A workshop on “Fighting Against Smuggling, Fake Goods and Trade Fraud” recently took place in Da Nang.  It was co-organised by the Market Surveillance Agency (MSA) under the management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Asia-Pacific Market Department, and the European Trade Policy and Investment Support Project (EU-MUTRAP).

Speaking at the event, the director of the MSA, Mr Truong Quang Hoai Nam, said that market management forces nationwide have imposed fines totalling 220 billion VND over the past 8 months for 57,867 trading violations.  8,359 of these cases were violations in the trading and transporting of prohibited or smuggled goods, 9,036 concerned producing and trading fake and poor quality products, and the remainder were other trade frauds.

Most notably he said that in Viet Nam 95% of goods with famous and popular brand names were actually fakes.  However, only 20% of domestic businesses have been actively involved in fighting the problem, whilst the remainder simply accept the ongoing situation.

The workshop’s participants asked relevant agencies nationwide to further increase the effectiveness of the legal regulations on these issues, as well raise awareness about them among domestic consumers.  Furthermore, domestic businesses were asked to take the initiative in building and protecting their trademarks.