Tightening market, resolutely addressing counterfeit goods

The prevalence of counterfeit goods on the market has made the task of distinguishing genuine products increasingly difficult, causing economic harm to consumers and manufacturers. Towards the year’s end, authorities are advising consumers to remain vigilant to avoid becomeing victims of fraudulent merchants.

Many types of goods being counterfeited

"If products aren’t placed side by side for comparison and without warnings from manufacturers or authorities, an ordinary consumer like me cannot tell the difference between genuine and counterfeit goods", shared Le Thi Thuy Oanh, a resident of Phu My ward in Thu Dau Mot city. Mrs. Oanh once purchased counterfeit cosmetics mimicking a famous French brand. After using them, she suffered a severe allergic reaction on her face, requiring prolonged treatment.

At the 2024 workshop on distinguishing genuine and counterfeit goods and addressing intellectual property infringements in the e-commerce environment, organized by provincial Market Management Department. Many authentic and counterfeit products were displayed to help officials update their ability to differentiate between them. The counterfeit items covered a wide range of categories, from food products like seasonings, canned soft drinks and dried food to higher-value items such as watches, fashion goods... Particularly, goods that people have a high demand at the end of the year such as cosmetics, perfume, candies, wine, beer, shoes, clothes... are being counterfeited and sold widely in the market. Alarmingly, these counterfeit products are often crafted with precision and even include fake anti-counterfeit seals, making consumers get more difficult to detect them.

Sharing the signs and characteristics to distinguish genuine and counterfeit products of several well-known international brands, representative of S&O Intellectual Property Co., Ltd. noted that the intellectual property infringement of famous brands is becoming increasingly sophisticated and widespread. Transactions and sales are openly conducted at traditional markets, stores and through online platforms. The most common form is that sellers often display and sell genuine and fake goods in the same place to deceive consumers. For instance, if sellers successfully sell a counterfeit branded pair of shoes, they earn a significant profit. Motivated by these high profits, sellers are often willing to deceive consumers.

Strengthening coordination in addressing violations

According to assessments by relevant authorities, the production and trade of counterfeit goods, poor-quality products and intellectual property infringements in the province are becoming increasingly sophisticated, professional and difficult to distinguish. Notably, during the process of inspecting and handling counterfeit and untraceable goods, market management forces have faced significant challenges regarding documentation and lists of protected goods if rights holders do not provide them. Espencially, identifying and differentiating the features, characteristics and appearances of counterfeit goods from genuine products is especially challenging... As counterfeit goods are increasingly sophisticated, it is very difficult to distinguish between genuine and intellectual property-infringing goods by observing consumers with naked eyes. This requires the help of a trademark expert.

Vo Khac Như, Deputy Director of provincial Market Management Department stated that counterfeit goods, intellectual property-infringing products, substandard items and goods of unknown origin are not only present in traditional business formats, but are also increasingly appearing on e-commerce platforms. Therefore, close and timely coordination between rights holders, manufacturers and authorities is crucial—from identifying signs of violations to verification and appraisal—to serve as a basis for administrative sanctions in accordance with regulations.

Towards the end of the year, taking advantage of the increasing demand from consumers, illegal business activities are intensifying. To combat counterfeit goods, smuggled products and substandard items in the market, Nguyen Phuong Dong, Director of provincial Market Management Department stated that the department is closely monitoring key areas and implementing a high-priority plan to tackle smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods in the final months of 2024 as well as before, during and after the 2025 Tet (Lunar New Year) festival.

Provincial Market Management Department is coordinating with other functional forces to intensify control over goods in circulation; reviewing warehouses, storage facilities, distribution hubs, commercial centers, supermarkets, wholesale markets, food production-business establishments and craft villages. The department will focus on strictly inspecting and penalizing organizations and individuals exploiting the increasing demand from consumers during the Tet holiday to impose unreasonable price hikes, destabilizing the market—especially for goods in high demand during the 2025 New Year and Lunar New Year celebrations.

Since early this year, provincial Market Management Department has conducted 659 inspections, an increase of 62 cases compared to the same period in 2023. As a result, the department identified 565 violations, up 72 compared to the same period in 2023 and imposed administrative fines totaling over VND 9.14 billion. The amount of fines collected was over VND 8,654 billion; the amount of money from selling confiscated goods was over VND 486 billion; the value of confiscated goods was VND 16,53 billion; the value of destroyed goods was VND 2,94 billion.

Reported by Thanh Hong-Translated by Kim Tin