Heavy fines for violations of advertising food for children under the age of 24 months in Vietnam

Heavy fines for violations of advertising food for children under the age of 24 months in Vietnam (Artwork)

Specifically, in Clause 3, Article 55 of Vietnam's Decree 38/2021/ND-CP stipulates as follows:

 Imposing the fine ranging from 20,000,000 dong to 30,000,000 dong for the act of advertising dietary supplements for infants under 24 months of age without conformance to the following requirements:

• The introduction of an advertisement must include the maxim: “Breast milk is the best food for the health and comprehensive development of babies”;
• The advertisement must clearly state "This product is a dietary supplement and can be eaten with breast milk for babies over 6 months old".

This penalty applies to individuals. Accordingly, organizations that commit the above violations will be subject to a fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 (Clause 2, Clause 3, Article 5 of Vietnam's  Decree 38/2021/ND-CP).

This is completely new regulations compared to Vietnam's Decree 158/2013/ND-CP (which expires on June 1, 2021).

Thus, from June 1, 2021, the introduction of an advertisement must include the maxim: “Breast milk is the best food for the health and comprehensive development of babies” or the advertisement must clearly state "This product is a dietary supplement and can be eaten with breast milk for babies over 6 months old". The fine ranging from VND 20,000,00  to VND 30,000,000 dong (indivuduals) or from VND 40,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 (for organizations) shall be imposed for the above acts.

In addition, Decree 38/2021/ND-CP also adds remedial measures for the above violation, specifically forcing the removal of infringing content from advertising products (Point c, Clause 4, Article 55 of Decree 38/2021/ND-CP).

In addition, Decree 38/2021/ND-CP also amends and supplements subjects subject to a fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 15,000,000 as follows:

Imposing the fine ranging from 10,000,000 dong to 15,000,000 dong for the act of showing advertisements for dairy products and dietary supplements for children of which contents are inconsistent with the acknowledge of receipt of announcement of conformity to regulations, or the application for registration of the product announcement, or the product self-announcement dossier, or the application for registration of confirmation of advertisement content (Clause 1, Article 55 of Decree 38/2021/ND-CP).

Currently, according to Clause 1, Article 73 of Vietnam's Decree 158/2013/ND-CP, a fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 15,000,000 shall be imposed for advertising milk and nutritional products for children with content inconsistent with the Certificate of Receipt of Announcement of Regulation Conformity or Certificate of Declaration of Conformity with Food Safety Regulations.

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