Preventing counterfeit and unknown origin goods near Tet in Nghe An

Identify new tricks

Nearing Lunar New Year is the time when smuggling and commercial fraud activities become more complicated. Nghe An authorities have continuously discovered cases of illegal fireworks trading, counterfeit goods, and goods of unknown origin. However, the time before Tet in Nghe An shows no signs of cooling down.

As recently, on December 26, Market Management Team No. 8 - Nghe An Province Market Management Department inspected and handled 2 establishments violating the law on goods of unknown origin in Thanh Chuong district. Specifically; inspecting a mobile phone business located at Block 4, Thanh Chuong town, discovered that the store was selling 60 Android phone touch screens of unknown origin, the business owner could not present invoices or documents, the authorities imposed a fine of 16.2 million VND.

On the same day, an inspection at a cosmetics store located at Block 2A, Thanh Chuong Town, Thanh Chuong District found that the establishment was selling 200 packages of skin care masks of unknown origin, and the authorities imposed a fine of 4.1 million VND.

Also at the end of December 2024, Market Management Team No. 6 coordinated with Hoa Hieu Ward Police - Thai Hoa Town Police to inspect Tu Phuong Food Joint Stock Company, in Tan Phu, Hoa Hieu Ward, Thai Hoa Town, and discovered that this facility was storing 20 kg of sausages of unknown origin in the freezer. The authorities imposed a fine of 3 million VND.

Market Management Team No. 8 - Nghe An Province Market Management Department coordinated with the Traffic Police Team - Thanh Chuong District Police to inspect the car with license plate: 37C-549.96 driven by Mr. PVD - address in Thanh Phong commune, Thanh Chuong district, the inspection team discovered 102 boxes of various candies, all goods without origin, the functional sector imposed a fine of 8 million VND.

Smugglers often use old tricks such as falsely declaring the name, type, quantity, origin, and value of goods... Smuggling subjects use new methods and tricks, such as not declaring, declaring incorrectly about the actual goods, and concealing the origin.

Not to mention, these subjects also take advantage of e-commerce activities, social networking sites, express delivery, and post offices to buy, sell, transport, and mix counterfeit, smuggled, and poor-quality goods... The main infringing items are clothing, footwear, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, functional foods, and auto parts...

Counterfeit goods and goods of unknown origin are rampant.

In the days leading up to Lunar New Year, in Vinh city, clothing and footwear stores are quite busy. Observing at a shoe store in Vinh market area, we saw that most of them were selling fake goods of famous world brands such as Adidas, Nike, Adidas, which were openly sold at surprisingly cheap prices, only from 250,000 - 300,000 VND/pair.

And the shop owner did not hesitate to say that these are all fake products of famous brands. Also at Vinh market, there are fake Gucci and Louis Vuitton clothes with super cheap prices of only 250,000-230,000 VND/piece...

At this time, along the road near Vinh market, there are many shops selling lanterns, LED lights, and flashing lights for Tet decoration. You can buy a 4.5 meter long string of flashing lights for only 35,000 VND, the more colors you combine, the higher the price. There are also lanterns, star-shaped lights, bells, and hearts. The common feature of these products is that there is no information about the product. According to some traders in the profession, the goods are floating, cheap but very quickly damaged and flammable.

Along Tran Phu Street, Vinh City, there are many shops specializing in selling wine with a variety of Chivas 18, Gold Label, SingLeTo, with prices ranging from 800,000 - 1.6 million VND/bottle. According to a seller here, all the goods here are hand-carried. This means that there are no invoices or documents that can be used as a basis to prove the origin. It can be seen that the general psychology is that consumers really like hand-carried goods, including foreign wines, as gifts for Tet.

Looking for Hieu market, Thai Hoa town, here there are many fashion accessories, handbags, hats, sandals, all counterfeiting brands Gucci, Chanel, LV, Hermes, Dior, Valentino, Ferragamo, Louboutin, Polo, Calvin Klein.

The seller explained: Counterfeit Dior handbags cost 350,000 - 500,000 VND/piece, mainly imported (from China) while genuine ones cost 10-15 million VND/piece.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Phong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Market Management Department said: During the Tet holiday, goods from all over the country are supplied to Nghe An in large quantities, with high consumption demand. This is also the time when smuggling, trade fraud, production and trade of counterfeit and fake goods are complicated. Violations mainly include illegal transportation of firecrackers, consumer goods, goods of unknown origin, counterfeit goods, poor quality goods, violations of price regulations, and failure to list prices of goods.

Some new areas such as taking advantage of the development of information technology and e-commerce to trade in infringing goods and commit commercial fraud through e-commerce platforms, social network accounts Facebook, Zalo, etc. cause many difficulties for authorities in tracing, accurately determining actual addresses, conducting inspections and controls according to regulations.

Strengthening solutions to prevent counterfeit goods and trade fraud

Mr. Nguyen Hong Phong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Market Management Department added: To strengthen solutions to prevent and combat counterfeit goods and trade fraud in Nghe An, especially during the Lunar New Year, Nghe An functional agencies including the Market Management Department, Police, Border Guards and localities have strengthened market inspection and control and strictly handled violations of speculation, hoarding, price listing, e-commerce, business and transportation.

Accordingly, the functional sector continues to focus on implementing the directions of the Government, the Prime Minister, the National Steering Committee 389, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the General Department of Market Management, the Provincial People's Committee, and the Provincial Steering Committee 389 in the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods.

Focus on inspecting the e-commerce sector; managing the gold market, electronic cigarettes, and heated tobacco products; implementing regulations on electronic invoices for petroleum business and retail activities; implementing solutions to ensure petroleum supply for production, business, and consumption of people and businesses.

Localities identify routes, areas, subjects, and key products to develop plans for market inspection and control, and assign specific tasks to officials in the team. Focus on market inspection and control and strictly handle administrative violations of products with high consumer demand during the Lunar New Year such as: cigarettes, alcohol, beer, soft drinks, sugar, food, electronics, refrigeration, clothing, footwear, livestock, poultry, products processed from livestock, poultry, firecrackers, fireworks of all kinds.

In particular, control goods traded in online environments such as e-commerce platforms, websites, social networks such as Facebook, TikTok. Check compliance with legal regulations on national technical standards and regulations and promulgation of standards on goods quality and food safety.

Focus on checking price posting, selling goods at listed prices, preventing speculation, hoarding, and unreasonable price increases, especially for essential goods serving people's lives during Tet.

Closely coordinate with relevant functional forces and local authorities to regularly review and inspect the circulation stage, warehouses, yards, goods gathering points, commercial centers, supermarkets, wholesale markets, specialized markets, traditional markets, trading streets, production facilities, livestock and poultry slaughterhouses, etc.

Implement commitments not to trade in counterfeit, smuggled, or poor-quality goods; inspect businesses that have signed commitments and strictly handle violations.

In addition to strengthening solutions against counterfeit goods, fake goods, and commercial fraud by authorities, consumers should only buy goods at businesses with clear addresses, check the origin of barcodes to determine the origin of goods, and resolutely boycott goods of unknown origin.