|
Organisation warns of imitation imported goods
Authorities should check all imports to keep out counterfeit and low-quality goods and businesses should co-operate in the fight against fakes, an expert told a seminar in HCM City last Friday.
"Distribution of spurious and low-quality goods has increased sharply, especially food and beverages," said Le The Bao, president of the Viet Nam Association of Anti-counterfeiting and Trademark Protection (VATAP).
A Market Management Bureau official said around 19,000 cases of fake and low-quality confectioneries were seized in the first half of this year. The comparable figure for last year was 16,300.
In the period the Ministry of Science and Technology inspected 2,650 fertiliser, animal-food and cooking gas suppliers, discovered 346 cases of violations and applied fines worth VND1.2 billion.
Bao said despite the authorities’ best efforts in the fight against fake and low-quality goods, they continued to be produced and distributed stealthily.
"Our oversight and management are insufficient," he admitted.
When children’s clothes and toys imported from China were found by the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality, and the Market Watch Department to contain dangerously high levels of formaldehyde a few months ago, authorities subsequently began to check all toys and clothes imported from Guangdong Province in southern China.
Bao said authorities should check all imports as a matter of policy rather than wait to see if they posed any health risk.
Many consumer products were counterfeited, causing enormous losses to legitimate producers and retailers, Bao said, urging businesses to join hands with authorities in busting makers of fake goods.
vietnamnews
|
