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Counterfeit goods on e-market: Can we solve the problem by tightening input control?

06/12/2018
It is not enough to say that rampant availability of counterfeit and fake goods online is "killing" true brand and serious manufacturers as it also harms consumers who spend money on poor quality goods, especially health care products which can cause numerous unpredictable consequences
 
E-commerce is growing fast and shopping on social networks is increasingly active. However, social network is now the easiest channel for selling, advertising, promoting fake and low quality goods, infringing intellectual property rights, especially fashion, cosmetics, functional foods, electronic products ...

According to Deputy Director General of the E-commerce and Digital Economics (Ministry of Industry and Trade) Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen, counterfeit goods trading is currently reaching an alarming level. In particular, the selling counterfeit goods on the internet is booming and hard to manage.

Statistics of the E-commerce Department show that in 2014, competent authorities have sanctioned more than 100 e-commerce infringement cases country wide with a total penalty of more than two billion VND. This number has increased to more than 180 cases with fines over 6 billion VND in 2017. In 2016, more than 40,000 cases of quality violation sales were removed from online exchanges.

Although the E-commerce Department has adopted many interventive measures, providing training courses for inspectors and trading floor owners not to sell counterfeit, fake and poor quality or infringing goods, the situation is still yet improved with more and more sophisticated tricks being used.

According to statistics of Vietnam Standards and Consumer Protection Association (Vinastas), there have been an increase in the number of complaints from consumers about counterfeit, imitation and low quality goods purchased on e-commerce platform (e-commerce).

It is not enough to say that rampant availability of counterfeit and fake goods online is "killing" true brand and serious manufacturers as it also harms consumers who spend money on poor quality goods, especially health care products which can cause numerous unpredictable consequences.

Talking on the same issue, Mr. Vo Hung Son, Head of the Intellectual Property Office of the Ministry of Science and Technology in Ho Chi Minh City, said that sale of counterfeit goods has become increasingly popular on the Internet and e-commerce floors.

"Traders often take advantage of e-commerce to sell counterfeit products. That’s why trade mark owners need to be more aware of intellectual property since it is their assets and thus, should be actively preserved and protected. The owners should not see it as purely “the authority issue” because without the coordination of the businesses themselves, enforcement will be very difficult”, Mr. Son stressed.

According to Decree No. 52/2013 / ND-CP on e-commerce, the responsibility of traders and organizations providing e-commerce transaction services is to take timely remedy measures when detecting or receiving reports on illegal business conduct on the e-commerce transaction floors. They, at the same time, are charged with supporting the state management agencies to investigate illegal business practices, providing registration information, transaction history and other documents on traders who violate the law on e-commerce transaction platform.

At the moment, e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada or Sendo, have already provided very specific registration regulations on items for sale. However, the difficulty faced by these e-marketplaces is that they could only manage the “shops” themselves, not quality control as it requires professional skills expertise to do so.
 
(Source: Đời sống & Pháp lý)

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