The Deputy Prime Minister: Violation of counterfeit goods due to loopholes in the Law

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The Deputy Prime Minister addresses at the ceremony.

On 30th November 2016, the Vietnam Association for Anti-counterfeiting and Trademark Protection (VATAP) held a ceremony for the day of anti-counterfeiting (29th November) annually.

Mr. Le The Bao, the Chairman of VATAP said, there were 32 categories of products which were counterfeited, including refrigerators, beer, other drinks, plant protection drugs, veterinary drugs and aquaculture drugs. This situation was unacceptable.

At the Mekong Delta, many counterfeit goods such as veterinary drugs and aquaculture drugs were transported across borders into the domestic market, which affected the development of production, because this was the area with plenty of agricultural resources.

This situation has taken place for a long time and it will be more complicated in the future. In order to resolve this situation, Mr. Le The Bao proposed a number of issues that need to be handled.

Specifically, the model of enforcement forces needs to be reconsidered. There are up to 8 forces which have the ability to conduct physical inspections, so the authorities should review the function of each force to operate effectively.

"Enterprises said that there were up to 3 forces to inspect the same problem in a month, but the situation of counterfeiting and smuggling occurred openly. Therefore, the Government should direct Ministries how to organize and operate effectively", Mr. Le The Bao said.

Along with the consolidation of these forces, there is a need for creating favourable conditions for enforcement teams. A representative of the Vietnam Association for Anti-counterfeiting and Trademark Protection (VATAP) proposed to leave to the police force and the market management force 50% of the value of counterfeit goods, and 50% paid to the State budget. This is the motivation to encourage these forces in the fight against counterfeit goods.

The counterfeit goods.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Truong Hoa Binh, the Head of the National Steering Committee 389 appreciated the achievements of enterprises and functional forces in recent years in the fight against counterfeit goods, poor quality goods as well as in the process of building and protecting their brands.

However, these results have not met the expectation of the Government and Vietnamese citizens. Therefore, the functional forces, the business community and VATAP need more efforts to promote their operations.

The Deputy Prime Minister said: "The progress of counterfeit goods is the responsibility of the Government, leaders at all levels, local authorities, associations and enterprises".

These issues are related to crime and commercial fraud. "The existence of perpetrators and criminals is due to loopholes of the Law and a not really strong political power", the Deputy Prime Minister added.

In order to further enhance the fight against counterfeiting and intellectual property infringement, the Deputy Prime Minister suggested that the relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Science and Technology should actively and regularly review policies and laws to detect loopholes in a timely fashion, then urgently amend, supplement, and create a full legal framework against counterfeit goods and the infringement of intellectual property rights.

The enforcement agencies need to strictly implement the provisions of Law, focus on improving the quality and capacity, collaborate with associations, businesses and media agencies to fight against counterfeiting and the infringement of intellectual property rights more effectively.

In particular, food safety issues have been very complicated, affecting the health of people and the quality of the material livestock, crops and agriculture with many kinds of counterfeit plant protection products and fake fertilizers.

Therefore, the functional forces should strengthen physical inspections and control of goods with the poor quality imported through minor border trails and crossings into Vietnam.

The business community should also realize its role and responsibility in the brand building and protection, to protect the interests of customers; as well as fight against counterfeiting for the interests of the business community. The hesitation and avoidance of handling counterfeit goods will make counterfeiting develop, affecting the interests of businesses, adversely impacting the business environment and the society.

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In the context of limited resources as today, the Deputy Prime Minister has requested VATAP to encourage its members to observe the Law, promote education and raise the awareness of society against counterfeiting and infringement of intellectual property rights; actively participate in building mechanisms and propose policies and measures to improve the efficiency of the fight against counterfeiting and infringement of intellectual property rights.