Counterfeiting

Economic impact 
Copiers do not pay product development or safety compliance costs, proper wages, tax or VAT, which lead to:

• Reduced profit for legitimate companies, lower wages, lost jobs, less growth
• Deterioration of revenues for governments, unemployment’s costs, hence less funds for other social priorities or developments.

Multiple risks 
It is obvious to imagine the impact of fake products on all market actors in terms of credibility, reliability and image. But the major risk remains undeniably quality. Indeed, as copies do not comply with international standards or bypass quality management controls, they expose everybody to serious threats:

• health and safety hazards
• installation damages or loss
• no services, no warranty, no insurance

Moreover, all business actors can face civil and criminal liability risks because we are all responsible of what we buy and sell.

Safety cannot be imitated 
In the electrical field quality is not a luxury. In an installation, each electrical component has a vital function. When a component must operate for protection, control or supervision, it has to work immediately and in a 100% reliable way.

• copies are generally made of cheap and unsafe material (flammable plastic, poor plating…)
• copiers reduce production costs by not respecting quality and safety standards constraints
• copiers generally imitate the external aspect but do not have the know-how for the technology.

The fight against counterfeiting is one of the strategic axis of Schneider Electric 
We have dedicated teams whose mission is to enforce this strategic orientation to local operations. Every endeavour is made to prevent, root out and eliminate counterfeit by taking the following actions :

• protection of our products by registering our trademarks, patents, designs
• markets monitoring to detect and track the copies
• enforcement of strict policy with our partners
• cooperation with relevant government authorities, professional organisations to develop and enforce laws, regulations and standards.
• enforcement of our Industrial Property rights by taking legal actions
• Implementation of communication campaigns to raise awareness
• Development of products authentication systems

You are an essential actor in this fight
You can easily adopt a responsible attitude such as by using some simple tips such as:

All Schneider products have now the new Hologram (protection label) to identify them as genuine ones. At first glance, the image appears solid red. When rotated 90° the color changes from solid red to deep green. A very ergonomic test! Just look & rotate the document 90°. This color switch effect, when rotated 90°, is very easy to control by a non-experienced viewer. Avoiding products with no brand Purchasing from official distribution network  Watching for products with unusual trademarks Buying only products with their original packaging / beware of packaging with blurred marking Getting only certified electrical products Before buying, be sure that each product has the new Hologram.

We remain at your disposal for supporting you in this fight. Contact us through our Customer Care Center