Resolutely fight against commercial fraud

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Police and market management forces inspect fish sauce of unknown origin that was discarded in Tam Thai commune (Phu Ninh). Photo: QUANG VIET

Complicated developments

Implementing the directive to launch a peak period against smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods from May 15 to June 13, the province's functional forces inspected 123 cases, discovered 103 violations, handled 99 administrative violations, and continued to investigate and verify 4 cases.

During the peak period, the total amount of fines and payments to the state budget was more than 16.8 billion VND. Violations included trading in prohibited goods, counterfeit goods, smuggled goods, goods of unknown origin, violations of intellectual property rights, violations of the tax sector, etc. The authorities prosecuted 1 defendant for "tax evasion" and 3 defendants for "illegally buying and selling invoices".

Also during the peak period of fighting against smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods, the interdisciplinary inspection team including the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the Provincial Police, and the Market Management (Department of Industry and Trade) conducted surprise inspections of 7 establishments in the areas of Tam Ky, Dien Ban, Thang Binh, Duy Xuyen, and Que Son. The interdisciplinary team discovered 4 violations, made records, and transferred them to the market management teams in charge of the areas for handling according to regulations.

Accordingly, the total fine is 22.5 million VND for the acts of trading in smuggled goods (3 cases); trading in goods of unknown origin (1 case). Violating goods include fresh food (chicken feet, chicken wings, nem chua...); food supplements - Redbull energy drink; phone cases of all kinds...

Market management forces inspect and handle goods of unknown origin in the province. Photo: QUANG VIET

According to Mr. Le Vu Thuong - Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, in many key areas such as Tam Ky, Hoi An, Duy Xuyen, Dien Ban, Dai Loc, smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods are complicated. Subjects take advantage of advertising and product introduction activities through e-commerce platforms to trade in counterfeit, smuggled, unknown origin, and poor quality goods.

In traditional markets, businesses mix and openly sell both genuine and fake goods, smuggled goods, and goods of unknown origin... These subjects take advantage of domestic transportation and circulation of goods, sending goods via post , delivery, and passenger cars to mix in genuine goods...

Fight without stopping

According to the Steering Committee 389 of Quang Nam , the management of goods, anti-smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods in the province faces many difficulties and shortcomings. Tracing the origin of goods, especially functional foods and pharmaceuticals, is still difficult due to the lack of a synchronous and transparent data system.

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Quang Nam and the whole country need to steadfastly and relentlessly fight against smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods. Photo: QUANG VIET

It is worth mentioning that there are many shortcomings and loopholes in the product self-declaration mechanism, leading to many poor quality cosmetics, functional foods, and medicinal products of unknown origin being "legalized" through this form.

Enterprises declare the ingredients, uses, and origins of products in their records entirely based on their commitment to take responsibility, but the inspection and verification mechanism is not strict, invisibly creating conditions for commercial fraud to arise.

Due to limited resources, post-self-declaration audits can only be carried out on a very limited scale, mainly periodically or when there are complaints or feedback from consumers. In addition, units such as health, market management, customs, and police do not have a shared database system to quickly retrieve self-declared products, making it difficult to verify, compare, and handle...

The Quang Nam 389 Steering Committee proposed the National 389 Steering Committee to study and build an interconnected database system on self-declared products, serving the purpose of searching, post-checking, tracing the origin and sharing information among functional forces. Along with that, it proposed to amend and supplement the post-declaration control mechanism, clearly defining the accountability of enterprises and strengthening post-checks, randomly instead of periodically. Build a national warning list for products that repeatedly violate the law, widely publicize it so that consumers can proactively avoid it.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh forecasts that the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods will continue to be complicated in the coming time. Ministries and local sectors need to continue to firmly maintain the goal of resolutely preventing, fighting, and eliminating smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property infringement. Thereby, protecting the rights and interests of the people and businesses, protecting social security and people's health, contributing to the rapid and sustainable development of the country.

In the first 6 months of 2025, units and localities arrested and handled nearly 50,000 cases of smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and tax fraud; collected nearly 6,500 billion VND for the budget; prosecuted 1,899 cases with 3,271 defendants. During the peak period of June 2025 alone, functional forces nationwide detected and handled more than 10,400 violations, collected more than 1,278 billion VND for the budget, and prosecuted 204 cases.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/kien-quyet-dau-tranh-chong-gian-lan-thuong-mai-3157378.html