Counterfeit goods smuggled inland

The seminar "Identifying and preventing acts of smuggling, counterfeit goods, fake goods and trade fraud"

Fake gasoline and fertilizer

More than 30,000 cases have been inspected and handled by market surveillance forces; leading to more than 17,300 cases of violations; administrative violations of over VND113 billion,and 54 cases transferred to the investigation agency.

These are the number of violations in the field of market surveillance in the first six months of 2022 that were inspected and handled in the whole country. Cases of smuggling, counterfeit goods, goods of unknown origin and goods infringing upon intellectual property rights were noticeable.

Speaking at the seminar "Identifying and preventing acts of smuggling, counterfeit goods, fake goods and trade fraud" on July 28, Mr. Tran Huu Linh, Director General of Market Surveillance (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that: the situation of counterfeit goods from the beginning of 2022 until now is very sophisticated and complicated.

In the past, fake goods were concentrated in a few items such as cosmetics and household items. However, now they occur in many items, such as gasoline.

"In the past year, the situation of fake gasoline and poor quality gasoline is quite common," Mr. Linh said.

As well to gasoline, Mr. Linh also mentioned agricultural materials such as fertilizers. In the first six months of the year, market surveillance checked and discovered many cases of manufacturing and producing fake fertilizers in the domestic market. Many violations were very serious, even mixing soil to make fertilizer for sale on the market.

According to Mr. Linh, in the first half of this year, the speed and scale of counterfeiting trade were increasing, especially in the environment to put fake goods into circulation. For example, the online business models and e-commerce trading platforms. Even counterfeit goods were openly shipped through courier services. This caused difficulties for the authorities to deal with.

Mr. Linh especially emphasized that the border with China is still difficult. Goods could not go through traditional channels such as trails and open paths. It must go through official channels which have to pay tax.

“The counterfeiters would have to find a way to bypass the official channel. Therefore, the production and smuggling of counterfeit goods into the domestic market were very complicated. Even, in the country, there were subjects in craft villages who continue to produce fake goods, focusing mainly on food products,” Mr. Linh said.

Businesses must protect themselves first

From a business perspective, Mr. Pham Quoc Loc, a member of the Board of Directors of URC Vietnam Co., Ltd., Director of the URC Hanoi Factory said: “Businesses were quite worried that customers would buy fake goods, affecting genuine businesses, distort the brand and reduce the reputation of the business.

In order to "join hands" to repel counterfeit goods, businesses must to carry out communication campaigns and introduce brand names for consumers to understand.

“For distribution channels, businesses must also instruct distributors on how to identify fake and counterfeit goods. Distribution staff must closely grasp the market to promptly detect counterfeit goods, from which the company reported and competent authorities would take measures to prevent it," Mr. Loc said.

Mr. Tran Huu Linh also said that, in the prevention of counterfeiting and imitation goods, important subjects were businesses that own trademarks.

In recent times, many famous brands of Vietnam have applied to handle issues related to the infringement of intellectual property rights. The typical examples are TH True Milk and famous domestic alcohol brands.

"This was the ‘front’ that required businesses to have a deep awareness and sense of protecting their brand first," Mr. Linh said.

According to Mr. Bui Kim Hieu, Head of the Civil Law Department, Institute of Legal Research on Business and Consumer Protection, in the ‘battle’ against counterfeit goods, the responsibility of enterprises is clearly shown in the communication about goods to consumers through seminars, conferences or trade promotion activities.

In addition, enterprises must establish ownership rights to trademarks or designs through protection registration from the perspective of the Law on Intellectual Property.

“Businesses themselves also have to improve their own policies, especially those related to consumer rights protection, must have commitments to consumers, and fulfill their commitments. In the current trend, consumers have many opportunities to choose products of the same type. If the business fulfills its commitments, the reputation of the business will certainly increase," Mr. Hieu said.