Destruction of counterfeit and poor quality goods: Need to meet environmental protection requirements

In order to assess the current situation of management and handling of counterfeit and poor quality goods in Vietnam and to propose policies on management, handling and destruction of counterfeit and poor quality goods to meet environmental protection requirements, on December 8, the Department of Industrial Safety Techniques and Environment - Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinated with relevant units to organize a workshop on: " Policy on management, handling and destruction of counterfeit and poor quality goods to meet environmental protection requirements ".

Counterfeit and poor quality goods are still complicated

Speaking at the workshop, Ms. Do Phuong Dung - Deputy Director of the Department of Industrial Safety and Environment said that currently, the Industry and Trade sector is focusing on developing domestic trade as well as restoring domestic production and export. Besides the positive results achieved in recent times, the production and trading of counterfeit and poor quality goods are taking place in a complicated manner with an increasingly large scale in many industries.

Chính sách quản lý, xử lý và tiêu hủy hàng giả, hàng kém chất lượng

Ms. Do Phuong Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Industrial Safety and Environment Techniques

According to Ms. Do Phuong Dung, counterfeit and poor quality goods not only appear in markets and shopping malls across the country... but are also discovered in electronic environments such as websites and trading floors. The management and handling of confiscated violating goods face many difficulties due to funding issues, participation and coordination between many different units, especially the legal system regulating the management, handling and destruction of violating goods to meet environmental protection requirements is currently not consistent.

“ The destruction of counterfeit and poor quality goods during the process of detection and seizure has been and is a matter of concern for authorities to ensure environmental protection requirements and related regulations towards the goal of sustainable development ,” the Deputy Director of the Department of Industrial Safety and Environment pointed out.

According to the Institute for Strategy and Policy Research on Industry and Trade, in 2020, more than 66,000 violations were detected and handled; the value of confiscated goods was estimated at more than 136 billion VND; the value of infringing goods was estimated at more than 392 billion VND; and the budget was collected at more than 352 billion VND. In 2021, there were 41,375 violations, the budget was collected at nearly 430 billion VND and the proceeds from the sale of confiscated goods and means of transport were over 186 billion VND. In 2022, there were 43,989 violations, the budget was collected at over 490 billion VND; the value of confiscated goods was nearly 96 billion VND; the quantity was up to tens of thousands of tons.

Sharing at the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Danh Dat - Deputy Head of the Administrative Organization Department, Hanoi Market Management Department said that as of December 2023, the Market Management force had inspected and handled over 6,380 violations of counterfeit goods, infringing goods, goods of unknown origin, smuggled goods, banned goods, food safety, labels... Collecting over 64.56 billion VND for the budget. Of which, the total number of confiscated goods forced to be destroyed was up to 1,677 cases, the value of destroyed goods was over 16.96 billion VND.

Overview of the workshop

For more information, Mr. Dinh Xuan Doan, Captain of Market Management Team No. 4, Ninh Binh Provincial Market Management Department, said that in recent years, the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods of Ninh Binh Provincial Market Management Department has always been strengthened and achieved positive and very encouraging results. As of December 2023, Ninh Binh Provincial Market Management Department has collected fines and paid directly to the state budget nearly 4.6 billion VND, the estimated amount of confiscated goods (over 3 billion VND) transferred 1 violation case with signs of crime to the Investigation Police Agency.

Also according to the representative of the Market Management Department of Ninh Binh province, in the work of destroying administrative violation evidence of counterfeit and poor quality goods. The Department has organized a destruction of goods worth over 1 billion VND and is preparing to destroy administrative violation evidence of counterfeit and poor quality goods in the second phase in 2023. Counterfeit and poor quality goods are very diverse with many types such as: Candy, animal organs, alcohol, children's toys, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics of all kinds...

Need a synchronous policy corridor

Mr. Ngo Duc Thanh - representative of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Research of Industry and Trade stated that in reality, some localities have always updated and applied new policies, fully implemented the process of handling and managing destruction such as warehousing, establishing a classification council, choosing the form of destruction, choosing the functional unit for handling destruction, ensuring the process of management, warehousing, and destruction meets environmental protection requirements; Destruction management activities of some localities basically ensure environmental safety and cost savings. In particular, some provinces and cities handle destruction by many forms and methods: Burning, recycling and co-processing.

Currently, the co-processing method is being applied in some big cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hanoi... It is a solution that needs to be encouraged to meet the development of a circular economy.

Regarding the existence and limitations, the representative of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Research of Industry and Trade said that the activities of functional agencies are still overlapping, and there is a lack of coordination between relevant agencies in implementing the management, handling and destruction of counterfeit and poor quality goods to meet environmental protection requirements.

The number of enterprises and environmental treatment facilities licensed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in some localities is still lacking, many localities do not have hazardous waste treatment facilities, causing difficulties in the disposal plan of competent agencies; There are no regulations or instructions from ministries and branches on the classification and specific treatment of each group of goods that are counterfeit and poor quality goods to meet environmental protection requirements so that competent agencies have a basis for unified implementation.

The destruction of counterfeit and poor quality goods is a problem for management agencies.

Mr. Ngo Duc Thanh proposed that the Government should develop regulations on classifying, processing, and destroying goods, clearly stating each group of goods that need to be destroyed, goods that can be recycled, etc.

The Ministry of Finance should also amend regulations to increase administrative penalties for acts of producing, trading and storing counterfeit and poor-quality goods.

" The Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinates with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to review and propose amendments to problems and shortcomings related to management, inspection and handling of violations in the environmental field, and recommend putting counterfeit and poor quality goods that must be destroyed into the list of waste or discarded goods for appropriate management and handling in accordance with current regulations of the Law on Environmental Protection " - a representative of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Research of Industry and Trade proposed.

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