HÀ NỘI – Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc recently issued an instruction on tougher action against smuggling, commercial fraud and production of fake and low-quality goods.

The goods may include pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, food supplements and traditional medicines.

According to the Prime Minister’s notification, smuggling, commercial fraud and production of fake medicines, cosmetics and food supplements have gone out of control.

Violations have taken place across the country, from cities to rural areas, with increasingly smart tactics.

Smugglers and producers of fake goods have exploited shortcomings in the management mechanism and policies as well as limited knowledge of consumers to expand the production and distribution networks of fake products.

The situation has caused serious harm to public health and badly affected the business and production environment in the country.

Therefore, the Prime Minister has asked various ministries, sectors, and localities to undertake suitable measures to effectively control the situation.

According to the instruction, this is an urgent and long-term task, and cooperation among ministries, sectors, and localities is critical.

The Ministry of Health has been assigned to review and issue legal documents on national standards, technical norms and process of testing pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, food supplements and traditional medicines.

The ministry is also required to accelerate inspection activities for the production, distribution, advertisement and quality evaluation of the above-mentioned products.

The Ministry of Public Security has taken the responsibility to find gangs of smugglers and producers of fake goods.

The Ministry of National Defence has asked the border guard force to step up monitoring activities along paths and in warehouses in border areas to thwart smuggling activities.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is in charge of promoting market forces to check the warehouses of entities involved in trading and producing pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, food supplements and traditional medicines.

The Ministry of Finance has instructed the customs department to tighten control over import-export activities.

The tax authority will put in place measures to detect tax evasion and frauds.

Other ministries, such as information and communication and science and technology, as well as provincial People’s Committees, will also be involved in the process. – VNS