A market surveillance team is inspecting goods. — Photo baodautu.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), and Cooperatieve Vereniging SNB - React U.A (React) in Asia-Pacific, an anti-counterfeiting network, on December 8 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to fight counterfeiting and infringements of intellectual property (IP) rights.

The MoU is intended to raise the efficiency of market surveillance in order to detect and handle the production, storage, display, transportation and trade of counterfeit goods and others that violate IP rights of React members in line with Vietnamese law.

In his remarks, deputy head of the directorate Nguyễn Thanh Bình said market surveillance forces have taken a range of measures and set out inspection plans to prevent these violations.

However, the results have yet to meet expectations due to sophisticated plots, overlapping mechanisms, limited resources and poor public awareness, and particularly lax coordination between law enforcement forces and businesses, he pointed out, stressing the significance of sharing policies and legislation among the business community.

Market surveillance forces are ready to listen to feedback from enterprises regarding obstacles preventing them from coordinating on these efforts, he noted.

Jonathan Selvasegaram, head of React Asia-Pacific, briefed the participants on SNN React U.A – a non-profit organisation based in the Netherlands with nearly 30 years of experience in anti-counterfeiting work, and more than 320 members that cover major companies and groups around the world.

React has an international network of offices and strategic partners which cooperate and coordinate with local agencies to fight counterfeit goods and protect the legal rights and interests of its members.

Over the past two years, React has opened offices in Việt Nam, Malaysia, China, India and Hong Kong (China).

React members have highly valued the efforts made by Vietnamese forces to fight counterfeit goods and protect consumers, Selvasegaram said, stressing that the organisation wishes to receive more support and cooperation from local market surveillance forces in brand and product protection.

Following the signing of the MoU, the two sides will work together to put forth action programmes and inspection plans. — VNS