Proactively take many solutions to fight against smuggled and counterfeit goods

Answering questions at the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly on the morning of November 7 about the problem of counterfeit goods, many cases discovered and boycotted by the online community, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade's solutions to protect the rights of consumers and legitimate businesses, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that e-commerce is a pioneering field of the digital economy, becoming an important distribution channel, a driving force for economic development and leading digital transformation in businesses.

In Vietnam, in recent times, annual revenue in the e-commerce environment has reached 16 - 19 billion USD, with a growth rate of 20 - 25%/year. This is a very high growth rate in the region and the world.

However, e-commerce also has negative factors. Recently, market management forces nationwide have discovered many businesses trading in goods with signs of counterfeiting trademarks, smuggled goods, and goods of unknown origin on a large scale.

Specifically, the inspection at Saigon Square Shopping Center discovered thousands of counterfeit products of famous brands that have been protected in Vietnam. Along with that was the inspection of 3 warehouses and stores selling counterfeit and smuggled goods in Tuyen Quang province or the inspection of 4 warehouses containing many counterfeit products in Sam Son-Thanh Hoa.

In the first months of 2023, the market management force inspected 523 cases, handled 497 cases and decided to fine up to 7.8 billion VND, the value of goods was nearly 3.6 billion VND. The violation was trading in goods that infringed intellectual property rights and property on the Internet environment, using e-commerce websites to sell goods without notifying state agencies.

Therefore, to combat this problem, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has proactively implemented a number of solutions such as adding responsibilities to social network owners and e-commerce platforms, and removing information about infringing goods within 24 hours of receiving the request.

In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also actively and proactively coordinates with relevant ministries and branches to review, grasp information, detect and handle violations through online sales, livestreams and freight transport hubs through post offices and freight transit points. In particular, coordinates with social networks to build reporting channels to support the handling of illegal goods trading content on social platforms.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will focus on reviewing legal regulations, especially the Law on Electronic Transactions (amended), the Law on Consumer Protection (amended), decentralizing and delegating power to localities to strengthen comprehensive management of transactions between buyers and sellers online.

At the same time, strengthen the management and supervision of goods on the network environment, proactively request e-commerce platforms and social networks to coordinate to review and remove information and goods that violate the law. In particular, strengthen the sharing of databases and connections to exploit information to serve state management in e-commerce activities.