Measures to Combat Unlawful Activities and Anti-Counterfeiting Policy

Unlawful activities such as counterfeiting and fraud are serious problems that harm both buyers and sellers in the electronic components industry. Manufacturing or selling counterfeit products are particularly serious crimes that endanger national security, result in property loss, and can even cause injury or death. netCOMPONENTS is committed to fighting counterfeiting and other unlawful activities by taking positive steps to promote integrity in the online marketplace. As part of its measures to combat unlawful activities and anti-counterfeiting efforts, netCOMPONENTS requires all users to read, understand and comply with this policy.

Sales of counterfeit electronic parts have increased dramatically in recent years. This increase has resulted in steep industry costs, including the costs of mitigating counterfeiting risks, replacing failed parts, lost sales, and diminished brands and business images. Counterfeiting is also costly to taxpayers and consumers, who bear the costs of enforcement and product failure. Most importantly, counterfeiting endangers public health, safety and national security, particularly when counterfeit parts are introduced into defense supply chains, aerospace equipment, medical devices or communications networks.

The manufacturing and sale of counterfeit parts is a crime. Counterfeiting violates U.S. law, European Union law, international law, and the laws of many countries. Counterfeiting can result in up to 30 years' imprisonment, "blanket" fines exceeding $30,000,000, individual fines based on sales of counterfeit products, additional criminal and civil sanctions, and suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracting, subcontracting and grants.

All netCOMPONENTS users must read, understand and comply with netCOMPONENTS' anti-counterfeiting policy, including reporting any violations (see "Complaint Handling Procedures," below).

netCOMPONENTS' Terms and Conditions of Usage and System Access prohibit use of the netCOMPONENTS service for any unlawful purpose, including the sale of counterfeit goods. netCOMPONENTS' policies and procedures are designed to protect the many netCOMPONENTS members and suppliers that operate legally, professionally, and ethically. netCOMPONENTS takes various measures to help members evaluate suppliers and to combat the abuse of the netCOMPONENTS system by counterfeiters. However, because netCOMPONENTS is not a distributor and does not buy, sell, trade, handle, or take possession of any parts, netCOMPONENTS cannot prevent all instances of counterfeit parts being traded. Therefore, it is incumbent upon members to take steps to protect themselves by undertaking their own policies and procedures in addition to benefiting from, and utilizing, the netCOMPONENTS Terms and measures described herein.

netCOMPONENTS takes various measures to protect its users against unlawful activity and counterfeiting. These measures (described below) include investigating problematic part listings and sales and identifying, investigating and taking action against problematic suppliers. These measures include the use of supplier quality indicators, registrant screening procedures, complaint handling procedures, and enforcement actions/reporting. To avoid circumvention and thereby provide the best protection to registered users, not all measures taken by netCOMPONENTS to combat unlawful activities are described here.

Buying from authorized suppliers is the commonly considered best practice for counterfeit avoidance. netCOMPONENTS clearly designates, prioritizes, and groups together authorized suppliers. Supplier quality indicators, such as the Authorized Icon, provide important information on suppliers to netCOMPONENTS members. Members can use these supplier quality indicators to assist them in making their own supplier quality assessments and selection decisions. Members also can use the "Filters" feature to search for suppliers with one or more of these indicators. These indicators include: