Provincial Market Management forces inspect food products at a business establishment in Nha Trang. |
Many violations were handled
From the complicated situation of smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property infringement across the country, especially violations in the fields of food, pharmaceuticals, etc. that have recently been discovered by the authorities, the leaders of the Party, the National Assembly , and the Government have paid special attention and closely directed. In particular, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has issued many telegrams directing localities to launch a peak period to fight, prevent, and repel smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property infringement across the country. From that reality, the authorities across the country have resolutely deployed solutions to fight and prevent. According to the report of the National Steering Committee against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods, in the peak month (from May 15 to June 15), units and localities arrested and handled more than 10,400 cases of smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods (an increase of 80.5% compared to the previous peak month). Thereby, the state budget collected nearly 1,300 billion VND (an increase of 258.4%); temporarily seized goods and exhibits worth an estimated more than 4,075 billion VND; prosecuted more than 200 cases, with 378 defendants. The violations mainly focused on consumer goods such as: cosmetics, clothing, functional foods and electronic components...
Checking a business selling lobster seeds of unknown origin in Cam Ranh City. (Photo provided by authorities) |
In Khanh Hoa, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and the leaders of the Provincial People's Committee have resolutely directed relevant departments, branches and functional agencies to closely follow the direction of the Prime Minister and central ministries and branches, proactively develop plans to inspect, control and strictly handle violations. During the peak month, functional forces in the province discovered 206 violations, thereby collecting more than 16.2 billion VND for the budget and criminally prosecuting 1 subject. Typically: In June, the Working Group of the Economic Police Department, the Provincial Police inspected two warehouses at 56/22 Da Tuong (Phuoc Long Ward, Nha Trang City) and a warehouse in an apartment at 6 Chung Cu B Cho Dam (Van Thanh Ward, Nha Trang) and discovered and temporarily seized 6,350 packs of foreign-branded cigarettes without invoices, unknown origin, and without imported cigarette stamps according to regulations for more than 100 brands of various types. On June 13, the Investigation Police Agency of the Provincial Police issued a decision to prosecute a criminal case of trading in prohibited goods.
Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Environment has fined a company in Phuoc Hai ward (Nha Trang) for storing goods that are vegetable and fruit powders with labels that do not contain all the required information on the product label. At the time of the surprise inspection, the Department of Agriculture and Environment recorded that the company was storing a number of products including: 56 packages of perilla powder (priced at VND 5,982/package), 28 packages of beetroot powder (VND 4,942/package), 28 packages of pumpkin powder (VND 4,222/package) and 140 packages of pennywort powder (VND 4,462/package). These products did not contain all the required information on the product label such as: Missing the content of "weight" and "safety warning" as prescribed. It is known that this company signed a processing contract with a company in Don Duong district, Lam Dong province. Ms. Hoang Thi Hang - Vinh Diem Trung Urban Area (Nha Trang) said: “I once bought 48 packs of vegetable powder from this company because I trusted an acquaintance who advertised loudly on social networking sites that “clean vegetable powder, effective support for people with constipation”. However, after using 2/3 of the product, I did not see any effect so I stopped taking it. The company offered a price of nearly 5,000 VND/packet but in fact I bought it for 18,000 VND/packet. What is worrying is that the product directly affects the health of consumers but lacks transparency in terms of weight information or safety warnings”.
Problems
Despite many positive results, the fight against smuggling and counterfeiting in the province still faces difficulties and obstacles. In addition to increasingly sophisticated violations, people's awareness and sense of responsibility are still limited, human resources of management agencies are thin, funding for this activity is not appropriate, information software systems between levels are not synchronized... legal documents are not synchronized, there are many loopholes and overlaps.
Market Management forces inspect a drug business in Nha Trang. |
According to Mr. Nguyen Dong Phong - Chief Inspector of the Department of Health, currently, there are no technical regulations or Vietnamese standards stipulating quality indicators and allowable limits for safety indicators in "Groups of nutritional products for children up to 36 months old, medical nutritional foods and foods for special diets". This not only causes difficulties for organizations and individuals responsible for bringing products to the market in determining product testing indicators to register product declarations, but also causes difficulties for management agencies in the process of post-inspection of products. In addition, according to Decree No. 15/2018 of the Government regulating the test result sheet in the product self-declaration dossier, food supplements are not required to have test results for nutritional indicators, quality indicators (substances added to food) in the product self-declaration dossier... In addition, in Article 5 of Decree No. 15/2018 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety, it is not required to have test results for nutritional indicators, quality indicators; there is no longer a regulation that organizations and individuals must send samples for periodic product testing, leading to subjectivity and negligence in supervising the production process and product quality in a part of production and business establishments. Along with that, product groups such as: Supplements, medical nutritional foods, foods for special diets, nutritional products for children up to 36 months old are very diverse and there are product groups that do not have technical regulations or Vietnamese standards but only rely on standards announced by the facility. Therefore, the management of this product group is very difficult.
On the other hand, the announcement of domestically produced cosmetics is still undertaken by the local Department of Health, some places handle documents in paper form, some places online, leading to a lack of connection with the central system, and there is no full legal corridor for the online system. This makes it difficult for authorities to trace the origin of products, especially in post-inspection work. Decree No. 93/2016 of the Government on conditions for cosmetics production has not clearly stipulated specific conditions such as: Criteria on personnel, facilities or quality management systems and there is no specific checklist for management agencies as well as businesses to easily implement and self-assess. In particular, currently suspected counterfeit cosmetics and pharmaceuticals must be appraised before being processed, but some products do not have real samples because many items are not circulated in Vietnam or do not have a representative of the brand or trademark owner, leading to the authorities having no basis for criminal handling but having to switch to administrative handling, which is not enough of a deterrent. Mr. Nguyen Thai Quoc - Captain of Market Management Team No. 1, Provincial Market Management Department said: "During the inspection and control process, the team encountered many difficulties in verifying the quality of medicinal herbs and traditional medicine because there are currently no specific regulations. Controlling e-commerce activities is also very difficult, many times when receiving information, the unit comes to inspect and verify, the facility has no signboard, no signs of business".
Every day is a peak period against counterfeiting.
With the above difficulties and limitations, recently, at the national online conference to review the work of combating smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods in the first 6 months of the year and the direction and tasks for the last months of 2025; summarizing the peak period of fighting, preventing and repelling smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and infringement of intellectual property rights, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directed ministries, branches and localities to continue reviewing difficulties and obstacles to propose timely amendments, supplements and replacements, gradually perfecting institutions and legal regulations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the work of combating smuggling and trade fraud. The Prime Minister requested to resolutely declare war on counterfeit goods, fight regularly with the spirit of "every day is a peak", especially to eradicate counterfeit drugs and fake foods because they directly affect the health and lives of people.
Recently, at a working session with the Department of Industry and Trade, the Provincial Market Management Department, the Provincial Steering Committee against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods and related agencies and units, Comrade Le Huu Hoang - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee directed the units to continue to well implement the directions of the Government, the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Committee on strengthening the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, production and trading of counterfeit and poor quality goods; to step up the peak of the fight to prevent and repel smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and infringement of intellectual property rights in the coming time. In particular, strictly handle all acts of smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods according to the motto "no forbidden areas, no exceptions"; focus on forces, means, and measures to hit and hit the right masterminds, leaders of networks, groups, and complex gathering places to deter and prevent. At the same time, strengthen inspection of compliance with legal regulations on pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, functional foods, medicinal herbs and traditional medicine to avoid violations; closely coordinate with the police in investigating and handling cases of production and trade of fake medicines, fake milk and fake health protection foods. In addition, strengthen propaganda and dissemination of legal regulations and results of detection and handling of violations to raise awareness and sense of law compliance of organizations and individuals according to the motto "increase frequency, diversify forms, ensure content and quality of propaganda". Members strengthen coordination in all activities related to the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, infringement of intellectual property rights, etc.
LY VAN
Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/kinh-te/202506/kien-quyet-quet-sach-hang-gia-chong-hang-gia-gian-lan-thuong-maikhong-co-vung-cam-khong-co-ngoai-le-5360f32/
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