Resolutely fighting against counterfeit goods: A key task in market management

In recent times, the inspection and control of food safety, health protection products, etc. have been closely implemented, especially during the peak period of "Month of action for food safety". However, the work of controlling the quality and origin of products, especially in the e-commerce environment, still needs to be improved and further promoted.

According to Deputy Head of the Hanoi Market Management Department Duong Manh Hung, in recent times, many subjects have taken advantage of cyberspace to advertise and publicly sell products and goods of unknown origin, especially fake milk, functional foods, fake drugs, etc. Therefore, checking and controlling the business situation of trading in counterfeit goods and goods of unknown origin, especially food, functional foods, health protection foods, etc. through cyberspace in recent years has been one of the key tasks in market management.

Hanoi market management forces discovered and forced the destruction of more than 2 tons of fat and cowhide of unknown origin. Photo: Market Management Team No. 10

These products are often advertised with attractive offers and cheap prices, making it difficult for consumers to identify and distinguish between genuine and fake products. Not only stopping at products sold on social networking sites, counterfeit products are also widely distributed through major e-commerce platforms.

In reality, the work of inspection, handling of violations and coordination to ensure food safety in general and food managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade still faces certain difficulties.

The quality inspection of goods related to food safety is an example. Although they are all food safety laboratories, the three Ministries of Health , Industry and Trade, Agriculture and Environment currently have the right to designate laboratories to test food safety indicators in their respective fields.

Or the same batch of goods sent to different testing laboratories gives different results and the testing time is too long. Meanwhile, some food items such as: Meat, fresh and frozen seafood, vegetables, fruits, etc. require storage in special conditions. Meanwhile, the warehouse facilities and storage equipment of the confiscated forces are not guaranteed, and some units do not even have storage warehouses.

In addition, the use of preservatives and banned substances in animal husbandry and the overuse of antibiotics in processed foods have affected the rights of consumers.

Furthermore, the awareness of production, processing and trading establishments as well as consumers about ensuring food safety is not adequate. The handling of food safety violations is not yet resolute. In particular, at the commune level, the main form of punishment is still just warning or reminder. In the past, when conducting inspections and handling, some establishment owners had an opposing attitude, were uncooperative, and even quit their business. Therefore, the market management force encountered many difficulties in the handling process.

According to the Hanoi City Market Management Department, the violators are all qualified people with legal knowledge, taking advantage of loopholes in the law to commit violations. Typically, taking advantage of the provisions of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP, which allows organizations and individuals to produce and trade products immediately after self-declaring products. In fact, there are some products that do not belong to the self-declared product group, but many organizations and individuals still arbitrarily post declaration documents (health protection foods, medical nutritional foods, etc.).

Or, businesses announce the product's uses and product ingredients for human health beyond the product's uses, causing confusion for consumers; take advantage of self-declaration to bring products to the market, aiming to make quick profits in a short time, then dissolve the company, or apply to cancel the application, or only register the business in Hanoi but all production and business activities are carried out in other provinces and cities...

In particular, for food groups that self-declared products, businesses do not need to apply for an advertising license. Therefore, when advertising, businesses provide a lot of information that is not true to the nature of the product or exaggerate the actual uses of the product; hire or borrow images of many artists, celebrities, and influential people on social networks to represent the product image to attract a number of consumers to participate in purchasing products that do not guarantee quality, even counterfeit goods such as the Hiup milk case.

Product declaration dossiers require test certificates including safety indicators but not nutritional indicators, so management agencies have no basis to evaluate product quality when businesses declare or self-declare products...

Faced with the increasingly sophisticated methods of counterfeiters, the Market Management Department has synchronously and regularly deployed professional measures, strengthened inspection and supervision. Strengthened inspection at production and distribution facilities such as markets, stores, supermarkets, especially those showing signs of violations.

At the same time, closely coordinate with the police, customs and relevant agencies to promptly detect and handle cases; strengthen propaganda to raise awareness among consumers and businesses about the risk of counterfeit goods, and require compliance with regulations on quality and origin.

In addition, the authorities also apply strict measures such as confiscating and destroying infringing goods and administratively and criminally handling violators.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/kien-quyet-dau-tranh-chong-hang-gia-nhiem-vu-trong-tam-mui-nhon-trong-cong-tac-quan-ly-thi-truong-723116.html