Left to right: Jason Poole, manager of Gloucestershire Trading Standards, Dave Joynes, managing director of Cotswold Markets, Becky Coles, Community Services Manager, Claire Bloomer, Mayor of Cirencester, and Cllr Gary Selwyn, lead member for community services, at the signing of the charter
Cirencester Market, which is jointly run by Cirencester Town Council and Cotswold Markets, is the latest to join the Real Deal programme to stop shoppers being duped into buying rip-off fakes of designer goods and other illicit items. On Friday 9 July, the market operators confirmed this commitment by signing the Real Deal Charter with Gloucestershire County Council’s trading standards department.
Cllr Dave Norman, cabinet member responsible for trading standards at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “It is important to ensure legitimate traders are protected and those who feel they can make easy money are deterred at the earliest stage.
“This is a great initiative that will see us working together to protect consumers and local businesses from the harm caused by the trade in counterfeit goods.”
Cllr Gary Selwyn, lead member for community services at Cirencester Town Council, said signing up to the Real Deal meant customers and traders could have confidence in Cirencester’s markets.
He added: “Counterfeit and illicit goods are often of inferior quality and, in most cases, unsafe as they have not gone through the same rigorous safety checks that legitimate goods go through. Their sale can damage consumer confidence and legitimate businesses, because they infringe existing intellectual property rights.”
Becky Coles, Community Services Manager at Cirencester Town Council, said: “We’re really proud of our market’s reputation and want to reassure residents, visitors and businesses that we’re committed to maintaining a safe and fair environment in which to shop and trade. It is important to us that customers know they can shop here with confidence.”
Patricia Lennon, national manager of the Real Deal campaign, said: “We are delighted to welcome Cirencester Market into the Real Deal. By signing the Charter and displaying the Real Deal logo, they are joining with hundreds of markets across the country in saying ‘no’ to counterfeits and rogue traders.”
The Real Deal is an initiative of the National Markets Group for IP Protection (NMG), Graham Mogg, Chair of the NMG and ACG Intelligence Co-ordinator commented: “The sale of counterfeits is not a victimless crime: consumers are ripped off; products are untested and potentially unsafe; legitimate businesses lose sales; revenue is lost from the economy to the black market; and often the trade in fakes is linked to organised crime. We are grateful to Cirencester Town Council, the market operator Cotswold Markets and Gloucestershire County Council Trading Standards for working together to ensure that the market is a fake-free zone.”
Gavin Terry, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute Lead Officer for Intellectual Property (IP) and Vice Chair of the NMG added: “The Real Deal facilitates a coordinated approach between trading standards, market operators and trade mark and copyright owners. This type of voluntary partnership working helps to support trading standards services in ensuring that communities benefit from safe, fair trading practices.”
If you have any concerns about items sold at Cirencester Market please contact Trading Standards by calling 0808 223 1133.