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New initiative launched by Trading Standards to protect residents this Christmas

Posted on : 21 Nov 2023

New initiative launched by Trading Standards to protect residents this Christmas
In the lead up to Christmas, Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Trading Standards Service is launching a new initiative to protect local consumers and small businesses from the harm caused by the growing trade in fake goods on local social media buying-and-selling groups.

The Council has adopted the Real Deal Online programme, a national initiative that makes sure social media buying-and-selling groups are not promoting the sale of counterfeit goods and other illicit products and encourages closer working relationships between the groups and their local Trading Standards service.

Trading Standards Officers will be identifying all buying-and-selling groups in the borough that are operating on social media.

They will then contact the administrators of the groups to make them aware of their legal responsibilities and to invite them to follow the Real Deal Online Code of Practice.

The Code of Practice requires group administrators to welcome Trading Standards Officers as members of the group and to agree to five simple steps:

1. To prohibit the sale of counterfeit and other illicit goods;
2. To act on information from IP rights owners and their representatives who highlight the sale of illegal goods;
3. To notify trading standards if they believe that illegal goods are being sold within the group and to exclude the sellers of these goods;
4. To highlight warnings and advice notices posted by trading standards;
5. To make sure that all members of the group are aware of its fake-free policy.

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