Many violations discovered in the production and trading of cosmetics

On April 23, the Drug Administration of Vietnam, Ministry of Health sent a document to the Department of Health of provinces and centrally-run cities; and establishments producing, announcing, and importing cosmetics, requesting them to strengthen the management of cosmetics.

The Drug Administration of Vietnam said that recently, through post-market inspections of a number of cosmetic production and trading organizations, the Drug Administration of Vietnam and the Department of Health have discovered a number of organizations with violations in the production and trading of cosmetics such as: Producing cosmetics at a facility that has not been granted a Certificate of eligibility for cosmetic production; trading cosmetics with formula ingredients that are inconsistent with the declared dossier; changing the declared content on the cosmetic product declaration form that has been granted a receipt number (changing the business name, business location/address, legal representative on the Business Registration Certificate, changing the declared phone number...) but without written approval from the competent authority as prescribed by law; organizations and individuals responsible for bringing products to the market do not fully retain product information records and do not present them to inspection and examination agencies when requested.

On the other hand, through the reflection of media agencies, on the websites of enterprises, e-commerce trading floors and social networking platforms (Facebook, TikTok, Zalo, YouTube...), there is a situation of trading in cosmetic products that are hand-carried, counterfeit, of unknown origin, not yet granted a cosmetic product declaration receipt number by a competent state management agency, showing signs of consuming smuggled cosmetic products and tax evasion; advertising cosmetics that are not consistent with the nature of the product, product classification and features, uses in the declaration dossier that has been granted a cosmetic product declaration receipt number; advertising cosmetics that mislead the product into thinking that the product is a drug; cosmetic advertising content uses images, costumes, names, letters, articles of units, medical facilities, doctors, pharmacists, other medical staff...

To ensure the safety and rights of consumers and improve the effectiveness of post-market inspection of cosmetics, the Drug Administration of Vietnam informs the Departments of Health of provinces and centrally-run cities to continue to strengthen the implementation of inspection and examination of the implementation of legal regulations on cosmetics management for enterprises producing and trading cosmetics in the area; focus on inspecting and examining the implementation of cosmetic recall notices according to regulations, production and trading of cosmetics not at the announced address, enterprises changing business addresses without reporting to the management agency.

The Department of Health of provinces and cities regularly and proactively coordinates closely with the local Steering Committee 389, the Market Management Department and relevant functional agencies in the area to strengthen the inspection and examination of cosmetics circulating on the market.

In particular, focusing on checking cosmetic business activities on e-commerce trading floors and social networking platforms TikTok, Zalo, Facebook, YouTube... to promptly detect and handle illegal cosmetic production and trading activities, suspected counterfeit cosmetics, cosmetics in circulation that have not been granted a declaration receipt number, cosmetics of unknown origin; advertising cosmetics with features and uses that exceed the inherent features and nature of the product, inconsistent with the declared features and uses of the product or causing misunderstanding that the product is a medicine.

The Department of Health of provinces and cities shall strictly handle and punish organizations and individuals who violate regulations on production and trading of cosmetics; recall and destroy all types of cosmetics suspected of being fake, cosmetics of unknown origin, cosmetics of poor quality, and cosmetics that are unsafe for consumers; transfer files to the investigation agency for criminal handling according to regulations in cases where there are signs of crime (large value of goods, causing serious consequences, organized violations, recidivism, etc.).

In addition, organizations and individuals responsible for bringing products to market, importers and cosmetic manufacturers are required to seriously study the provisions of Circular No. 06/2011/TT-BYT dated January 25, 2011 of the Ministry of Health regulating the management of cosmetics to declare and update changes to the information declared according to the regulations on the declaration form to ensure accuracy and honesty, keep complete product information records at the address of the organization or individual responsible for bringing the product to market and present them to the inspection and examination agency when requested.

Organizations and individuals are not allowed to produce or process cosmetics at domestic cosmetic production facilities that have not been granted a certificate of eligibility for cosmetic production; produce formula cosmetics with ingredients in accordance with the declared dossier and regulations; are only allowed to put cosmetics into circulation when they have been granted a cosmetic product declaration receipt number by a competent state management agency and must take full responsibility for the safety, quality and effectiveness of the product./.

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/phat-hien-nhieu-sai-pham-trong-san-xuat-kinh-doanh-my-pham-post1034626.vnp