Information regarding counterfeit products

CLOSED - BUT ALWAYS BE VIGILANT FOR COUNTERFEITS. 

FEBRUARY 21 2011

Petzl has to deal with counterfeit versions of its products on a regular basis. These counterfeit safety products do not comply with our stringent quality standards and pose a real danger to the user. The following is a thorough reminder of Petzl’s high standards in terms of safety, of the risks associated with using counterfeit products, and of the method for identifying these counterfeits.

Authentic Petzl products are made according to a specific process and expertise that belong exclusively to Petzl. Petzl products comply with very explicit international standards, and are designed, tested, and manufactured by the company to the most stringent requirements in terms of quality. These requirements are identical at every Petzl production site For more information, watch the following videos on Petzl.com :

• Petzl is commited to product quality and reliability
• Headlamps : a tale of quality

Product copies or counterfeit products are not Petzl products and don’t meet applicable performance standards. They do not benefit from Petzl’s expertise or warranties, and can pose a high risk or prove faulty when used. Counterfeit products are potentially dangerous.

Petzl in the fight against counterfeiting

For the last several years, Petzl has been actively fighting against counterfeiters. This battle includes several components:

• a strategy of protection of all innovations and original creations, by Patents, Patents Design, and Trademarks
• monitoring every market and the wide variety of distribution channels,
• thorough investigations to find the sources of the counterfeit production,
• legal procedures with the courts of competent jurisdiction, in order to ensure the destruction of the counterfeit production facilities.

How can you guard against illegal copies and counterfeit products?

Petzl products are only sold through a network of official distributors and authorized retailers. The products are new and come with a technical notice. By purchasing your products through this network, you are guaranteed to purchase an authentic Petzl product. To learn who the official distributor and authorized retailers are in your country, go to our dealer locator.

Download the user procedures [PDF] for dealing with products suspected of being counterfeits

Petzl has recently discovered counterfeit versions of the following products:

These counterfeit products have serious defects that affect their performance and strength. For example: 

There is a significant risk that these counterfeit products could open or otherwise fail at low loads and under normal use:

• These counterfeit products do not meet UIAA or CE safety standards.

• These counterfeit products do not meet Petzl safety and quality requirements.

It will be very difficult for you to identify these fakes:

They have been reproduced in a way that makes them very difficult to identify. The following features have been reproduced nearly identically:

• Design
• Colour
• Product markings
• Batch number
• Instructions for use (down to the most minor details)
• Packaging

Only an in-depth analysis allows us to identify these counterfeit products, due to minor differences in the tools used to produce them.

To date, only a few counterfeits have been found on the market, and thus far none in AUSTRALIA or NEW ZEALAND. What can you do?

• Only purchase from an authorized Petzl retailer to be sure that you are purchasing a genuine Petzl product.
• If you have any doubt as to the authenticity of Petzl products, please help us and contact the Petzl authorized distributor Spelean (contact details below).
• For a list of Petzl retailers, please visit: petzl.com.au or petzl.co.nz or visit our support page.