ABRAPEM establishes partnership with ABComm.

Following the event “ Pioneering Paths for the Trade of Goods and Services without Fraud ”, held by ABRAPEM – Brazilian Association of Manufacturers of Scales, Weights and Measures, Licensees and Importers in June at Fiesp in partnership with Remesp, ABRAPEM, in contact with ABComm – Brazilian Association of Electronic Commerce, formalized a partnership to combat the sale of irregular scales and other metrological instruments in e-commerce.

The president of ABRAPEM, Carlos Amarante, explained that the “Exploring Paths” event aimed to find solutions to combat fraud in the sale of irregular measuring instruments, and it was demonstrated that there are at least two major problems: their irregular entry into Brazil and their sale through e-commerce channels. Therefore, it was only natural to seek the most representative association in the sector for joint work. And the result could not be more promising. The president of ABComm, Mauricio Salvador, says that much needs to be done to combat the sale of irregular items on e-commerce platforms and proposed the formation of a joint committee to seek solutions to this problem. “It is in our interest to contribute to the sector acting ethically,” said Mauricio.

Amarante, in turn, acknowledges that some e-commerce companies already restrict the supply of irregular instruments and hopes that others will act in the same way, efficiently filtering these advertisements and punishing those who sell irregular products. According to Amarante, "unfortunately, the presence of advertisements for irregular metrology instruments, mainly scales, is enormous, in the thousands of units, and we are certain that with the support of ABComm we can reach a solution that meets legal requirements, guarantees fair competition and the rights of consumers and users of these instruments."

According to ABRAPEM, the figures for the regular and irregular scales market in Brazil are as follows:

Regular and irregular imports of scales in Brazil:

Notes:

1. Data based on Siscori, a system of the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service (RFB) that was discontinued in 2021.
2. Losses based on average market prices in BRL.
3. Despite the decreasing quantities, this was not verified in the market, which would prove that irregular imports remained high, but could not be identified.

Sample of offers in e-commerce:

Notes:

1. Data based on information provided by an e-commerce platform for scales above 50 kg.
2. Based on the data above, a single platform would have sold, during that period, a total of irregular scales corresponding to 23.8% of all scales approved by Inmetro in that category; in other words, for every four legal scales in Brazil, one irregular scale would be sold by just one e-commerce platform.

From the data above, we can infer that the irregular market for scales is significant, implying millions of reais in lost revenue, lost income for the productive sector that pays taxes and generates employment, losses for consumers who buy by weight and receive less weight than they paid for, and a loss of industrial quality when manufacturing with irregular scales transmits a lack of quality to the final product, potentially causing damage to the company's image and financial losses. The partnership between ABRAPEM and ABComm aims to combat these distortions and make the market fairer, where everyone wins.