Flagrant cases/ Abuses with products that massacre the market and steal citizens' pockets

Brand theft, the sale of unauthorized products, without permission from the manufacturer, is theft, it is a criminal offense, it is a crime, it is a chain crime. Without talking and reporting further about how dozens of products are counterfeit, which are sold on the market as if they are original.

CNA has been reporting for several days a very sensitive phenomenon for the Albanian markets and the consumer, the theft of brands and the distribution of many products. We started with wines and raised an alarm because we observed the market and found in restaurants and shops expensive wines, brands, brands that range from 1,000 or 2,000 euros per bottle, which were sold without a fiscal stamp, without authorization from the manufacturer. Meanwhile, in Albania there is an authorized distributor that pays taxes, pays customs.

And beyond the theft that is committed from the state budget, there is also the theft that is committed from citizens, not knowing the quality and source of the production. Because, as reported in many cases by portals, investigative shows in Albania, but also by the media in Italy or Turkey, many products of this type, namely wines, are produced in the cellars of southern Italy or Turkey and are taken and labeled and it is not known what they are, they are 100% counterfeit.

The problem is not only with expensive wines and their distribution, but also with many other products, which are stolen or the public is deceived with the prices and labels used. CNA brought up the case of "Coca-Cola", when in Albanian supermarkets, which we mentioned by name, "Conad", "Spar", "Alb Market", "Eco Market", "Big Market", "Extra Market", "Diambe Market", "Xhangolli" market or "Pronatyra MD", Italian "Coca-Cola" is sold. In fact, it is the same product as the one with the Albanian label. Can "Coca-Cola" tolerate the quality, spoil the standard? Why is what comes with the Italian label better for us than the Albanian one? When there is a standard, there is a manufacturer, there is a brand, it is a controlled patent. Simply and only the market is damaged and the pockets of citizens are stolen. Imagine, for example, selling Italian "Coca-Cola" in Greece, or Greek in Italy, it does not happen. Or German in Italy and Italian in France, it doesn't happen.

It is a brand that has granted a license to the manufacturer, controls it, supervises it, is the one who bears the name, is the one who pays for the advertising, is the one who distributes it. And someone in Italy, fills a van, fills a truck, puts it on supermarket shelves, puts a higher price on them, steals from the citizens' pockets, says "this is Italian, a higher quality product". In fact, it is an anti-advertisement that is done to the product itself because, by using the name "it is Italian" or "it is Greek", it attacks the same brand, the same name for the quality and standard it has.

The "Fanta" case

Yesterday we brought "Coca-Cola", today we are bringing "Fanta". Look, it is the same "Fanta" in the windows of Albanian supermarkets.

Fanta produced in Albania and the price in one of the Albanian supermarkets

What is produced, which has a rigorous implementation of the law, so it also has a label in Albanian, is distributed by an authorized distributor, and the other product, which is Italian, is an arrangement that is unknown where it comes from, what it is.

"Fanta" without Albanian label

Who guarantees that the “Fanta” written in Italian there is not fake, it was not produced like it used to be in a factory or in some pantry or basement somewhere? Who guarantees it? Where does it come from? Where is it controlled? What is this product? Albania is seeking to enter the EU, but is it entering in this form?! Is it entering without having control over the market, without having control over the product?! And it is not just the wines that we mentioned above, it is not just “Coca-Cola”, it is not just the “Fanta” that we mentioned. Because what is being done is a theft, a theft in many forms, it is multidimensional.

First, by hitting the pockets of citizens through the price, they say “this is Italian” and make people fools and take more money from them. Second, by hitting the brand itself, that is, the manufacturer and the distributor, saying “this is better than that”. Why is it better? “Fanta” is one, “Fanta” is the other, there is no difference. It is the same production line, it is the same control standard. How can it be allowed that our supermarkets are filled with foreign products, which are not authorized to be distributed in Albania, do not have permission from the manufacturer? When “Fanta” itself, “Coca-Cola” itself, when the wine factory itself, has not given a permission to sell this type of product, anyone goes to a warehouse and puts it on the market. But this is not a free market, this is not competition, this is anarchy, this is theft, this is abuse.

And here a number of institutions are responsible. First, the AKU. Second, Customs and Taxes. Those that should not be allowed to enter Albania at the border, not to mention that you can often find them openly in the windows of supermarkets and minimarkets, without knowing where they come from, how they come from. Not to mention that dozens of products, which do not go through authorized distributors and do not have authorization from the manufacturer, may have falsified expiration dates, may be produced somewhere unknown, because they have no origin. The origin of the product is guaranteed only by an official distributor. In Albania, you find all kinds of products, which come from different suppliers without having permission to distribute them, without having the document that shows the source where it was purchased, its real manufacturer. And this is a scandal that happens often in Albania.

CNA will continue day after day until the authorities react. With customs in Kapshtica, in Kakavija, in Durres, in Vlora, in Muriqan, in Qafë-Thane, with the AKU, everywhere. With Taxes, which cannot just sit in offices and sign letters or block accounts for those who do not pay taxes, but go and control the market because people are being sold products whose manufacturer is unknown, products that are not guaranteed by the distributor, at expensive prices. And moreover, when these are traded with permission, with authorization, with a license by a certain distributor, they start shouting "a monopoly is being established". No, it is not a monopoly to have the authorization from the manufacturer.

General Directorate of Customs

It is not a monopoly to get permission and show the source and do the distribution. It is fair competition in the market between different products. But you cannot take the same brand, the same product, bring it from another country, sell it even more expensive and attack the brand by abusing language, and another form by filling your pockets with the money that comes from abusing the price, but also from selling the product that comes through advertising or marketing that another company does, which has certain costs or has been given authorization by the manufacturer itself.

There is unstoppable theft and abuse of citizens to the point of panic and fear about where these products come from that do not have manufacturer certification.

And we have seen endless cases like this. We brought wines first, we continued with "Coca-Cola", we continued with "Fanta", we will continue with other very important products on the market that are consumed by citizens , until the institutions react to block once and for all the trading of unauthorized products, which are commonly distributed on the market, stealing citizens' pockets, but also businesses themselves and destroying competition in the market. /CNA

Illustrative photo

In several articles that CNA has published recently, we have focused on several issues directly related to food safety, standards, and the quality of products that Albanians use and buy in supermarkets.

From luxury products, to expensive wines that are smuggled into Albania and whose source is unknown, which you usually find on the market.

Wine and products that you can take to a bar to drink and enjoy something of quality but that you don't actually know where it was bottled, doesn't have a fiscal stamp, isn't brought by an authorized distributor, but comes in vans and luggage trucks.

Even if what comes as contraband is justified, what comes uncontrolled, where it is not known what is inside, which endangers people's lives. In the context of an Albania that will leave for the EU, how can you think that the market will have fake products?

Can anyone imagine having fake products from Greece or vice versa in Italy, without then thinking about entering the market of distributors or representatives of various brands?

The "Coca-Cola" case

Today we are bringing you another phenomenon that we have observed and observed with a highly advertised product such as Coca-Cola.

A global brand that is gaining weight is found in our supermarkets with labels from foreign countries, despite the fact that the brand's manufacturer is a company in Albania, which produces, markets and distributes according to all official certifications. But usually in our supermarkets you can find Italian or Greek Coca-Cola.

Italian Coca-Cola in one of the supermarkets in Albania

But the Albanian manufacturer, distributor, why is it ignored and competed unfairly? First, the Albanian manufacturer and patent and brand holder pays employees, administration, advertising, costs, certifications, standards, controls and a supermarket opens, a trader fills the machine in Italy or Greece, or worse yet, it can come to supermarkets without any information about the source.

Without knowing where it was produced, as happens and as we reported can commonly happen in the cellars of southern Italy, Turkey or as once happened in the Combine in Tirana, in cellars, in holes, in catacombs, where products are counterfeited.

The truck goes, loads it, brings it, and the merchants in these supermarkets put the goods in the window. And what is most beautiful, but also most abusive, is the fact that they advertise it as a European product: "Italian Coca-Cola".

Po mirë, pse Coca-Cola italiane nuk shitet në Greqi ose anasjelltas? Sepse ka standarde, ka rregulla. Mbajtësi i markës e ka dhënë certifikimin apo shpërndarjen në një kompani dhe në një territor të caktuar. Ti nuk mund të ndërhysh kudo, siç do ti.

Pse duhet produkti i pacertifikuar, i papatentuar, pa leje, dhe për më tepër akoma, që nuk paguan asnjë qindarkë për reklama apo marketing në Shqipëri, të vijë nga jashtë dhe të konkurojë në mënyrë të padrejtë mbajtësin e markës, patentën apo prodhuesin në Shqipëri? 

Fabrika e Coca-Colës në Shqipëri

Apo shkon Shqipëria drejt BE-së? A duhet të jenë këto standarde? Për më tepër, mashtrohen shqiptarët dhe ju vidhen xhepat.

Po, po, për ata që nuk e besojnë, ju vidhen, sepse ju thonë: "kjo Coca-Cola është më e shtrenjtë se është italiane, është më cilësore".

Coca-Cola e prodhuar në Shqipëri dhe çmimi në një nga supermarketet shqiptare

Por janë i njëjti produkt, janë e njëjta cilësi, janë i njëjti standard, kanë të njëjtin certifikim, dhe asgjë më shumë. Por shqiptarët, të merakosur se mallrat e prodhuara në vendin tonë nuk janë në standardin dhe cilësinë e duhur, shkojnë dhe gënjehen dhe paguajnë deri në dyfish për të marrë një Coca-Cola që gjoja qenka italiane dhe më e mirë.

Në fakt, ajo është më e shtrenjtë për asgjë më shumë, thjesht dhe vetëm për të pasuruar personin që e fut atë mall me apo pa doganë, kontrabandë ose në mënyrë zyrtare tek doganat, ku dhe qëndron problematika kryesore. Pasi në dogana nuk duhet të lejohen të hyjnë këto produkte.

AKU gjithashtu duhet të shkojë dhe t'i bllokojë nëpër supermarkete dhe duhet t'i japë prioritet produkteve të cilat janë të certifikuara, janë një markë, janë një patentë, kanë autorizimin e distributorit nga prodhuesi përkatës apo janë mbajtës të markës përkatëse.

Ne sot sollëm shembullin e Coca-Colës. Nesër do të sjellim një shembull tjetër, pasnesër një tjetër akoma, për të treguar se si masakrohet një treg, se si vidhen xhepat e qytetarëve, këta të fundit thjesht dhe vetëm duke i mashtruar "është më e mirë kjo, është italiane apo greke kjo", megjithëse është i njëjti prodhues, nga e njëjta linjë, nga e njëjta markë, dhe nuk ka asnjë ndryshim.

Por tregtarë abuzivë për të mbushur xhepat e tyre përdorin etiketat e huaja, rrisin çmimet dhe abuzojnë me konsumatorët. Këtu nuk duhet të ndërhyjnë vetëm doganat dhe AKU-ja, por dhe tatimet, të cilat duhet të rivlerësojnë këto produkte abuzive në treg, të cilat përdoren për t'ju vjedhur xhepat qytetarëve.

Nga ana tjetër, ata që vidhen janë biznesmenët, ata që kanë të drejtat e markës, të patentës, të shpërndarjes. Sa miliona e miliona euro humb shteti dhe biznesi nga konkurrenca e pandershme?

We have mentioned in detail the wine trade, the fake brands, the labels that are placed in the south of Italy and you don't know what wine is inside. They are bought for 2 euros and sold for 200, because they don't go through the official distributor, they don't have a stamp.

We brought up the case of Coca-Cola, where a Coca-Cola with a foreign label competes unfairly with one that has the brand, distribution, and patent for the product in Albania.

Pickpocketing citizens

But these businessmen, these companies that are in good standing with the state, pay taxes, advertise, pay millions of euros for their product on the market and then an abusive person appears, a thief appears who steals the pockets of Albanians, some greedy supermarket owners appear, who want to get rich, and compete unfairly and abusively with their competitors, without paying a single penny, they simply take a label, take a product, put it on the market, while the patent holder, the brand holder and the distributor are someone else.

What would happen if abusive traders opened supermarkets with the names of Conad, with the names of Spar, with the names Alb Market, Eco Market, Big Market, Extra Market, Diambe Market, Market Xhangolli or Pronatyra MD? Wouldn't this be an abuse, a theft of the name? Because they market, they have their own brands.

In fact, it is these same market and supermarket owners who abuse the products they keep in their windows, stealing not only from citizens' pockets, but also abusing, competing unfairly, and even more so, publicly deceiving them by creating monopoly markets.

In fact, brand and patent control, and maintaining various certifications for the distribution of the product, is one more guarantee for the safety of the product, for its quality that reaches the citizen, unlike what is claimed by these abusers, from the first to the last without exception, who have in their windows all kinds of foreign goods, uncertified, uncontrolled, unauthorized to be distributed in the Albanian market, without talking about it and without knowing what their source is, how they entered customs and why they are still on the market. /CNA

Illustrative photo

Food safety in Albania and the guarantee for the products used by Albanians is one of the biggest issues raised within the framework of the EU integration process. Along with food safety, the integration process also requires the control of product brands on the market that come directly from producers.

Prime Minister Rama, a year ago, completely dissolved the NFA, putting it in full reform, but apparently the results are far from what was expected.

CNA has reported a very important phenomenon, according to an observation, which showed us that not only were taxes being evaded or the product authorized for certain distributors being stolen, but the health of consumers was also being jeopardized, through the sale of smuggled goods, without certification and guarantees from the manufacturers. (READ HERE)

We took the case of wines and showed how dozens of types of wines are sold on the market, which are expensive, starting at 1,000 euros per bottle, which you can usually find in any restaurant without fiscal stamps from taxes and customs at prices even below cost.

Products not distributed by the authorized distributor, that is, by the one who goes and is supplied at the origin, the one who has permission to receive and handle that product and who guarantees that it is an original product, to products that can be filled in the cellars of Southern Italy or Turkey, which are given false labels and it is not known what they contain inside.

A citizen goes to buy a bottle of wine that he thinks is 20 or 30 euros on the Albanian market, which in fact could be smuggled, could be fake, produced in the Kombinat area (once the main hotbed of counterfeiters), as there have been cases routinely denounced by investigative shows, or filled in abusive wineries by fraudsters, who can grab any type of bottle, put a label on it and put it on the market and no one knows the quality or what's inside.

This is the biggest risk because it is a risk to the health of citizens, not to mention the damage that competition has in the market and the costs that the authorized seller has, up to the huge losses that occur to the Albanian state.

The problem in Albania is not just the trade in wines, as we have reported.

CNA will begin a series of articles, where it will relentlessly address dozens of products that come and are served to citizens in the same form, but also in other abusive forms.

One form is that which enters contraband, which is stimulated by customs. The other form is the entry of a product that must be purchased from an authorized distributor, and according to the law, must also have a sticker attached translated into Albanian with what the product contains and how it should be consumed, which we have begun to encounter often in Albanian markets, next to an identical product, but which does not even have an Albanian translation, does not have anything in Albanian, but is a foreign product and for this reason is sold even more expensive.

It's not just drinks, it's dozens of cosmetic products, including pharmaceuticals and food products.

Another problematic phenomenon in the market is that of beverages, which on the shelves of Tirana supermarkets, neighborhood minimarkets and markets throughout Albania, you find the product that is the original, that comes with an authorized distributor, that has a certificate, that has a translation in Albanian, alongside it you find it in Italian; a beer, an energy drink, a fruit juice.

Both are in the showcase. Both the product that is authorized by the manufacturer in the factory and the product that has no legal parameters, but simply reads in Italian or Greek.

Illustrative photo

First, the scandal is how can these products get into our markets? Where do they come from? Who brings them? How do they pass customs?

Are they contraband goods or do the supermarket suppliers themselves fill vans and trucks and have crates inside with various goods that do not meet any Albanian legal standards, moreover, they compete abusively in the market? And what is most laughable is the fact that "this is original because it is written in Greek or Italian". In fact, its source is unknown.

What is written in Greek or Italian may have entered through customs and may have been purchased in a wholesale market, but no one guarantees its origin of production, no one guarantees its quality and standard, not to mention the abuse that is done to citizens, where the product that meets the legal parameters and has been given by the manufacturer with authorization as a brand to be marketed in Albania has a cheaper price, while the product that is written only in Italian, Greek or German, or Slavic is more expensive.

Why, the question arises?

Because it is abused. It is the same product, there is no difference, it is produced on the same line, but it is more expensive, the quality and safety are not guaranteed when there is not even authorization from the manufacturer, but you simply find it being sold to the consumer.

Albanians, inclined to buy more controlled products, go and buy the one with foreign inscriptions that is unknown in which market it was released and has a more expensive price.

They pay more to get a product that has no guarantee, is simply written in a foreign language.

Not to mention the open markets where you can find endless counterfeit goods, products, drinks, and foods of all kinds that have no control, no label, no guarantee that comes from the manufacturer, from the manufacturer's line, and the distributor is authorized, simply and only "grab, sell what we can sell, grab what we can grab".

Beyond what we have denounced with wines, this is another very flagrant case, which not only endangers the health of citizens, not only gives the state less taxes, but also robs consumers, steals from their pockets, with the slogan that these are products that are not written in Albanian.

The damage done to official distributors is even greater, then the revenue itself to the state budget. (continued)/ CNA