What are defective goods? 04 things you know about defective goods in Vietnam

What are defective goods? 04 things you know about defective goods in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. What are defective goods?

Defective goods are goods that do not ensure safety to consumers, likely causing damage to lives, health and property of consumers, even though such goods are manufactured in accordance with current technical standards or norms, with no defects being detected at the time the goods are supplied to consumers, including:

- Mass-produced goods with defects arising from engineering design;

- Single goods with defects arising from the production, processing, transportation and storage;

- Goods with the potential to deteriorate the safety during use, but no adequate instructions, warning being provided to consumers.

(Clause 3, Article 3 of the Law on protection of consumers’ rights 2010)

2. Regulations on responsibility for recalling defective goods in Vietnam

According to Article 22 of the Law on protection of consumers’ rights 2010, upon detection of defective goods, organizations or individuals manufacturing or importing the goods shall:

- Promptly take all necessary measures to stop the supply of defective goods in the market;

- Inform publicly about the defective goods and the recovery of the goods by at least 05 consecutive issues of daily newspaper or 05 consecutive days through the radio or television in area where such goods are circulated with the following details:

+ Description of the goods to be recovered;

+ Reasons for recovery of the goods and warning on the risk of damage caused by the defects of the goods;

+ Time, place and way of recovery of the goods;

+ Time and mode of overcoming the defects of the goods;

+ The measures necessary to protect the interests of consumers in the course of recovery of the goods;

- Implementation of the recovery of the defective goods in line with the publicly-informed content and bear the expenses incurred in the recalling process;

- Reporting the results to the provincial state management agency for the protection of consumers’ interests where the recovery of the defective goods take place after completion of the recall, in the case where the recall of the defective goods is conducted on the territories of two or more provinces, the results shall be reported to the central state management agencies for the protection of consumers' interests.

3. Regulations on liability for compensation for damage caused by defective goods in Vietnam

Article 23 of the Law on protection of consumers’ rights 2010 stipulates the liability for compensation for damage caused by defective goods as follows:

(1) Organizations or individuals trading goods shall be liable for damages in the case where defective goods, which supplied by them, cause damages to life, health, properties of consumers, even if the defects are not known to or not caused by those organizations or individuals, except as provided in Section 4.

(2) Organizations or individuals trading in goods as defined in (i) include:

(i) Organizations or individuals producing goods;

(ii) Organizations or individuals importing goods;

(iii) Organizations or individuals attaching trade name to goods or using trademark or commercial instruction, by which organizations or individuals producing or importing goods are identified;

(iv) Organizations or individuals directly providing defective goods to consumers in case of failure to identify organizations or individuals responsible for damages prescribed in (i), (ii) , (iii).

(3) The compensation complies with civil laws.

4. Regulations on exemption from liability for damage caused by defective goods in Vietnam

Organizations or individuals trading goods specified in Section 3 shall be exempt from compensation if they can prove that the defects of the good could not be detected with the scientific and technical knowledge at the time organizations or individuals trading goods supplied the defective good to consumers.

(Article 24 of the Law on protection of consumers’ rights 2010)

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE