Counterfeiting is punishable by fines of up to 200 million VND.

According to the draft Decree on administrative penalties for violations in commercial activities, those who trade in counterfeit goods that have no usable value or function may be fined up to 100 million VND; while those who produce such goods may be fined up to 200 million VND.

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Specifically, individuals engaged in the trade of counterfeit goods that have no usable value or function may be fined from 1 to 100 million VND, depending on the severity of the violation. This penalty framework applies to four categories of counterfeit goods, including:

1. Goods that have no use value or function; goods whose use value or function does not correspond to their natural origin or nature, or their name; goods whose use value or function does not correspond to the use value or function that has been declared or registered;

2. Goods whose content, quantity of main substances, total nutrients, or other basic technical characteristics meet or exceed 70% of the registered, published, or stated quality standards and technical regulations on the product label or packaging;

3. Medicines for preventing and treating diseases in humans and animals that do not contain the active pharmaceutical ingredient; contain the active pharmaceutical ingredient but not in the registered quantity; do not contain all the registered active pharmaceutical ingredients; contain an active pharmaceutical ingredient different from the one stated on the label or packaging;

4. Pesticides that lack active ingredients; whose active ingredient content is only 70% or less of the registered quality standards and technical regulations; do not contain all the registered active ingredients; or contain active ingredients different from those stated on the label or packaging.

According to the draft regulations, the aforementioned fine will be doubled in one of three cases: 1. The producer, importer, or trader of counterfeit goods is also the importer of those counterfeit goods; 2. Counterfeit goods are food, medicines, preventative medicines, animal feed, fertilizers, veterinary drugs, pesticides, plant seeds, or livestock that are not subject to criminal prosecution; 3. Counterfeit goods are food additives, food processing aids, food preservatives, functional foods, cosmetics, detergents, insecticides, medical equipment, cement, construction steel, motorcycle helmets, and goods on the list of restricted goods.

In addition, violators also face supplementary penalties such as confiscation of infringing goods and means; destruction of goods; revocation of licenses or professional certificates for 3-6 months or suspension of operations for 3-6 months if the violations are repeated or multiple offenses occur...

Trading in smuggled goods is punishable by a fine of up to 50 million VND.

Furthermore, the draft also stipulates that the act of trading in counterfeit goods with fake labels and packaging (in cases where the labels and packaging falsely bear the name and address of another business; falsely bear the trade name, product name, registration number, barcode, or packaging of another business; or the labels and packaging contain false information about the origin, place of production, packaging, or assembly of the goods) will be subject to a fine ranging from 500,000 VND to 70,000,000 VND.

Violations related to the trading of smuggled goods will be punished with a warning or a fine ranging from 200,000 VND to 50 million VND (depending on the value of the smuggled goods). If the person directly involved in smuggling also engages in the trading of smuggled goods (if not prosecuted criminally), the fine will be double the above amount.

The draft is currently being reviewed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.announcementGather public opinion.

According to (Chinhphu.vn) – LT