DUSHANBE, July 11, Asia-Plus -- Tajikistan’s law enforcement authorities have resumed raids on shops selling CDs, DVDs and audio and video cassettes to confiscate unlicensed and illegal products.  This time, the law enforcement agencies have targeted products of pornographic content banned by Tajikistan ’s legislation.  

Mr. Nuriddin Haidarov, the director of the Center for Protection of Consumers’ Rights, has told Asia-Plus that the Center’s employees jointly with officers from the tax police, antimonopoly commission and the city’s culture department will inspect the shops in Dushanbe until the end of this week.   

“An exact number of products confiscated during the raid that was launched in Monday is not yet known, and the final result will be stated on completion of the raid,” the Asia-Plus interlocutor said.   

Besides, according to Haidarov, the piracy product, which is banned for selling in the Russian Federation and has come on the markets in our country illegally, also will be confiscated during the raid.  “After carrying out of appropriate examination of the suspected products, the counterfeit products will be destroyed,” Mr. Haidarov said, adding that if earlier they confiscated al the products from the shop, now they confiscate only the suspected products and the ones, which are sold without appropriate permit.  

We will recalled that analogous raids made by the tax police in Dushanbe recently resulted in confiscation of more than 48,000 CDs and DVDs of doubtful quality and closure of some 100 shops engaged in sale of that product.  A month later, all these shops resumed their activity, continuing selling low-quality goods.    

Mr. Haidarov has noted that that happened because Tajikistan does not have special equipment necessary for examining audio and video products.  “Therefore a major part of the confiscated products has been returned to the shops,” the director of the Center for Protection of Consumers’ Rights said.