Alcohol products of unknown origin were seized at Quang Binh on December 15. Provided by the Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance

Many trading and production places of "fake" goods have arisen

The market surveillance carried out the peak inspection plan during the Lunar New Year 2023. Accordingly, the unit has conducted many unexpected inspections and discovered many trading and production places of fake goods. Those who take advantage of the high demand for goods on the occasion of Tet to raise prices unreasonably, causing market instability, especially for consumer goods, will be strictly handled

In Quang Binh, on December 15, 2022, at Km 635, National Highway 1 section in the territory of Thanh Trach commune, Bo Trach district, the police and the market surveillance seized a truck with control place 29C-235.98 in the South-North direction carrying 2,094 bottles of foreign-made alcohol including brands: Johnnie walker, Balvenie aged 12 years, Glenlivet ESTD 1824, Chivas 18, Ballantines.

At the time of inspection, the driver could not present invoices and documents proving the origin of the goods. Although the above foreign alcohol did not have the stamp of imported alcohol as prescribed, the total value of the goods was estimated at more than VND1 billion.

In Binh Duong, on November 27, the authorities searched two containers No. 529827-7 and 528395-5 and detected 102,399 items of all kinds (clothes, shoes, electronic components, cosmetics, sex toys, household tools) without invoices and vouchers, proving the legal origin. According to the transporter's presentation, the above goods were transported from Yen Vien railway station to Song Than station.

In HCM City, on November 30, in Vinh Loc commune, Binh Chanh district, the market surveillance unexpectedly searched and caught five warehouses and manufacturing factories of fake shampoo and shower gel. Through the search, the authorities discovered that most of the goods were shampoos with brands X-men, Romano, Enchanteur, Clear, Pantene, and Head & Shoulder. Furthermore, although manufactured manually, products' packaging shows foreign languages such as Thai, English, and Russian, misleading consumers about the origin of goods. In addition to the above goods, the authority discovered many chemicals in blue drums containing white viscous liquid and many stamps, labels, and plastic bottles and cartons.

According to the Directorate of Market Surveillance, the market surveillance agency has taken many measures and developed many plans to inspect and control acts of intellectual property right infringement, counterfeiting and trade fraud and gained positive results. However, the results have not met expectations, and the anti-counterfeiting work has not yet achieved high efficiency. There are many reasons for this situation, such as increasingly sophisticated and complex production and trading methods and tricks; overlapping enforcement mechanisms, limited resources; and public awareness

Need the cooperation

The problem of counterfeit goods, imitation goods, poor quality goods, and goods infringing intellectual property rights is always a hot issue, especially at the end of the year. Therefore, authorities, management agencies and businesses have been facing difficulties in finding effective solutions to solve this problem.

Recently, at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance and Cooperative Vereniging SNB - React U.A (React) in Asia-Pacific on the fight against counterfeiting and infringing on intellectual property rights, the leader of the Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance said that only enterprises know best about the products they manufacture and distribute in the market. Therefore, the coordination in providing information is essential in fighting against counterfeiting and goods infringing on intellectual property rights. But, on the other hand, this work is also a challenging, complex and long-term task, requiring the efforts of all levels, agencies and the active participation of the whole society.

At the seminar on digital transformation application in anti-counterfeiting work jointly organized by the Standing Office of the National Steering Committee 389, Deputy Chief of the Standing Office Dang Van Dung suggested that enterprises should pay more attention to the prevention of trade fraud and counterfeit goods, especially actively coordinating and sharing information with the authorities on the acts of producing and trading fake goods to handle and prevent counterfeit goods in time, avoiding recidivism and show enterprises' responsibility to consumers.

"As the advisory unit for this work, the Standing Office looks forward to receiving comments, as well as cooperation from businesses, experts, and social organizations, to develop solutions and tools to support the management, investigation and handling of violations of smuggling, commercial fraud and counterfeit goods in cyberspace more effectively. In the current trend of digital transformation, it is recommended that businesses take the initiative in anti-counterfeiting, use anti-counterfeiting solutions, anti-counterfeiting stamps, etc., to protect their brands," said Mr Dang Van Dung.