Can Tho City Market Management Force checks goods at a store in the city.
Sophisticated violations
Currently, counterfeit goods appear in almost all product lines from pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, functional foods, alcohol, tobacco, electronic components, fashion products, fertilizers, agricultural supplies, accessories, auto parts, motorbikes... it can be said that all products are at risk of being counterfeited. Counterfeit goods are not only popular in big cities but also spread to rural areas, remote areas, and isolated areas through many forms of sales. With sophisticated methods from packaging, labels to quality, counterfeit goods even have quite sophisticated anti-counterfeit stamps, confusing and deceiving consumers and fooling the authorities; especially taking advantage of business through e-commerce, social networks, and electronic trading floors for buying and selling activities.
According to the National Steering Committee 389, in the first 6 months of 2025, functional forces nationwide inspected and handled 50,419 cases related to smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods, down 21.45% over the same period. In the peak month of implementing Official Dispatch No. 65/CD-TTg on combating, preventing and repelling smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and infringement of intellectual property rights (from May 15 to June 15), functional forces nationwide inspected and handled 10,437 cases, collecting more than VND 1,278 billion for the state budget, prosecuting 204 cases, and prosecuting 382 subjects.
In the first 6 months of 2025, Steering Committee 389 of Can Tho City inspected 6,022 cases, including 405 violations, with a total fine of over 5.3 billion VND. During the peak month of implementing Official Dispatch No. 65/CD-TTg on combating, preventing and repelling smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods and infringement of intellectual property rights (from May 15 to June 15, 2025), there were 795 inspections and checks, including 81 violations, with a total fine of over 1.2 billion VND and the value of infringing goods of over 19 billion VND.
According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tuan, representative of Baker McKenzie International Law Firm, the demand for e-commerce consumption in Vietnam is increasing, and the acts of counterfeit goods and commercial fraud on e-commerce are also increasing. According to him, currently up to 90% of counterfeit goods and goods that infringe rights are consumed and sold on e-commerce platforms and on social networking sites. Meanwhile, it is very difficult for ordinary consumers to distinguish between genuine and fake goods. Censorship and tracing of counterfeit goods on e-commerce platforms is very difficult without close cooperation between e-commerce platforms.
Recognizing the strong development of e-commerce, Mr. Hoang Ninh, Deputy Director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ), said that this development also has certain consequences, the most obvious being the problem of counterfeit goods, fake goods, and goods infringing intellectual property rights appearing more and more in the e-commerce environment, especially on social networks.
Mr. Hoang Ninh affirmed that social networks are unofficial e-commerce platforms. Many subjects have taken advantage of the anonymity and lack of control of network administrators to trade in counterfeit goods, fake goods, goods that infringe intellectual property rights, goods of unknown origin, and commit commercial fraud. Common examples include creating livestream sales accounts, advertising products labeled as branded goods but in fact they are counterfeit goods... then taking advantage of the cash on delivery policy to deliver smuggled goods and infringing goods, making it very difficult for authorities to detect and handle violations.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Deputy Director of the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that one of the difficulties of the market management force in inspecting and handling violations of counterfeit goods and goods of unknown origin is that the demand for consumption through e-commerce is increasing while people's awareness of fighting counterfeit goods in this environment is still limited; there are still a few consumers who are attracted by cheap prices and beautiful designs without paying attention to the quality and origin of the products. Along with that, the handling is still entangled in legal mechanisms, lacking in forces, measures, application of science, technology and coordination to detect and handle these types of violations and crimes.
Joint management
Mr. Tran Duc Dong, Deputy Chief of the Standing Office of the National Steering Committee 389, commented that in the coming time, the situation of production and trade of counterfeit goods and goods infringing intellectual property rights as well as trade fraud will continue to have complicated developments, and may even increase in quantity, scale and more sophisticated tricks. More worryingly, in the new situation, the methods and tricks of the subjects will be more sophisticated and systematic due to the many advances in e-commerce, digital technology trade as well as the State's policies creating conditions for the development of the private economy. Therefore, to effectively combat the problem of counterfeit goods, goods infringing intellectual property rights, trade fraud requires the participation of all levels of government, enforcement forces, businesses, and consumers in a comprehensive, responsible, thorough and synchronous manner.
According to experts, when the law is strong enough, strictly enforced and people are aware, counterfeit goods will be pushed back. In particular, consumers need to choose genuine stores, reputable shopping centers, official websites, authorized agents of the rights holder, for online shopping on platforms, they need to consult, choose, compare and evaluate carefully as well as check the goods, especially choose reputable sellers and stalls, do not buy and sell on social platforms with unknown origins of the page owner and especially do not buy goods based on emotions, be wary of cheap goods, shocking discounts, clearance goods and accompanying promotions.
To improve the effectiveness of the fight against counterfeit goods, intellectual property infringement, and commercial fraud in the coming time, especially violations in the field of e-commerce, representatives of many management agencies believe that digital technology must be applied to handle violations in the digital environment. Therefore, functional forces need to strengthen market inspection and control; strengthen inter-sectoral, flexible, inter-local, and inter-provincial coordination. Civil servants and enforcement forces in the industry and field need to improve their professional qualifications, skills, and ability to apply digital technology through training programs...
According to statistics from the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, in the first 6 months of 2025, e-commerce platforms removed more than 33,000 products and closed 11,000 stores with violations related to counterfeit goods, fake goods, and goods infringing intellectual property rights. |
Article and photos: KHANH NAM
Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/ung-dung-cong-nghe-so-trong-chong-hang-gia-a188722.html
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