Counterfeit Case Transferred to Hai Phong Police

The Hai Phong Customs Department recently issued Decision 1037/QD-CHS to transfer the case file regarding a company with signs of administrative violations (counterfeiting labels of goods) to Hai Phong Police for investigation. Previously, on April 19, 2023, a Lao Cai province-based company registered to open an import declaration at the Hai Phong Port - Area 3 Customs Office for two containers shipped from China at Nam Dinh Vu Port of Hai Phong City.

According to its declaration record, the goods are BEMON-branded diapers made in China. Inspections showed that the goods are correctly declared in terms of name, type, quantity, and packing specifications. However, in addition to mandatory contents on the label, the commercial packaging also contains the following content: “Korean BEMOM diapers”, and “origin: A&B International - Korea”.

According to the law on labeling, the customs authorities found that the company committed violations: trading counterfeit goods (forging the origin of goods) specified in Point dd, Clause 7, Article 3 and Article 11 of Decree 98/2020/ND-CP dated August 26, 2020 of the Government on penalties on administrative violations in commercial activity, production and trading of counterfeit goods and prohibited goods and protection of consumers’ interests (amended and supplemented in the Government’s Decree 17/2022/ND-CP dated January 31, 2022). The value of violated goods is about VND1 billion.

Hai Phong Customs found that the case showed signs of the “crime of making and trading counterfeit goods” as specified in Article 192 of the 2015 Penal Code and thus sent the entire case file to Hai Phong Police for investigation and settlement.

By Hien Phuc, Vietnam Business Forum