[Greactbet]

It was the headlines in the Thai newspapers yesterday and also on the t.v. that the government want to amend the law so that the police can target people who buy counterfeit items such as bags, shoes and DVDs etc. Their plan was to fine buyers a maximum of 1,000 baht fine per item that they had bought. For the landlord the fine would be 50,000-200,000. However, the latest today is that they cannot go ahead with this plan. It is not fair on the buyer who cannot always tell whether the product is counterfeit or not. It is against their basic human rights and also the Constitution.

I do agree with that. Sometimes, the way they package things it is not always easy to know. The longer you have lived here, the harder it becomes to know whether you are getting a cheap price for something. The same goes for Thai people who have never been exposed to some of the crazy prices for brandnames in the West.

I think they should go after the landlords and owners of the shopping malls. I can understand why it is difficult to crack down on the street vendors who don't have a permanent location. However, shops in the malls like MBK should be easier to target and close down. Why are the landlords allowing shops on their premises to sell counterfeit items? Sometimes it is really obvious like computer software and DVDs. There should be heavy fines for them and also the shops. People are buying these items because these shops are everywhere and it is almost the norm.

What they also need to do is make it easier for us to buy the real thing. There are hardly any shops selling genuine software in Panthip Plaza. When I want to buy genuine items I find it very hard to track them down. Another problem is that some products have a really high import tax on them making them very expensive to buy.

They need to tackle this problem from different angles at the same time.