The concung.com website. The company’s violations relating to product origin have been uncovered. — VNS Photo Doan Tung

The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s HCM City Market Surveillance Agency found 70 shops of the Con Cung Co Ltd to have violations relating to product origin, Nguyen Van Bach, deputy director of the agency, said on Tuesday.

After inspecting numerous shops of Con Cung in HCM City on July 22-23 by a working team under the ministry – including members from the agency, about 5,000 products worth of about VND500 million at three Con Cung shops were confiscated by the agency, Bach said.

According to the HCM City Market Surveillance Agency, the results of the initial inspection found that this enterprise has had signs of violating regulations on origin and labels of goods.

The violations included some goods that have not been invoiced, document and origin and many products have other label glued on the label printed on the packaging. Especially, labels on cosmetics products for children have not had information under existing regulations.

Bach said next days, the agency would continue to inspect the remaining stores of Con Cung. Meanwhile, it would verify products that were confiscated at the initial inspection and then would have serious sanctions if fraudulent activities are found during the company’s operations.

At a Con Cung store in District 1, for example, a belly massage cream had a product information stamp glued over printed information that had conflicting details about the origin. Also, small “Made in Thailand” cards were attached to hangers with clothing that did not have proper origin stamps or labels.

Another store in District 3 was selling several children’s non-prescription eyeglasses with unclear origin.

On May 22, customer Truong Dinh Cong Vinh bought several products from Con Cung, and later found that a set of clothing showed signs of fraudulent and unclear origin.

He filed a complaint with the Viet Nam Competition Authority’s department of consumer protection. — VNS