United Arab Emirates Experience

1. Combating Counterfeit and Substandard ICT Devices (Geneva, Switzerland, 17-18 November 2014) United Arab Emirates Experience Ahmad Alshamsi Manager Type Approval, UAE TRA Ahmad.alshamsi@tra.gov.ae

2. presentation Topics • Concerns • Challenges • Experience and best practices • Past Cases

3. Defining the main Concerns In order to better understanding what is the problem and how we could set our plan to control it and finding the best solutions, we started with defining the problems and concerns: • Government • Consumer • Business

4. Defining the main Concerns Concerns of the Government • The telecom sector and how to maintain it • The high levels of hazardous threatening consumers and the environment • The protection of Telecom equipment's market from counterfeit & prohibited equipment's • The security and quality of service for users • The negative effects on the economy

5. Defining the main Concerns Concerns of the Consumers • Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the privacy of their personal information. • Significant health and safety risks. Concerns of the Manufacturers • Brand value and firm reputation • Revenue from new products to cover the research and development costs

6. Challenges As per the TRA study 2012 about how to Improving efforts to combat counterfeiting and piracy, we found many challenges, divided to : • Internal Challenges. • External challenges.

7. Internal Challenges challenges to improve the enforcement and finding ways to enhance it. • Development of strong and effective policies and procedures to combat illegal issues. • Co-operation with industry and among governments • Continuance Development of the enforcement team

8. External Challenges challenges we are facing from out side world: • public awareness of counterfeiting issues. • counterfeit devices dose the job just as well as genuine devices. • consumers with overconfident in their ability to recognize counterfeit devices. • Online stores, became active distribution channel for counterfeit products.

9. External Challenges • Continuance changes in how to deliver counterfeit devices to the market .

10. Experience and best practices We developed the TRA strategic plan to combat counterfeit and substandard ICT products focused on 3 main areas: • TRA regulations enforcement. • Consumer right • Co-operation with industry

11. TRA initiatives • TRA Awareness campaign. • Disconnect the fake and duplicate IMEI • Consumer Right

12. TRA initiatives Disconnect the fake and duplicate IMEI On 6 September, TRA issued directive 7 of 2011 “ Duplicate IMEIS”, to block all fake and duplicate IMEI from the GSM network in the UAE. More then 100,000 devices with fake or duplicate IMEI have been disconnected from the service providers network

13. TRA initiatives Disconnect the fake and duplicate IMEI

14. TRA initiatives TRA Awareness campaign. • Based on our surveys, consumers are welling to know more about counterfeit. • In 2013, 5 main awareness campaign targeting consumers and dealers. • Today, the awareness campaigns about the counterfeit products became part of the UAE events program.

15. TRA initiatives TRA Awareness campaign.

16. TRA initiatives Consumer right Educate consumers about there right

17. Conclusions and Recommendations • Raising awareness in the community is job of government, privet sector and consumers to raise awareness. • Governments should work together through trade agreements to strength IP production • Industry should support governments efforts to combat counterfeiting • More initiatives from industry to help consumers

18. United Arab Emirates Experience Thank you