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14th November 2003 - At an audio conference hosted
in Espoo, Nokia outlined its battle plan in the company's
ongoing war against unsafe, low-quality counterfeit
products. Tens of thousands of counterfeit products
have been seized in recent raids in Belgium, the United
Kingdom, and other countries in the EU, bringing the
total global number of seized and destroyed products
in 2003 to more than 5 million. As a result of these
raids, authorities gained valuable leads on a counterfeit
network, enabling them to begin immediate actions against
those involved.
"I want to stress that consumer safety is our top concern,"
said Janne Jormalainen, Vice President, Mobile Enhancements,
Nokia Mobile Phones. "We believe consumers are unknowingly
being fooled into buying unsafe, low-quality batteries
and we are actively taking measures to combat the illegal
counterfeit operation at the root of this problem."
Counterfeit batteries have also misled consumer groups.
Yesterday, Test-Aankoop, a Belgian consumer group, acknowledged
their recent test results which led them to announce
Nokia batteries were unsafe were "most probably unreliable"
due to the inclusion of counterfeit batteries in their
test sample. Test-Aankoop has agreed to a new, independent
test of batteries - using only Nokia original batteries
- and will provide the results of these tests as soon
as possible.
Today's conference included illustrations on how consumers
can recognize the most obvious examples of counterfeit
batteries. These examples will be posted on the nokia.com
website. Nokia also announced plans to unveil "aggressive,
regional anti-counterfeit measures."
In response to the program, Mr. Jormalainen commented:
"We are dealing with a very sophisticated enemy who
has become very adept at manufacturing products, which
to the average consumer appear to be Nokia original
accessories. To avoid giving counterfeiters a head start
on our anti-counterfeiting measures, we are purposely
withholding information until such time as the program
has been officially announced."
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