Primary penalties for production and trade in counterfeit and prohibited goods in Vietnam

According to Article 4 of Decree No. 98/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, primary penalties in commerce, production and trade in counterfeit and prohibited goods, and protection of consumer rights include:

- Warning;

- Fines.

Fines:

- The maximum fine for a violation in the field of commerce or protection of consumer rights is VND 100.000.000 if it is imposed on an individual or VND 200.000.000 if it is imposed on an organization. The maximum fine for a violation in the field of production and trade in counterfeit and prohibited goods VND 200.000.000 if it is imposed on an individual or VND 400.000.000 if it is imposed on an organization;

- Each of the fines prescribed in Chapter II hereof is imposed for an administrative violation committed by an individual, except for the administrative violations prescribed in Point p Clause 2 Article 33, Clause 2 Article 34, Point b Clause 4 Article 35, Article 68, Article 70, Clause 6, 7, 8, 9 Article 73 and Clause 6, 7, 8 Article 77 hereof. The fine imposed upon an organization is twice as much as that imposed upon an individual for committing the same administrative violation.

Besides, additional penalties are as follows:

- Suspension of licenses or practicing certificates or suspension of operations for a fixed period of 01 - 24 months;

- Confiscation of exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing administrative violations (hereinafter referred to as “exhibits and instrumentalities”).

Moreover, remedial measures include:

- Enforced transport to out of the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-export of goods, articles and means;

- Enforced destruction of goods and articles that cause harm to human health, domestic animals, plants and environment, and indecent materials;

- Enforced correction of false or misleading information;

- Enforced removal of violating elements on labels and packages of goods, means of trading or articles;

- Enforced recall of products and goods of poor quality;

- Enforced transfer of benefits illegally obtained from administrative violations or enforced transfer of the amounts of money equivalent to the value of the exhibits and/or instrumentalities of administrative violations which have been sold, liquidated, hidden or destroyed inconsistently with the law;

- Enforced recall of defective goods;

- Enforced cancellation of results announced in the prize-awarding day and re-organization of the prize-awarding day for promotional games of chance;

- Enforced modification of signed contracts or enforced modification of standard form contracts/ contracts containing general terms and conditions as prescribed;

- Enforced revocation of “.vn” domain name of e-commerce websites or enforced removal of mobile applications from applications store or addresses on which such applications are provided.

View more details at the Decree No. 98/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from October 15, 2020.

Thuy Tram

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE