Directive No. 28/2000/CT-TTg on the implementation of the Labeling Regulation issued together with Decision No. 178/1999/QĐ-TTg dated August 30, 1999 of the Government Prime Minister.

DIRECTIVE OF THE PRIME MINISTER

Regarding the implementation of the Labeling Regulation issued together withDecision No. 178/1999/QĐTTg dated August 30, 1999 of the Government

In recent times, many Ministries and sectors have effectively directed the guidance on labeling goods according to the Labeling Regulation issued together with Decision No. 178/1999/QĐTTg dated August 30, 1999 of the Government, initially ensuring that consumers have necessary information about goods circulating in the market, contributing to creating a basis for combating counterfeit goods, fostering fair competition, and protecting the legitimate interests of producers and consumers.

However, in some Ministries and sectors, the guidance and inspection of the implementation of this Regulation are still slow, lacking specificity, and at some points, they are not fully consistent with the provisions of the Labeling Regulation that has been issued.

To effectively, promptly, and timely implement the Labeling Regulation issued together with Decision No. 178/1999/QĐTTg dated August 30, 1999 and Decision No. 95/2000/QĐTTg dated August 15, 2000, the Prime Minister instructs:

1. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, and Heads of government agencies within their respective responsibilities must urgently review and supplement and complete detailed guiding documents for specific and special labeling of goods in accordance with the Labeling Regulation.

2. Relevant Ministries and sectors, People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities shall cooperate with the Ministry of Trade to urgently implement necessary measures to disseminate, guide, and promote the Labeling Regulation to specialized state management agencies, Departments, Sectors, localities, individuals, organizations, and businesses engaged in production and business throughout the country.

3. From January 1, 2001, strictly prohibit individuals, organizations, and businesses engaged in production and business from printing, importing labels for goods that do not comply with the Labeling Regulation issued pursuant to the Prime Minister's Decisions.

State management agencies must strengthen inspections and supervision of the implementation of labeling of goods circulating in the market and handle violations in accordance with current legal regulations.

4. For goods with old labels printed before January 1, 2001 that remain in stock, individuals, organizations, and businesses engaged in production and business must declare and be inspected and confirmed by central and local sectoral management agencies before continuing circulation, but must affix supplementary Vietnamese-language labels containing the missing information compared to the provisions of the Labeling Regulation.

5. For food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and chemical products with expiration dates marked before March 1, 2000 and packaged in durable commercial packaging materials such as metal, glass, porcelain, or ceramic, with old labels directly printed on the goods or packaging that cannot be changed to new labeled packaging, if still within the expiration date, may continue to circulate until the end of the expiration date, but must supplement the missing information on the old label.

6. For domestically produced goods intended for export where foreign customers require separate labeling, temporarily allow customs authorities to clear them for export, but the goods must include the content: "product manufactured in Vietnam" or "Vietnamese product"; other contents can be marked according to the customer's import labeling requirements.

7. The Ministry of Trade is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Labeling Regulation nationwide; compiling the situation and reporting to the Prime Minister to supplement and adjust current regulations to meet production and business needs of enterprises.

Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of government agencies, Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities are responsible for organizing the implementation of this Directive./.