How is Counterfeiting Functional Foods Handled?
According to the provisions in Decree 185/2013/ND-CP and Decree 124/2015/ND-CP, counterfeit goods include:
- Goods with no utility or functionality; goods whose utility or functionality does not conform to the natural origin, nature, or name of the goods; goods whose utility or functionality do not match the declared or registered utility or functionality;
- Goods that have at least one of the quality indicators or core technical features that form the utility or functionality of the goods which only reach a level of 70% or less compared to the registered quality standards or technical standards, or as stated on the label or packaging of the goods;
- Medicines for human and animal treatment without pharmaceutical substances; containing pharmaceutical substances but not in accordance with the registered concentration; lacking registered pharmaceutical substances; pharmaceutical substances different from those listed on the label or packaging of the goods;
- Plant protection drugs without active ingredients; active ingredient content reaching only 70% or less compared to the registered quality standards or technical standards; lacking registered active ingredients; active ingredients different from those listed on the label or packaging of the goods;
- Goods with counterfeit labels or packaging of business names, addresses of other merchants; counterfeit trademarks or commercial names of goods; counterfeit circulation registration numbers, barcodes, or counterfeit packaging of other merchants;
- Goods with labels or packaging bearing false indications about the origin of goods, place of production, packaging, or assembly of goods;
- Goods infringing intellectual property rights as stipulated in Article 213 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law;
- Counterfeit stamps, labels, packaging.
Thus: Based on the information you provided us, the couple in your neighborhood is involved in the counterfeit production of various functional foods with labels of foreign brands to sell externally, showing signs of acts of producing, trading in counterfeit goods.
In order to ensure consumer rights, and protect human health, the State issues regulations to strictly handle individuals and organizations with acts of producing and trading counterfeit goods, including various counterfeit functional foods…
** Depending on the nature and severity of the acts, the couple next door may face administrative penalties or, more seriously, be subject to criminal liability according to legal provisions. To be specific:**
1. In case of administrative penalties
If the act does not reach the level of criminal prosecution, an administrative penalty will be imposed according to the provisions of Article 12 of Decree 185/2013/ND-CP.
Depending on the actual value of the counterfeit goods equivalent to the quantity of genuine goods, the couple next door may be fined from 6,000,000 VND to 120,000,000 VND for acts of producing counterfeit goods with no utility, meant to be food, medicine for treatment, and prevention for humans without criminal prosecution.
In addition to being fined, the couple next door will be compelled to destroy evidence, surrender illicit gains obtained from the act, recall and destroy counterfeit goods circulating on the market according to the provisions of Article 12 of Decree 185/2013/ND-CP.
2. In case of criminal liability
If the couple next door produces counterfeit functional foods with foreign brand labels to sell externally, falling into one of the following cases, not covered by the provisions of Articles 193, 194, and 195 of the Criminal Code 2015, they will be subject to criminal responsibility for the crime of producing, trading counterfeit goods as stipulated in Article 192 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended 2017):
- Counterfeit functional foods equivalent to the quantity of genuine goods or goods with the same technical functions valued from 30,000,000 VND to under 150,000,000 VND, or under 30,000,000 VND but has been administratively punished for one of the acts stipulated in Articles 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, and 200 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended 2017) or has been convicted of one of these crimes, has not had the criminal record wiped out but continues to violate;
- Causing injury or harm to the health of others with a bodily harm rate from 31% to 60%;
- Illicit profits from 50,000,000 VND to under 100,000,000 VND;
- Causing property damage from 100,000,000 VND to under 500,000,000 VND.
Depending on the nature and level of danger of the crime, the couple next door may be fined from 100,000,000 VND to 1,000,000,000 VND or imprisoned from 01 to 15 years.
In addition, the couple next door may be fined from 20,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND, prohibited from holding positions, practicing certain professions or jobs from 01 to 05 years or confiscation of parts or the entire estate.
The above represents our advisory perspective on the matter you are concerned with.
Respectfully!
