LEGAL PROTECTION AND THE ROLE OF THE NATIONAL CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY FOR CONSUMERS IN CASES OF COUNTERFEITING OF TRADEMARK ON HAND SANITIZER PRODUCTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC BASED ON LAW NO. 8 OF 1999

Abstract

Based on Law No. 20 of 2016, brands are used to differentiate goods or services. By registering a brand, the resulting product or service will be more easily recognized by consumers. The existence of this Law, it is a foundation that can protect brands in Indonesia. The number of falsified brand disputes in Indonesia can make consumers lose. One of them is the hand sanitizer product, which is very much needed in the Covid-19 Pandemic. Business actors who deliberately counterfeit the hand sanitizer brand have bad intentions. The disadvantage that consumers can experience is that it has side effects on consumer health because the ingredients used may not be up to standard. However, the publics ignorance of the fake hand sanitizer brand circulating in the market causes health or safety losses in the use of hand sanitizer products. Therefore, the Government or consumer protection agencies role in dealing with brand counterfeiting in the community and plays an active role in realizing consumer protection. On the other hand, it is also important to implement consumer protection, which is regulated in Law No. 8 of 1999 to minimize consumer losses. Hence, the aim of this research understands the form of legal protection for consumers who experience losses due to using fake hand sanitizers based on Law No. 8 of 1999 and the National Consumer Protection Agency role in the protection of consumers who have been harmed during the Covid-19 era. By using normative legal research that involves the law. The results of this research analysis reveal that legal protection for consumers is not effective enough, it still needs additional regulations and policies from the Government. Apart from the lack of regulations regarding consumer protection during the Covid-19 period, there is also a lack of public initiative to report complaints to the National Consumer Protection Agency.