May 22, 2025
Reading time • 5 min
Enforcement activities – Acre’s Procon participates in Workshop to Combat Illegal Markets
On Tuesday 2st, the Consumer Protection and Defense Institute (Procon/AC) took part in the Workshop to Combat the Illegal Market, promoted by the Brand Protection Group (BPG) in Rio Branco.
The goal of the initiative was to train participants to recognize counterfeit, smuggled and substandard products.
Among other things, the workshop also allowed guests to hone their technical skills in order to advise the trade on the consequences of the illegal market and to reinforce the importance of working with products with a receipt and guaranteed origin.
Procon/AC is currently working on the education and inspection fronts to make consumers aware of the risks of consuming irregular products, practices that harm consumers and weaken the formal economy. The event was attended by Procon/AC’s education, inspection and customer service departments, as well as representatives from the state’s security forces – the Federal Highway Police (PRF) and the Acre Civil Police (PCAC), the Institute of Weights and Measures (IPEM/AC), the State Department of Finance (SEFAZ) and the Federal Revenue Service.
The Institute’s president, Alana Albuquerque, highlights the importance of Procon’s participation in the workshop, which deals with a topic that is so relevant to society: combating the illegal market and promoting conscious, safe and responsible consumption.
“Procon/Ac plays a fundamental role in this mission. Our commitment is to consumer protection, and that means ensuring that the products placed on the market are legal, of good quality and do not pose risks to the health or safety of the population,” he said.
Counterfeit and smuggled products are a legal offense, pose a serious risk to people’s lives and damage the country’s economy, feeding criminal networks, evading taxes and promoting unfair competition with traders who operate legally.
Speaker Marcelo Toledo de Camargo pointed out that the idea for the workshop arose mainly from the region’s importance in terms of borders and the dissemination of products from the borders to the rest of the country.
“Actually, we’ve always been interested in coming here to Acre. Firstly, because it’s a border region, so it’s very important for us to extend our knowledge to the public authorities,” he emphasized.
The Brand Protection Group – BPG is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 by well-known brands with the aim of combating the illegal market in Brazil.
Among the association’s main objectives are tackling all forms of infringement of intellectual property rights, unfair competition, smuggling and the trade in illicit products that do not meet the requirements of government regulators.
The association also works to protect consumer rights by curbing the sale of counterfeit products in the country.
