Directive No. 28/2008/CT-TTg on urgent measures to combat counterfeit goods and substandard products

DIRECTIVE
On Urgent Measures to Combat Counterfeit Goods and Substandard Products

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Implementing Directive No. 31/1999/CT-TTg dated October 27, 1999 of the Government Chairman on combating counterfeit goods and illegal trade, in recent times, ministries, sectors, and localities have made many efforts in this work and achieved certain results, contributing to promoting production development, attracting investment, protecting consumers, and gradually creating a healthy business environment.

However, the work of combating counterfeit goods still has many shortcomings and has not yielded the desired effectiveness. The situation of producing and trading in counterfeit goods and substandard products continues to increase and become more complex in terms of scale, sector, and methods of production, organization of consumption, and importation from abroad. In particular, recently, taking advantage of fluctuations in supply and demand, prices of goods both domestically and internationally, the domestic market has seen the emergence of many types of counterfeit goods such as fertilizers, plant protection chemicals, veterinary drugs, animal feed, crop and livestock seeds, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and some industrial food products. These counterfeit and substandard products have caused serious harm to agricultural production, food security, public health, and the environment.

The main cause of the above situation is that ministries, sectors, localities, and functional forces responsible for combating counterfeit goods have not fully recognized their responsibilities in this work. There are many limitations in the initiative and coordination in gathering information, directing operations, organizing struggles against acts of producing and trading in counterfeit goods and substandard products among sectors, levels, and enforcement agencies; the organization of forces to combat counterfeit goods is scattered and overlapping between sectors and levels, leading to the emergence of responsibility shirking. Many enterprises have not proactively applied measures to combat counterfeit goods to protect their own products and have not regularly cooperated closely with state agencies responsible for combating counterfeit goods. Additionally, the criminal and administrative legal system for handling counterfeit goods has many unclear and inconsistent contents; administrative and criminal sanctions are not sufficiently deterrent, preventive, and blocking violations.

To further intensify the struggle against the production and trade in counterfeit goods according to the spirit of Directive No. 31/1999/CT-TTg dated October 27, 1999 of the Government Chairman and to address the above situation, the Government Chairman requests ministries, sectors, localities, and units to thoroughly understand and immediately implement the following urgent measures:

1. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of government-affiliated agencies, Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels, and forces responsible for combating counterfeit goods must fully and deeply recognize the multi-faceted harms, both immediate and long-term, caused by counterfeit goods; clearly see the importance of this work for the construction and development of the economy and society of each locality and the country; the production and trade in counterfeit goods are dangerous economic crimes that not only cause material losses to society but also cause insecurity for the people in consumption and the health of the community. Leaders of ministries, sectors, and localities must consider the fight against counterfeit goods as one of the most important and urgent tasks currently; they must pay constant attention, direct, gather information, take the initiative, and firmly organize struggles to thoroughly prevent the situation of counterfeit goods and substandard products from production, importation, distribution, and circulation of goods; they must implement comprehensive measures to combat these goods in every field and place where they may appear (quality, labels, origin of goods) to take decisive and timely measures, especially there must be close cooperation between sectors, levels, enforcement agencies, and enterprises; they must mobilize the combined strength of agencies, mass organizations, enterprises, associations, consumers, and mass media to coordinate in the struggle and create strong public condemnation of the production and trade in counterfeit goods and substandard products; they must resolutely handle strictly according to the law, including pursuing criminal responsibility, for cases of producing and trading in counterfeit goods and substandard products discovered.

Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of government-affiliated agencies, Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels, and Heads of inspection, supervision, and anti-counterfeiting agencies at all sectors and levels are responsible before the Government Chairman for the situation of counterfeit goods and substandard products occurring within their management scope.

2. In the short term, to promptly prevent and handle the situation of counterfeit goods and substandard products related to fertilizers, plant protection chemicals, veterinary drugs, animal feed, crop and livestock seeds, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and some industrial food products, the Minister of Industry and Trade – Head of the Central Steering Committee for Combating Smuggling, Counterfeit Goods, and Commercial Fraud (Steering Committee 127 Central) shall take the lead, coordinate with the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Health, Science and Technology, Public Security, and relevant ministries and sectors to develop inspection plans in the last months of 2008, aiming to promptly prevent and handle these types of counterfeit goods and direct sectors, levels, and central and local competent agencies to effectively carry out this work.

The inspection must be conducted regularly, continuously, with focus and synchronization at both central and local levels, at borders, checkpoints, and domestic markets without hindering normal production and business activities of organizations and individuals; the inspected objects include production facilities, processing plants, manufacturing units, packaging plants, repackaging units, importers, wholesalers, and retailers of the aforementioned goods; the inspection content includes compliance with laws on business registration, business conditions, production and business licenses or professional certificates, product quality, packaging, origin, labels, counterfeit goods, substandard goods, expired goods, goods infringing intellectual property rights... to handle violations according to current laws. In cases where violations cause serious consequences for production, human health, ecological environment, or repeated offenses, business operations shall be suspended, licenses revoked, and criminal responsibility pursued according to the law. During implementation, inspection plans must be reviewed and lessons learned to ensure high effectiveness of inspections and avoid market fluctuations.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is responsible for reviewing and systematizing fertilizer types, veterinary drugs, plant protection chemicals, animal feed, and crop seeds registered and permitted for production, importation, packaging, repackaging, circulation, and use in Vietnam to inform relevant sectors, localities, and functional forces to carry out inspections; coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Central Steering Committee 127 to inspect organizations and individuals producing, processing, manufacturing, repackaging, packaging, importing, or distributing agricultural supplies mentioned above to prevent counterfeit and substandard goods from being produced, imported, and sold in the market.

The Ministry of Health will strengthen management and supervision of drug distribution and retail outlets for humans, including hospitals; coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to study and reorganize the drug distribution system for the domestic market to meet new management requirements; coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Central Steering Committee 127 to effectively inspect and prevent counterfeit and substandard drugs circulating in the market.

The Ministry of Public Security will coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Central Steering Committee 127 to inspect and combat counterfeit and substandard goods of the aforementioned items; directing public security agencies at all levels to concentrate on investigating and cracking down on organizations and individuals, networks, and groups involved in producing, processing, packaging, repackaging, importing, selling, and storing counterfeit goods to promptly address prominent cases of counterfeiting according to the current Penal Code.

3. The Ministry of Justice shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Central Steering Committee 127, and related ministries and sectors to review administrative penalty regulations and criminal proceedings for administrative violations or crimes related to the production and sale of counterfeit goods; report to the Prime Minister on solutions to resolve overlapping, unclear, and inconsistent provisions regarding acts of violation, forms, and levels of penalties for counterfeit goods across various regulatory fields, bases for determining administrative penalties and criminal liability, between goods falsely representing intellectual property rights and goods infringing intellectual property rights subject to administrative penalties and criminal liability.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall direct customs forces to strengthen supervision and inspection of imported goods to detect and handle according to the law cases of importing counterfeit goods, goods infringing intellectual property rights, goods with false origin, and goods past their expiration date; coordinate with the Central Steering Committee 127 to study and propose policies to support working conditions and funding for communication, patrol, and control equipment for functional forces combating counterfeit goods; report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

5. Inspection and market control forces at all sectors and levels need to cooperate closely and frequently in anti-counterfeit efforts; police and market management forces must be the main force in combating counterfeit goods in the domestic market in a specialized and professional manner with sufficient legal authority to enforce their duties. Assign the Ministry of Industry and Trade to research and propose measures to enhance the role, responsibility, and power of market management forces in this direction to report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

6. Organizations and individuals engaged in production and business should invest in applying science and technology to produce goods that ensure quality, reduce costs, and lower product prices; strictly comply with regulations on product quality declaration, establishment of industrial property rights, labeling, and ensuring product quality consistent with declared quality; bear responsibility before consumers and the law for products and goods they produce and sell; study and apply measures to protect their products and goods from being counterfeited; organize management methods to prevent counterfeit and substandard goods from entering their product distribution systems; and closely cooperate with competent authorities in combating counterfeit goods.

Mass media organs shall promptly and truthfully report and reflect Party and State policies, directives of the Prime Minister and heads of state agencies at all sectors and levels concerning anti-counterfeit and substandard goods work, the situation of counterfeit goods, and anti-counterfeit efforts of competent agencies and forces to raise awareness of law compliance and responsibility of individuals, agencies, organizations, and enterprises in anti-counterfeit efforts.

8. The Minister of Industry and Trade - Chairman of the Central Steering Committee 127 shall coordinate with relevant ministries, sectors, and localities to comprehensively review and assess the ten-year implementation of Directive No. 31/1999/CT-TTg dated October 27, 1999, and this Directive of the Prime Minister on combating the production and sale of counterfeit goods; propose measures and mechanisms to further enhance management and combat the production, business, and sale of counterfeit goods.

This Directive takes effect from the date of signature.

Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies and agencies under the Government, Chairmen of provincial People's Committees under the central city, and related organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Directive./.