Fundamental contents of the Law on Product and Goods Quality of Vietnam

Chapter I: General provisions

This chapter prescribes issues of general principle that govern the entire content of the Draft Law, including: Governing scope; Subjects of application; Interpretation of terms; Application of laws; Principles for product and goods quality control; State policies on product and goods quality-related activities; Product and goods quality prizes; Prohibited acts.

Chapter II: Rights and obligations of organizations and individuals towards product and goods quality

This Chapter stipulates the rights and obligations of production and business organizations and individuals, consumers, conformity evaluation organizations and consumer interest-protecting organizations.

Chapter III: Control of product and goods quality in production, import, export, circulation on market, and use

This Chapter regulates the announcement of applicable standards; announcement of conformity; conformity evaluation; recognition of conformity evaluation results; examination of product and goods quality; conditions for ensuring the quality of products in production before they are put on the market; examination of product quality in production; costs of testing and certification of standard or regulation conformity; conditions for ensuring exported goods quality; measures to handle exported goods which fail to meet export conditions; conditions for ensuring imported goods quality; order and procedures for examination of imported goods quality; handling of violations during examination of imported goods quality; costs and fees of examination of import goods quality; conditions for ensuring the quality of goods circulated on the market; order and procedures for examination of the quality of goods circulated on the market; handling of violations during the examination of quality of goods circulated on the market; costs of sample taking and testing for quality examination and settlement of complaints and denunciations about product and goods quality; conditions for ensuring the quality of goods in the use process; handling of verification results; fee of goods verification in the use process.

Chapter IV: Examination, inspection of product and goods quality

This Chapter stipulates the assignment of responsibilities among product and goods quality examination agencies, powers and tasks of product and goods quality examination agencies; examination teams and tasks and powers of examination teams; quality controllers and tasks and powers of quality controllers; product and goods quality inspectorate; tasks and subjects of product and goods quality inspection.

Chapter V: Settlement of disputes, compensation for damage, settlement of complaints and denunciations, and handling of violations of the law on product and goods quality

This Chapter regulates disputes over product and goods quality, forms of settlement of disputes over product and goods quality, statute of limitations for complaint and initiation of lawsuits on product and goods quality; examination, test, inspection for settlement of disputes over product and goods quality; sample-taking, testing or inspection costs in the settlement of disputes over product and goods quality; principles for compensation; damage to be compensated due to goods poor quality; compensation liabilities; cases in which compensation needs not be paid; compensation liability of conformity evaluation organizations which supply wrong results; complaints and denunciations about violations of the law on product and goods quality; settlement of complaints and denunciations about violations of the law on product and goods quality; handling of violations of the law on product and goods quality; initiation of administrative lawsuits.

Chapter VI: Responsibilities for state control of product and goods quality

This Chapter regulates State management responsibilities of the Ministry of Science and Technology, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Governmental agencies and People's Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities in state management of product and goods quality.

Chapter VII: Implementation provisions on implementation effect and implementation guidance

Some fundamental contents of the Law on Product and Goods Quality of Vietnam

1. The Law clearly and specifically stipulates the rights and obligations of production and business organizations and individuals, responsibilities of state management agencies at all levels in the field of product and goods quality; order, procedures, contents and methods of state inspection and measures to handle cases where the quality of products and goods does not meet the provisions of law; settlement of disputes and compensation for product and goods quality damage.

2. Follow the rule of post-check:

Enterprises are fully autonomous and responsible for the quality of their products and goods before the State and consumers.

The State does not directly interfere in the production process of enterprises, internal operations, production processes, the producer and service provider is fully responsible. The State sets requirements and conditions for the production process such as setting standards, technical regulations and other requirements for enterprises to apply and implement. The State only inspects the quality requirements, especially the safety requirements of products and goods in production in the following cases: exported goods do not meet the quality specified in Article 32 of the Law; goods circulated on the market do not conform to announced applicable standards or technical regulations corresponding to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 40 of the Law.

Quality assessment activities will be carried out by conformity assessment organizations such as testing laboratories, inspection bodies and certification bodies; the State only inspects and controls the activities of organizations that assess the conformity of products and goods quality of enterprises.

Products after fully complying with the regulations of the State are free to circulate on the market. The State inspects goods circulating on the market when there is a need for management or when there are complaints from customers or consumers. When detecting errors or violating regulations on quality management, enterprises will be handled by the State such as compensation, reimbursement, recall, repair... or directly inspected at the place of production. This is a post-inspection measure to create conditions for enterprises to be self-reliant, self-responsible and promote trade.

3. Implement the principle of respecting the regulation of the market:

The State concentrates and focuses on managing safety criteria of products and goods, but the level and specific quality criteria of products and goods are regulated by the market. Therefore, the level of product and goods quality is high or low, the specific quality criteria levels are decided by enterprises on the basis of market demand, or in other words by agreement between buyers and sellers. Depending on their financial ability, buyers will choose products and goods with low or high quality criteria, and if the quality is too poor, they will be rejected by the market because there are no buyers. However, the safety level of products and goods must necessarily comply with State regulations.

4. Ensure the principles of international integration:

Measures to control the quality of products, goods, contents and procedures for conformity assessment must be in accordance with international practices.

5. Ensure transparency, publicity and non-discrimination:

State management measures on product and goods quality are clear, transparent, public, fair, and non-discriminatory between Vietnamese organizations and individuals and foreign organizations and individuals, between domestically produced goods and imported goods.

6. Socialize of technical service activities:

Technical service activities such as testing, assessment and certification of product and goods quality are thoroughly socialized by the State in order to create conditions for organizations and enterprises with capacity and investment conditions to improve certification, testing and inspection capacity. The state focuses on investing in areas where the private sector has little interest, but still requires management. Ensuring the impartiality and transparency of certification, testing and assessment of product and goods quality. Creating a large force of certification, testing and inspection services to meet the needs of businesses and promote trade. Expansion of the subject that needs to be certified, tested, inspected. The State only supervises the operational activities of conformity assessment organizations, creating a level playing field and acknowledging conformity assessment results from other countries.

Source: daibieunhandan.vn

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