Bac Ninh's goods market is expanding rapidly, ranging from traditional channels to e-commerce and digital platforms. This rapid development both creates momentum for production and trading and sets higher demands for the management and control of counterfeit goods, smuggled goods, and goods of unknown origin, thereby protecting consumers and maintaining a healthy business environment.

Market Surveillance Team No. 3 - Bac Ninh Market Surveillance Department, in coordination with the Economic Police Department - Bac Ninh Provincial Police, supervises the destruction of violating cosmetic evidence.

Targeted inspections, strict handling of violations

The characteristics of Bac Ninh, with its numerous industrial zones, industrial clusters, craft villages, commercial systems, and major trading hubs, lead to a high volume and diverse range of goods circulating in the area.

According to the Bac Ninh Market Surveillance Department, in the first half of 2026, the market remained stable, and the supply of essential goods was guaranteed. However, smuggling, commercial fraud, production and trading of counterfeit goods, intellectual property infringement, and goods of unknown origin continued to show complex developments. Notably, violations on e-commerce platforms and in food safety involved increasingly sophisticated methods.

In response to this reality, the provincial Market Surveillance force has intensified local monitoring, information gathering, and thematic inspections, focusing on high-risk product groups and sectors. In the first 6 months of 2026, the force inspected 741 cases, handled 697 administrative violations, and referred 13 cases with signs of criminal activity to investigative agencies; submitting 16.91 billion VND to the state budget. The value of goods confiscated, destroyed, ordered for destruction, or transferred to investigative agencies reached over 58 billion VND.

Behind these numbers are series of items directly related to people's lives and health that were discovered and intercepted before entering further circulation in the market.

On June 24, 2026, Market Surveillance Team No. 11, in coordination with Tien Du Commune Police, destroyed a batch of frozen food harmful to human health and failing to meet food safety standards.

In late June 2026, during an inspection of a frozen food business in Tien Du commune, functional forces discovered 1,654 kg of frozen food of unknown origin, including pork udders, goose breasts, and pork intestines. The facility owner was subsequently fined 42.5 million VND, and all violating food was ordered to be destroyed in accordance with regulations.

In another case, authorities fined an enterprise in Tien Son Industrial Zone 180 million VND for trading smuggled cosmetics and ordered the destruction of the violating items. In July 2026, Market Surveillance forces also continuously detected cases related to counterfeit goods, trademark infringement, intellectual property rights violations, and other suspect goods.

According to the leadership of the Provincial Market Surveillance Department, inspection work has been implemented in a focused and targeted manner, staying close to high-risk areas rather than being spread thin. The periodic inspection plan for 2026 identifies 114 organizations and individuals subject to inspection, covering various sectors from e-commerce, petroleum, gas, fertilizers, and pesticides to electronics, fashion, cosmetics, gold, alcohol, and food.

This approach demonstrates that management work is gradually shifting from reactive situation handling to proactive risk identification and early violation prevention.

Market surveillance forces coordinated with Bac Ninh Provincial Police during a campaign inspecting textbook, stationery, and learning tool businesses on July 16, 2026.

Following the market onto digital platforms

While inspection locations were previously primarily traditional markets, stores, or warehouses, a very large portion of the market has now shifted to cyberspace. With just a few taps on a smartphone, a product can be advertised to thousands of buyers; sellers, warehouses, and consumers can be located in completely different jurisdictions.

This shift expands market boundaries while confronting enforcement forces with new violation methods. Goods can be introduced via livestreams, social networks, or personal accounts; transactions occur online, whereas pooling and packaging take place at separate locations. Identifying business entities, goods origins, and evidence of violations has consequently become more difficult than with traditional business methods.

According to the Market Surveillance Department, controlling e-commerce activities is one of the key tasks requiring focus in the current period. Alongside direct inspections, forces must step up information collection in digital environments, proactively identify signs of violations, and coordinate with relevant agencies to trace goods origins and handle them according to regulations. This is also one of the areas included in the 2026 periodic inspection plan.

Bac Ninh Market Surveillance Department organized a study session on Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science, technology development, innovation, and national digital transformation.

Along with changing inspection methods is the requirement to build an increasingly regular, professional, and modern market surveillance force. In the first 6 months of the year, the Department continued to promote administrative reform, professional training, maintaining discipline and public duty ethics, and applying technology to management activities. According to the Department, this serves as the foundation to improve management effectiveness and efficiency amid rapidly changing production, distribution, and consumption methods.

However, to clean up the market, efforts from the Market Surveillance force alone are insufficient. Control effectiveness also depends on coordination among functional forces, local authorities, businesses, and consumers themselves. Reports and feedback from citizens and businesses regarding unusual warehouses, facilities showing signs of selling counterfeit goods, or sales accounts of unknown origin can become crucial leads for functional agencies to inspect and address in a timely manner.

According to the leadership of the Bac Ninh Market Surveillance Department, the overarching requirement is to resolutely combat smuggling, commercial fraud, and counterfeit goods while creating favorable conditions for legitimate production and business development. Inspections must target the right subjects and adhere to regulations without affecting compliant organizations and individuals; simultaneously, intentional violations impacting consumer rights and the business environment must be detected and strictly handled.