Au Anh Tuan, Director of the Customs Control and Supervision Department under the General Department of Vietnam Customs said the customs sector was working closely with relevant authorities to detect cases of origin fraud, illegal transport and counterfeiting of labels.

Fraud of origin

According to Au Anh Tuan, customs authorities have discovered numerous cases of origin fraud of, illegal transmission and counterfeiting of goods labels.

Although they are produced overseas, many goods carry Made in Vietnam labels. Many products assembled from imported materials, semi-finished products, components and/or spare parts by domestic and foreign invested companies, are declared as Made in Vietnam upon customs checks before being exported.

Some enterprises take advantage of open policies on e-customs import-export procedures to violate intellectual property rights and goods origin rules. The products that are most often counterfeited, especially based on well-known brand names, include clothes, shoes, bags and electrical appliances.

Assessing the risk of infringement on origin of goods rules, the Hanoi Customs Department is on constant alert to detect false customs declarations on trademarks and origin. Inspectors have found that when packing goods for transport to Vietnam, some violators mix fake goods with real goods, and/or pack and transport many kinds of goods with different brands together in order to confuse or fool them.

Special inspections list

Following the direction of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and Head of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department reviewed the export value of various groups of goods.

From January 2018 to March 2019, the department surveyed about 90 companies that exported HS4412 plywood from Vietnam to the US, earning more than US$200 million. These included firms fully or partially owned by Chinese and other enterprises that experienced sudden increases in export value. The department included these enterprises on a special control list.

Vietnamese customs authorities have worked with their foreign counterparts to exchange information on origin fraud and illegal transmission and obtain information about goods on which such major markets as the US, the EU and Japan impose anti-dumping duty.

A representative of the General Department of Vietnam Customs said the agency would build and implement procedures for inspection, supervision and control of goods at risk of fraud of origin, counterfeiting and illegal transport to control goods origin-related violations while at the same time examining imported goods from China.