MoIT to recheck Market Surveillance Agency’s findings at Con Cung

The entire inspection process at Con Cung will be scrutinised

The special investigation team includes members from the Legal Department, ministerial inspectors, the ministry’s office, and the Market Surveillance Agency.

In addition to checking the process of the agency’s inspection at Con Cung, the team will assess every mission the agency has carried out since January 28 this year, when the Working Group 334 was established and placed under the leadership of Tran Hung, deputy director of the Market Surveillance Agency.

The ministry ordered the group to submit the results before August 30.

According to the Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, the group’s mission is to ensure compliance with Decision No.334/QD-BCT, which outlines the plan of fighting and preventing violations of producing and selling fake goods in key areas by 2020.

Prior to this, the agency announced its findings on Con Cung after nearly one month of inspections of signs of violations related to the origin of goods. Accordingly, the agency concluded that the firm did not sell fake goods but violated the regulations on labelling.

Specifically, the firm has violated regulations on labelling goods in accordance with Articles 30 and 31 of Decree No.117/2017/ND-CP, stipulating administrative sanctions on standards, measuring, and quality of goods.

Additionally, the firm has violated the regulations on promotions in Article 48 of the Decree No.185/2013/ND-CP on administrative fines on producing and trading fake goods.

Finally, the firm has violated regulations on e-commerce in accordance with the Article 81, 82, and 84 of the revised Decree No.185/2013/ND-CP, which supplies extra regulations on e-commerce trading to those in Decree No.124/2015/ND-CP.

After hearing the ministry’s decision to recheck all processes of inspection on Con Cung, the firm’s representative told VIR that they are not worried about the decision.

He explained that the Market Surveillance Agency previously announced seven violations at Con Cung but the report did not mention these. This may be the reason behind the ministry’s decision.

The signs of violation came to light on May 22, when, after buying seven baby products in a Con Cung store in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District, Truong Dinh Cong Vinh discovered that the original tag of a VND329,000 ($14.50) pink suit coded CF-G127011 was replaced by a CF (Con Cung Fashion) tag indicating “Made in Thailand.”

Vinh called the firm to clarify the issue, but instead of explaining the origin of the item, Con Cung apologised and gave him a VND1 million ($44.24) voucher. Dissatisfied with the way the firm attempted to sweep the issue under the rug, Vinh sent a letter of complaint to the Vietnam Competition Authority.