Market watch teams check cosmetics products. Up to 50 per cent of cosmetics in the Viet Nam market place are reported to be counterfeits of well-known brands. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

HA NOI — Authorities will push for more checks on the cosmetics industry to be listed in the revised Investment Law, Ha Noi Moi (New Ha Noi) newspaper quoted a representative from the Drug Administration of Viet Nam.

Up to 50 per cent of cosmetics in the Viet Nam market place are reported to be counterfeits of well-known brands, according to statistics from the Viet Nam unit on intellectual property.

The unit said that low-quality and fake cosmetics posed a threat to customer's health.

Many smuggling and illegal cosmetics factories were detected recently.

The most recent was detected by the Ha Noi's Market Watch's Unit 14 last Saturday.

The watch unit inspected five stores of the Xuan Thuy Cosmetics Ltd, confiscating about 100,000 cosmetics and related products. Market Watch sent samples of confiscated goods to police for testing.

Last year, 164,000 cosmetics products in Ha Noi were found to be of uncertain origin, according to Market Watch.

The department attributed the large number of low-quality and fake cosmetics to the smuggling situation in the country's border area and the high profit from cosmetics trading.

It also blamed the low administrative fine and overlapping management.

Ha Noi's Market Watch has advised women to be careful in selecting products and avoid doubtful outlets.

Ministry of Health Circular 06/2011/TT-BYT regulates that individuals and enterprises trading cosmetics must have a business registration licence and must ensure that the goods meet regulations set by the ASEAN Cosmetics Directive. — VNS