Irina Cajal Marin participated in a conference on the theme of ‘The traditional craftsman - the challenges of the modern world’, during the national fair of popular art and crafts of Romanian worker cooperatives. She was questioned by the exhibitors, who expressed concerns about the consequences of the counterfeiting of their products.
The deputy Secretary had suggested that the cooperatives make "concrete propositions to stop counterfeiting which generates unacceptable profits and damages the value of national heritage".
She suggested taking descriptive measures to better supervise handicrafts production and notably to “determine criteria in order to identify the issued products of popular art and handicrafts which can be bought by the public or cultural institutions, or linked to education about the country.
In 2009, counterfeiting in Romania represented approximately 26% of the total production in the market
Source: REACT - The European Anti-Counterfeiting Network (https://www.react.org/).
In this situation handicraft cooperatives are part of the rare businesses which appear to maintain crafts production that respond to the demands of tradition and authenticity.
