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The NEDA (National Electronic Distributors Association) has released its guidelines on product returns, aiming to provide a clear-cut process to ensure the legitimacy of products customers purchase through an authorized distribution channel. According to NEDA, the primary entry of counterfeit electronic parts into the electronics supply chain is purchasing from unauthorized sources, such as brokers and unauthorized distributors. The group's goal is to strengthen the integrity of the electronics supply chain when customers purchase through authorized distribution.

Robin B Gray, executive vice president of NEDA, describes the guidelines as a way to codify best practices and as a way to thwart the entrance of counterfeit components into the electronics supply chain. “It's something that authorized distributors have been doing for several years now,” he says. “We thought it was a good opportunity to publish these [guidelines] as best practices for distributors.” Customers have expressed concern about the soundness of the supply chain with respect to counterfeit products. “About the only way counterfeit products can get into the authorized supply chain is through returns,” Gray adds. “We wanted to make sure that authorized distributors practice these types of policies and that those who don't [do so] consider implementing them as soon as possible.”

The guideline recommendations include use of sealable packaging; verification of purchase orders, quantities, and dates; and visual inspection of parts to determine whether additional handling or processing may have occurred. “You should have some sort of verification that the product you are getting back from the customer is, in fact, the product that you sold to them,” says Gray. “We want the component manufacturers to also consider their stock rotation/scrap-allowance policies with respect to their authorized supply chain.”

By: DocMemory
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