Hammering gout e-safe rules to prevent fake and smuggled products

The workshop titled “Comments on the draft circular on e-safe issuance” was organised on December 23

At the workshop on e-safe titled “Comments on the draft circular on e-safe issuance” held on December 23, the Ministry of Finance called for recommendations from stakeholders in order to build the regulation which it estimates to launch next year.

Nguyen Huu Tan, deputy director of the Policy Departmentof General Department of Taxation, said that the regulation mainly targets applying e-safes on beer, alcohol, and tobacco products circulating in the market.

According to information published at the workshop, businesses and organisations producing and importing tobacco products will need to register their e-safes and estimate the number of e-safes they will buy on the Online Public Services Portal of the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVS) before April 30, 2021, a year before e-safes are to be rolled out. The registration of e-safes will have to include all relevant information pertaining to the particular product.

The design of the new e-safe tags

Meanwhile, the proposed rules around alcohol products are slightly different. “Based on the annual import plans of alcohol products, businesses and organisations focusing on wine production have to register and estimate the number of e-safes they will buy. The deadline is May 15, 2021.

Nguyen Van Viet, chairman of the Vietnam Alcohol Beverage Association said that the ministry’s efforts in developing the regulation are meaningful for producers of luxury goods. “It will contribute to better protect authentic products in the market.”

However, he gave voice to concerns that the larger size of the tag will increase operation costs because producers will have to invest in new tag production lines. Furthermore, putting the QR code to the edge of the stamp – the most vulnerable area – seemed "ineffective" to him and recommended adjusting its position.