Lang Son Customs Department has instructed border-gate customs sub-departments to strengthen inspection, strict supervision, origin control, labeling of goods, protection of intellectual property rights (IP), and illegal transshipment of imported and exported goods.

Lang Son Customs repeatedly discovered many cases related
to counterfeit goods and goods infringing IP rights. Photo: Nguyen Tuan

Taking advantage of goods in transit

According to Lang Son Customs Department, in July, Huu Nghi Customs Branch coordinated with the Northern Region Anti-Smuggling Control Team (Team 1- General Department of Customs) to detect, suspend and deliver goods through the supervision area for six transit consignments registered by enterprises to carry out import procedures through Huu Nghi international border gate.

Through inspection, the Customs force discovered that these six consignments were counterfeit goods. In which, there is one shipment containing a large quantity of goods which are suspected of being secondhand and used.

Specifically, on July 12, through monitoring, the Customs agency discovered that the transit shipment of VHL Logistic Transport Co., Ltd. carrying out import procedures through Huu Nghi international border gate had suspicious signs.

To determine whether the consignment has violated regulations, the Customs agency conducted a physical inspection of the goods and found that the company made a false declaration of the name and quantity of the goods and there were six items of suspected fake goods, goods infringing IP rights and used goods. Including six sets of Callaway branded golf bags and clubs, 12 Dell desktop CPUs, as well as 690 phones (450 of which were used).

On the same day, import and export goods were being checked byXuan Cuong Company, the Customs continued to check transit shipments of BichThi Joint Stock Company. Through physical inspection, the Customs agency discovered that the shipment included 300 pairs of Gucci sandals, 750 pairs of shoes and 500 Adidas bags, 950 Jordan sandals, 830 pairs of Puma sandals, 1,820 pairs of sandals and 200 Nike branded bags, 140 Calvin Klein branded bags and 200 Converse branded bags which were counterfeit, infringing intellectual property rights.

The Customs Department has asked the representative of the owner to coordinate verification and confirmed that all of the above goods are counterfeit trademark goods with a value of over VND81 million.

Three days later, BichThi Joint Stock Company continued to carry out import procedures at Huu Nghi international border gate for a transit shipment including 60 Louis Vuitton handbags, 90 Chanel handbags, 40 Coach handbags. All of these goods are certified by the rights holder as infringing IP rights.

On July 13, the Import-Export Trading and Service Co., Ltd. also carried out procedures for importing transit shipments through Huu Nghi international border gate. Through checking the shipment, the Customs agency discovered that the shipment contained 20 iPads, 60 iPhone 4 models and 130 iPhone 5 models with a value of over VND102 million.

On July 14, the customs office continued to inspect two transit consignments for import procedures also of the Import-Export Trading and Service Co., Ltd. Here, the Customs agency found that the number of counterfeit branded goods included 750 bags of Charles& Keith brand; 50 pairs of Nike shoes, 70 Louis Vuitton towels; 70 Victorian brand towels; 1,850 Gucci branded suits; 1,000 Burberry suits; 190 Puma brand clothes; 220 Adidas dresses; 300 Zara purses and 15 Patek Philippe wristwatches.

Tan Thanh Customs Branch has checked and discovered the shipment of ChinhNghia Trading and Production Co., Ltd. carrying out procedures for importing 19.1 tons of dried, peeled and 4.2 tons of dried garlic, violating the origin of goods. Specifically, on the declarationthis company declared the goods were of Chinese origin, but through actual inspection, the Customs agency discovered that the goods were of Spanish origin.

Talking to reporters, the representative of Lang Son Customs Department said that for transit shipments detected and inspected by the Customs agency at the Huu Nghi international border gate area, the unit made a record, report and propose to the Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee to consider issuing an administrative sanction decision.

Checking from the process of receiving procedures

It is forecasted that the risk of infringement of IP rights and origin of goods of enterprises will increase in the future. According to the representative of Lang Son Customs Department, the situation of goods imported and exported through the border gates, especially Huu Nghi international border gate recently had many risks, as some enterprises took advantage of the system of procedures for electronic customs to incorrectly declare goods names, quantities, categories, codes of goods, origin, commercial fraud, illegal cross-border transport of goods for self-seeking purposes.

In particular, the increasing number of goods found related to IPR infringement has forced Lang Son Customs to direct the border gate customs departments to drastically implement measures to prevent, detect and handle violations.

Before a series of cases arose recently, Lang Son Customs asked units to strengthen inspection and detect signs from the process of receiving procedures for enterprises that regularly carry out import procedures of household goods and apparel. Focusing on the group of items at high risk, IP infringement and high-risk enterprises, and timely updating information on professional information systems.