Alcohol and tobacco are on the list of restricted goods. To improve the effectiveness of state management of these goods, in recent times, the functional sectors in the province have stepped up inspection and urged units and business households to strictly implement the provisions of the law on alcohol and tobacco trading, resolutely handling violations, contributing to protecting the rights of consumers.
According to the assessment of the functional sector, most of the establishments selling alcohol and tobacco products in the province are small-scale, and these products are sold interspersed with many other products. The situation of smuggling alcohol and smuggled cigarettes has occurred but not much, not complicated. In implementing the state management of alcohol and tobacco business activities, in the past time, functional sectors such as the Department of Industry and Trade, the Provincial Market Management Department have regularly updated information, done a good job of managing the area, promptly urged and reminded businesses to comply with the provisions of the law, and strictly handled violations. During the business process, all establishments have been guided by the competent agencies to implement the provisions of the law on alcohol and tobacco business and most of the establishments have strictly complied.
For the Provincial Market Management Department, in performing its assigned tasks, the Department actively directs its subordinate market management teams to monitor, grasp the area, promptly detect and strictly handle violations in the production, trading and transportation of counterfeit alcohol, smuggled alcohol and cigarettes of unknown origin and origin to protect the health and safety of consumers, contributing to preventing alcohol and cigarette poisoning cases. The Department also regularly conducts specialized inspections and examinations of alcohol and cigarette trading activities. Inspection results show that violations related to alcohol and cigarette trading activities have tended to decrease in recent years. Particularly in the specialized inspection of alcohol and cigarette trading activities from the beginning of 2022 to the end of September 2023, the Department discovered and handled 6 establishments violating the law out of a total of 13 establishments inspected; administrative fines of over 41.2 million VND were imposed. The main violations are trading in smuggled alcohol and cigarettes; and goods of unknown origin.
Discussing this content, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of the Provincial Market Management Department, said: In recent years, the Provincial Market Management Department has focused on implementing the directives of the General Department of Market Management, the Ministry of Industry and Trade on inspecting and handling violations of the law in the business of alcohol and tobacco and advising the Provincial Steering Committee 389 to issue documents on strengthening the fight against smuggling and trade fraud in alcohol and tobacco products. With the motto "Each officer and inspector is a propagandist", the Department directs its affiliated units to proactively combine propaganda and dissemination of the law in the process of performing inspection and control tasks. At the same time, organizations and individuals are required to sign a commitment not to trade or transport smuggled or poor-quality alcohol and tobacco. Thereby, helping people raise their awareness and understanding of the law, and properly implement regulations related to production and business activities.
In performing its functions and tasks, in recent times, the Department of Industry and Trade of Ha Nam has actively advised the Provincial People's Committee to implement the Government's decrees and decisions of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on inspection and control of alcohol and tobacco production and trading activities. Along with that, it has directed, urged and guided specialized agencies at the district level and People's Committees at the commune level to carry out state management of alcohol and tobacco production and trading in the area according to the decentralized authority. In particular, it focuses on managing the production of handmade alcohol, guiding alcohol retail establishments to strictly implement the provisions of law on alcohol production and trading. The Department has also actively coordinated with competent agencies to inspect, control, promptly detect and strictly handle violations of food safety, production of fake alcohol, use of prohibited ingredients to mix alcohol, trading in alcohol and tobacco of unknown origin, and violations of product labels to protect the health and safety of consumers.
Mr. Tran Van Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, said: Through inspection, it shows that thanks to the promotion of propaganda, the number of violations in the business of smuggled alcohol and cigarettes has decreased significantly compared to before. However, for the production of handmade alcohol, most households have not carried out the procedures for granting business licenses according to regulations. The number of licensed alcohol retail establishments is still small because the establishments mainly sell at grocery stores, interspersed with many other goods. Most households brew alcohol themselves in the family's living space, on a small scale, scattered in residential areas, so the guidance, propaganda, inspection and supervision of the authorities face many difficulties.
In reality, the situation of alcohol and tobacco trading and business in the area still has many complicated problems. There are still subjects secretly trading and transporting alcohol and smuggled foreign cigarettes from outside that the authorities have not yet fully controlled. Handling administrative violations with small businesses, fast food and soft drinks with alcohol and cigarettes is still facing many difficulties. In addition, the Decree on administrative sanctions for violations in commercial activities, production, trading of counterfeit and prohibited goods and protection of consumer rights currently does not have regulations to handle violations of new generation cigarettes. Human resources, funding, and means for professional activities of functional units are still lacking, not meeting the requirements of tasks in a timely manner...
Due to the existing difficulties and shortcomings, it is required that the authorities further strengthen coordination in inspection, examination and control of compliance with business conditions and strictly handle illegal business activities; continue to promote propaganda to raise awareness and understanding of the harmful effects of using poor quality tobacco and alcohol as well as people's responsibility in participating in implementing regulations on prevention and control of tobacco harms... The Lunar New Year of Giap Thin 2024 is approaching, the demand for shopping and using alcohol and tobacco products will increase before and during Tet. Hopefully, with the drastic participation of the authorities, it will contribute to timely preventing the illegal trading and transportation of tobacco and alcohol to protect people's health.
Nguyen Oanh
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