New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) Supreme Court's Justice Manmohan on Friday outlined the damning impact on economy, employment and mushrooming of criminal syndicates as the consequences of illicit trade in the country.
He was speaking at an event titled "Movement against Smuggled and Counterfeit Trade (MASCRADE)" organised by FICCI CASCADE (Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying Economy).
"We now have estimates of illicit trade, and according to some people, it creates three trillion dollars annually. It is not just revenue loss for the country, but beyond this, the real cost is in the form of job losses, innovation being exploited, and the growth of criminal syndicates; and that is a huge problem. When we look at the bigger picture, we know that there are socio-economic and security concerns," the judge said.
Illicit trade, Justice Manmohan said, also endangers human life.
"Imagine you are sick and taking medicine, but still not recovering because it is a counterfeit product. So it has very serious issues attached to it," he added.
He said such products did not provide any tax to the government, nor did they come with a warranty, and if something went wrong, people were helpless.
"Therefore, it (illicit trade) needs to be curbed. Civic society needs to come together. We already have a legal framework to deal with it; we have the Safety and Security Act, we have IPC, we also have the IT Act, the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, and I am informed that some acts are also coming in agriculture-related materials."
He flagged another issue.
"We are now living in a virtual world, and most things are happening in the online world. The loss now is even bigger, and it requires a new approach to deal with this bigger challenge," the judge said.
Pointing out the negative impact on the film industry, he said, "They say the film industry is worth about 2.5 billion dollars, and the copyright trade in it is 2 billion dollars. Today, the challenges are entirely different. When I used to be in practice, the violation was related to DVDs being sold in Palika Bazar, and that was the only way of violation. Today, how is it taking place? It is taking place through servers outside the country, from places where we cannot reach, where no police or court can reach."
Justice Manmohan said many a times, filmmakers are troubled with torrent-type anonymous websites.
"How do we enforce our orders against them?" Justice Manmohan said.
He said most of the time, the profits from illicit trade were used to fund terrorism.
"There are huge challenges and we have to come together to beat them, especially the challenge through e-commerce websites. It is time to engage the platforms to prevent illicit trade that is taking place, and it is time to engage the influencers. We have to change the strategy; we have to make sure we stay one step ahead to deal with illicit trade."
"This can only happen if there is cooperation from everyone traders, lawyers, civil society, companies and the government and I see it is in everyone's interest," Justice Manmohan said.
The 11th edition of MASCRADE was a two-day conference where a report on the GST reforms was released.
It saw participation by international organisations, such as World Intellectual Property Organisation, United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime and European Union Intellectual Property Office.