T

he National Police have called on the public to join the global fight against counterfeit goods, simply by thinking twice before purchasing fake products.

Secretary of Interpol's Indonesia National Central Bureau, Brig. Gen. Setyo Wasisto, said on Thursday that participation from the public in the fight against counterfeit products was crucial to deter the growing circulation of counterfeit goods in the country.

Setyo said that the fight against counterfeiting could be difficult as production and distribution was mostly run by international criminal syndicates.

'Today marks the launch of Interpol's Turn Back Crime campaign in Indonesia. In this campaign, we urge citizens not to commit or fall victim to organized crimes,' he told reporters at National Police headquarters in Jakarta.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said asking citizens to join the fight against counterfeiting was difficult given the cheap prices of fake goods, which, he warned, could sometimes be harmful to people's health.

Meanwhile, Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) head Roy Sparingga said that the agency had identified 302 websites that apparently offered unregistered food products.

The BPOM determined that number during a week-long crackdown code-named The Pangea Operation in May. In the operation, the agency confiscated 1,385,440 units of illegal drugs, traditional medicines, cosmetics and food, comprising 868 types of items marketed online, worth in excess of Rp 7.47 billion (US$629,848).

'From the websites, we tracked down the production plants of the counterfeit products ' some are located in the country, while others are abroad,' Roy said.

Aside from food and drugs, the police also urged consumers to buy only original electronic products and textiles.

In 2013, the National Police investigated 589 cases of intellectual property rights violations.

Between January and May this year, the police have handled 234 cases of intellectual property rights (IPR) violations.

Sr. Comr. Rahmat Sunanto, the deputy director of the National Police special economic crimes unit, said that among counterfeited electronic and automotive brands are Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Honda and Toyota. Fashion labels commonly ripped off include Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci.

'Aside from conducting investigations in the country, we have also coordinated on these cases with the chambers of commerce from several countries, such as the US, Japan, South Korea and Italy,' Rahmat said at the press conference.

Widodo, director general of standardization and consumer protection at the Trade Ministry, said that consumers could avoid buying counterfeit items simply by ensuring that a distributing license was printed on the product's label.

Widodo also suggested consumers choose local products that had obtained the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) certification.

Since March 2014, the Industry Ministry has imposed the SNI on 94 products, comprising agro-based products, foods, beverages, fertilizers, petrochemicals, shoes and textiles.

This year, the ministry is set to expand the mandatory use of SNI to 66 more products.