‘Fake documents rampant in Lanka’

Malaysian investor stresses importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) The importance of Holographic Labels to combat fake products and documents in the Sri Lanka market was stressed at a presentation in Colombo by Managing Director Holographic Label SDN BHD (HLSB) Malaysia, Foong Wan Hong.

“Today, many fakes in the form of products and documents are freely available in Sri Lanka, as in many other countries around the world.

Examples are so numerous and on a rapid increase that the whole system is in danger of collapse, leading to a crisis, which can be fatal to the total economy. In fact fake documents have also played a pivotal role in the case of the Sri Lankan underaged girl sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia”, he said.

“If not checked in time, Sri Lankan consumers and the public will gradually lose confidence, with fakes making further inroads to the country’s established systems.

No doubt police raids and the slow legal process would indeed need, and take time. In contrast, we need to be pro-active to find long term, practical, user-friendly solutions. Holographic labels which are a new product and a new paradigm shift, have universally proved to be the perfect answer”, Hong added.

HLSB’s Sri Lanka Country Head Jayampathy Arambepola, said, “HLSB’s technologically advanced products are very difficult to copy, yet easy to verify and easy to communicate.

The advanced SMS tele- communication systems we use for verification, coupled with advanced printing technology, along with Trust Seals, make our products superior.

This unique SMS technology has tremendous potential to identify not only genuine products, but also for consumer promotions and communication where many Sri Lankan companies have already shown a very keen interest.”

“The current crisis in school admissions is due to fake documents. We need be proactive and save the systems in Sri Lanka if we are to build confidence in the people,” Arambepola added.

With more than a decade’s extensive experience in protecting brands and documents in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines, HLSB has now brought its expertise to Sri Lanka. HLSB is represented in Sri Lanka by Diamond International Ltd.