Economy

Tightening the fight against counterfeit goods and trade fraud - Part 4: Resolute action, effective control

Reporter Group • July 9, 2025 11:22

Nghe An is considered a "bright" spot in the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods nationwide, the market has not had complicated developments; however, violations of smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, intellectual property violations, and goods origin are still quite complicated,... requiring more drastic intervention from state management agencies.

Nghe An is considered a "bright" spot in the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods nationwide, the market has not had complicated developments; however, violations of smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, intellectual property violations, and goods origin are still quite complicated,... requiring more drastic intervention from state management agencies.

Sophisticated methods and tricks

Because of high profits, many subjects disregard and use all sophisticated tricks to deliberately commit violations in commercial fraud, production and trading of counterfeit goods, and violations of food hygiene and safety. Recently, counterfeit goods have been discovered and handled by authorities in common items such as electronics, fashion clothes, shoes, watches, handbags, jewelry... These items are often counterfeited trademarks of famous protected brands such as Apple, Gucci, Dior, Chanel, Nike, Adidas... with increasingly perfected production technology and techniques, stimulating consumers' shopping tastes. Production and trading of goods that infringe intellectual property rights occur frequently in the group of construction materials, auto parts, motorbikes, household electrical appliances, and copyright infringement of commercial logos.

Mr. Nguyen Van Huong - Head of Nghe An Market Management Department, said: Prominent violations are the transportation and trading of goods without invoices, documents, of unknown origin, counterfeit consumer goods such as: milk, candy, ready-made clothes, cosmetics, household electrical appliances, mobile phones, cigarettes, forest products, livestock, poultry and livestock and poultry products, firecrackers...

The subjects divided and divided the goods, transported them during peak hours or late at night and early in the morning to avoid inspection by the authorities; legalized smuggled goods with false sales invoices; used motorbikes and scooters without license plates to transport prohibited goods, mixed or disguised illegal goods on trucks and passenger cars running on the North-South route. Many subjects did not register their business and did not have specific store addresses, causing tax losses to the State and making it difficult to grasp the situation, detect and handle violators.

On social networks, with the promotion of some influential people and celebrities, it is difficult for consumers to distinguish fake products, poor quality products... Fake goods, poor quality goods, goods of unknown origin and dirty food are still common in many market segments, both rural and urban areas.

According to the authorities, it is difficult to determine the exact warehouse address of subjects operating in the e-commerce environment because subjects often take advantage of social networks to open many advertising network accounts, register "virtual" address information. Posts often do not include specific addresses, only phone numbers for transactions, and storage areas for goods are often located in private homes, rented apartments, and boarding houses. The transportation of goods is carried out through express delivery units, non-cash payments, etc., making it very difficult to access, detect, and handle. On the other hand, there are problems with legal mechanisms, lack of forces, measures, application of science, technology, and coordination to detect and handle these types of violations and crimes.

Control, avoid causing major economic instability

Counterfeit goods cause economic damage, directly threaten the health and lives of people, reduce the reputation and brand of legitimate businesses, hinder the development of the economy, lose state budget revenue, cause social instability and investment environment. In this situation, the Government, central ministries, provinces, and functional forces have been implementing many synchronous solutions to promote inspection and control as well as prevent and prevent the formation and occurrence of "hot spots" of a complex nature, and stabilize the social security of the province.

In the "war" against smuggling and trade fraud in border areas, the Border Guard force plays an important role not only in fighting and preventing violations but also in propagating and mobilizing people to raise awareness of health protection, not to assist criminals in trade fraud, counterfeiting, fake goods, and banned goods for sale.

Affirming this content, Colonel Duong Hong Hai - Deputy Commander of the Border Guard Command, Provincial Military Command added that emerging activities are illegal trading and transportation of firecrackers, livestock, consumer goods; especially the transportation of large quantities of drugs from Laos through Nghe An. Smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods often operate in groups, with the participation of many subjects, including many subjects from other provinces and foreigners, they find all sophisticated methods and tricks, taking full advantage of science and technology to deceive the authorities.

Therefore, the Border Guard force is always proactive in doing well all aspects of professional work, focusing on investigating and verifying to clarify the methods and tricks of activities of subjects, networks, and groups related to drug crimes, crimes and other violations of the law to establish specialized projects, professional plans, and plans to organize the fight and eradicate effectively, ensuring absolute safety in all aspects.

Closely coordinate with functional forces to exchange information and situations related to criminal activities and drug crimes; at the same time, direct grassroots units to advise local authorities to propagate to the masses to actively participate in detecting and denouncing violations of the law in border areas.

Recently, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien signed a decision with the message: Market inspection, control and handling of violations are no longer temporary tasks, but must become regular activities, considering every day as a "peak" to fight against counterfeit goods...

In the first 6 months of 2025, the People's Committee of Nghe An province and the Steering Committee 389 of Nghe An province have fully and promptly implemented the directives of the Government and the National Steering Committee 389, including the establishment of a Working Group of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and a plan on the peak of the fight to prevent and repel crimes of smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and infringement of intellectual property rights in the province. The functional forces and local authorities in the province have implemented many synchronous solutions from advisory work to direct combat work, effectively combating violations of smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods in the market, stabilizing prices, and monitoring business activities of essential goods.

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Through inspection and handling of violations in the fight against smuggling, banned goods, counterfeit goods, trade fraud and food safety (from January 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025), Nghe An has organized inspection and handling of administrative sanctions in 8,339 cases, prosecuted 1,378 cases/1,857 subjects. The total value of fines collected is nearly 394 billion VND, of which: Administrative fines: 127.816 billion VND; Additional fines and tax collection: 247.852 billion VND; Value of violating goods: 18.293 billion VND. In particular, in the peak month from May 15 to June 14, 2025, Steering Committee 389 of Nghe An province organized inspection and handling of 345 cases of administrative violations; prosecuted 02 cases/09 subjects (violations related to drugs). Total fine value: 6,228 billion VND.

The implementation of the peak month has initially created positive changes. Many typical violations were discovered by the authorities and recognized by the masses. In the difficult conditions, the methods and tricks of the subjects in the market are increasingly sophisticated, achieving the above results demonstrates the efforts and determination of the authorities in carrying out political tasks, and is a "bright" spot in the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods nationwide in the recent past.

Mr. Pham Van Hoa - Director of the Department of Industry and Trade said: To improve the effectiveness of the fight against counterfeit goods and trade fraud, in the coming time, we will strengthen the direction and operation; continue to thoroughly grasp and strictly implement the directives of the Government, the Prime Minister, and the National Steering Committee 389 on the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods in accordance with local realities.

In the immediate future, focus on implementing Directive No. 19/CT-UBND dated June 16, 2025 of the Provincial People's Committee on continuing to promote the peak of the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods and infringement of intellectual property rights. Implement strong measures, handle strictly, no forbidden areas, no exceptions, identify the key and breakthrough task of resolutely eliminating the production, trading and circulation of two items: fake drugs and fake food in the area.

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Timely complete the Provincial Steering Committee 389 right after implementing the conversion of the 2-level local government model. Direct the establishment of the Commune-level Steering Committee 389 and the Regulation on coordination of activities of the Commune-level Steering Committee. Identify key points and breakthroughs, focusing on the fields of production and trading of medicines and food. Collect information, grasp the situation and market developments, clarify the methods and tricks of all types of subjects, the head of the Industry and Trade sector emphasized.

Reporter Group