New strategies to combat counterfeit parts.

• Author: Silcox, Clark
• Position: Ethics Corner

An email from a previously unknown source traverses the Pacific Ocean to an electrical distributor in the Americas opening with the words, "We would be pleased to meet you on your next visit to our country and will present our new products and promote some bargains in good price." The email attaches photos of products: lighting, conduit fittings, outlet boxes, circuit breakers and receptacles.

Some photos depict products that appear identical to well-known North American and European branded products, and some pictures visibly depict the registered trademark of a well-known brand. The email's offer of "bargains in good price" may be enticing, but it could be a slippery slope for the electrical supply channel and those customers inattentive to risks not previously experienced.

Over the past decade, counterfeiting in the electrical sector has become a growing global problem with multiple dimensions including intellectual property theft, loss of tax revenue to governments, consumer deception, threats to the health and safety of consumers and product liability litigation over defective counterfeit parts.

Electrical products uniquely present all five dimensions of the counterfeiting problem, particularly the threat to consumer health and safety. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has begun collecting public and private reports on counterfeit electrical products that threaten public safety.

A few examples of counterfeit parts and the problems they have caused include: installed conduit fittings falsely marked as designed for use in hazardous locations; circuit breakers bearing a brand name that do not provide protection; defective control relays bearing a counterfeit certification mark; extension cords bearing a brand name and certification mark for a product designed for 12-gauge wire, but actually employing a smaller 24-gauge wire that causes fires; and infringing imported dry cell batteries containing mercury in violation of U.S. law.

Defective or substandard counterfeit subcomponents, more often than not, are invisible. For example, hair clippers containing counterfeit fuses with a fake brand name and certification marks were seized in England. Counterfeiters are skilled at making molded products virtually identical to the genuine branded product. One means of detecting fake parts without opening up the breaker is to test the weight.

For legitimate electronics manufacturers, the problem runs even deeper as their products...