Hanoi (VNA)🀅 - The Government should impose strict punishments on the trade ofcounterfeit goods on e-commerce platforms, participants said at a conferenceheld in Hanoi on April 18.

Dang Hoang An, DeputyMinister of Industry and Trade, said e-commerce in Vietnam has seen stronggrowth of 25 to 30 percent a year. In 2018, the growth rate reached 30 percentwith total revenue of more than 8 billion USD. In the digital economy, therevenue through e-commerce channels was five times higher than that of averageGDP growth. “However, the issueof fake goods and violations of intellectual property rights has become morecommon with the spread of online shopping sites,” An said. Authorities handledmore than 1.2 million violations of fake goods appearing online with total amountof 92 trillion VND since 2015. He said theGovernment and the National Steering Committee for Smuggling, Trade Fraud andCounterfeited Goods (National Steering Committee 389) have taken drasticmeasures in resolving the issue. However, he saidthat current shortcomings were partly due to the legal framework. Theregulations on administrative punishments in e-commerce (Decree 52) were issued6 years ago and have not been updated for this new business type. The currentregulations require authorities to determine the transaction behaviour andphysical money transfer to have a basis for handling. Meanwhile goods sold onthe e-commerce market are diversified. It is difficult to control transactiontime and identify sellers and buyers as they could use a fake address and name. “If the legalframework is not updated with stronger punishments, the issue cannot beresolved, causing State budget losses and affecting customers,” he added.

Sharing the ideas,Tran Huu Linh, director of Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance, saide-commerce has become a place to buy fake goods.
🦂 E-commerce websitesor social networks are only intermediaries between buyers and sellers. Allproducts from cosmetics, functional foods, clothing to even prohibited itemssuch as weapons are sold on the platforms.

Moreover, mostdelivery firms do not have invoices and they become transport firms for fakegoods. Especially with e-payment, it is very difficult for authorities to find sellersand buyers because of bank regulations. Meanwhile, e-commerce floors do nothave effective tools to control the process. “We are facingdifficulties in inspection and supervision of e-commerce activities. Thesupervision should have co-ordination among different agencies such asinformation and technology, customs and tax,” Linh said. He also suggestedcompleting legal regulations relating to fake goods and intellectual propertyviolations online. Nguyen Huu Tuan,head of the e-commerce management division of MoIT’s Vietnam eCommerce andDigital Economy Agency proposed stipulating responsibilities for e-commercewebsites to prevent counterfeit goods. The agency wouldpay more attention to review and classify e-commerce websites to better managethe market. “We would build asystem to receive complaints online and send them to authorities for handlingas well as providing warnings to customers,” he said. Nguyen Nhu Quynh,Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Science and Technology agreed, sayingthat the perception of enterprises should be changed. “Enterprises haveto understand that doing business in infringing intellectual property onwebsites is a violation of the law. They would be held responsible for thedomain name if authorities determine the behaviour,” Quynh said. At the meeting,five big e-commerce platforms - Adayroi.com, Lazada.vn,Sendo.vn, Shopee.vn and Tiki.vn - signed an agreement to prevent counterfeit goodson their platforms. Accordingly, theywould take responsibility in preventing counterfeit goods and committednot to sell fake goods towards the sustainable development of e-commerce.-VNA