The Role of Zimbabwe Revenue Authority in Intellectual Property Enforcement

Abstract

The increase in the global economy and openness of the markets, has led to the desire for trade protection becoming more important. One aspect of trade protection that has risen to the forefront is the protection of intellectual property rights across national borders. The traditional customs role of revenue collection has changed over the years to include protection of society, combating piracy, drug trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and trade facilitation and security of the global supply chain. Customs administrations in developing countries are focusing mainly on revenue collection. The powers that be at most of these revenue authorities in the majority of the developing countries do not have the insight as to what intellectual property is and how it can benefit the national economy. The same can be said of the policy makers (politicians), they tend to focus on perennial problems such as health, education and food. This state of affairs is due to dependence of African economies on revenue from customs duties and other taxes. This study analyses the enforcement of intellectual property rights through border control measures in Zimbabwe since its one of the developing countries which heavily relies on revenue collection to fund its expenditures. This research seeks to give an insight into the current situation of Zimbabwe in terms of its laws and enforcement of intellectual property. This was done by carrying out a qualitative and quantitative survey through the use of a questionnaire and it can be concluded that although there are laws in Zimbabwe to protect against counterfeiting and piracy, there is lack of implementation of the law. From the sample taken for analysis it has been concluded that the advancement in technology was among factors which have contributed to more counterfeit products because with easy access to internet and other tools people are able to alter and modify products or even brand them, some of the pirated goods even look better than the originals. Some also mentioned that the factors which fuel piracy and counterfeiting in African countries include unemployment, illiteracy, and lack of awareness, lack of mechanisms to combat piracy and counterfeiting and/or very low levels of enforcement actions. Additionally, enforcement measures against piracy and counterfeiting are often ineffective because of factors such as inadequate training and sensitization of law enforcement institutions, inadequate resources, scarcity of IP experts, the inactive and passive attitude of rights holders, weak or no collaboration among stakeholders, lack of political will or its weakness thereof, etc.