bill creates duplication of roles to be played by government agencies,
