Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên at the question and answer session of the sixth Session of the 15th-tenure National Assembly, on November 7. — VNA/VNS Photo

Deputies questioned Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên on the second day of the question and answer session of the sixth Session of the 15th-tenure National Assembly on November 7.

Questioning Minister Diên, Deputy Lê Đoàn An Xuân from Phú Yên Province said that the situation of smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, poor-quality goods, and goods not consistent with advertising introductions was still a pressing problem, especially through online sales channels.

"Most notably, there are many counterfeit goods in the food, cosmetics, and medicine industries. Many cases of counterfeit and poor-quality goods were discovered by the online community without the involvement of State management authorities or the Consumer Protection Association, leading to a situation where manufacturers and importers of counterfeit and poor-quality goods have not been punished properly," said Xuân.

Deputy Xuân asked when the MoIT would have an effective solution to resolve this situation so that genuine consumers and producers are protected.

Diên said e-commerce was one of the pioneering fields of the digital economy. It had become an important distribution channel, a driving force for economic development and leading digital transformation in businesses.

"Recently, retail revenue from e-commerce activities reached US$16-19 billion with a growth rate of 20-25 per cent. This is a high growth rate in the region and the world," said Diên.

Although e-commerce had made great contributions to the digital economy, creating motivation for economic development and leading digital transformation in businesses, Diên said, there were still negative factors as stated by Deputy Xuân.

To gradually handle the shortcomings, the MoIT minister said that recently the market management authorities nationwide detected and handled many violation cases relating to trading goods with counterfeit trademarks, smuggled goods and goods with an unknown origin.

Inspecting the Saigon Shopping Centre, market management forces discovered thousands of counterfeit products of famous brands imported into Việt Nam. In the north, authorities also discovered three warehouses and shops selling counterfeit and smuggled goods in Tuyên Quang Province and four other warehouses containing many counterfeit products in Sầm Sơn District, Thanh Hóa Province.

"In the first months of this year, market management authorities have inspected 523 cases, handled 197 cases, and fined up to VNĐ78 billion worth of goods related to smuggled products and violations of goods trading, violating intellectual property rights on the internet, website and e-commerce sale environment," said Diên.

The MoIT has implemented a number of solutions such as regulating the responsibilities of social network owners and e-commerce trading floors to remove information about infringing goods within 24 hours of receiving the request from management authorities. MoIT also actively coordinated with relevant ministries and branches to receive and review information, detect and handle violating activities of online sales and work with social networks to build reporting channels to support handling illegal sales on social networks, according to Diên.

"In the coming time, the ministry will focus on reviewing legal regulations, especially the amended Law on Electronic Transactions and the amended Law on Consumer Protection; decentralisation of power to localities; enhance comprehensive management of transactions between buyers and sellers; strengthen goods management and supervision activities in the internet environment," said Diên.

In addition, MoIT would also proactively ask e-commerce trading floors and social networks to coordinate in reviewing and removing infringing information and products, strengthen databases and connect information in e-commerce activities. — VNS