Vietnam PM vows to fight against counterfeits, trade frauds

Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Wednesday urged the country's anti-counterfeit task force to devise new ways to fight fake goods, trade frauds and smuggling, the government said in a statement.

The pledge came as Vietnam is in talks to avoid crippling U.S. tariffs, offering Washington multiple measures to address longstanding concerns, including on intellectual property breaches and transhipment of Chinese goods through the country.

Internal documents reviewed by Reuters showed the government last month instructed officials to step up the fight against counterfeits, digital piracy, and the transhipment of Chinese goods to the United States, which Vietnamese officials often refer to as trade fraud.

The government said frauds were widespread and were increasing on online platforms, noting recent cases of fake milk, food and supplement products had "seriously affected people's health and social order".

The government said 1,100 cases of counterfeit and intellectual property violations, 25,100 cases of trade and tax frauds and 8,200 cases of smuggling contraband and prohibited articles had been detected this year. There were no comparative figures in the statement.

"The situation of smuggling and illegal cross-border transportation of goods remains complicated," the government said.

"Domestically, the production and trade of counterfeits, poor-quality goods and goods of unknown origin is openly widespread, and is on the rising trend on e-commerce environment on a large scale and for a long time, directly affecting people's health," the government said.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Public Security said police arrested the former head of the Ministry of Health's food safety department in a fake supplement production and trading case.

Nguyen Thanh Phong was accused by police of taking bribes since 2016 to issue quality certificates to nine local companies that produced counterfeit supplements, the ministry said.