Cases of importing Chinese goods forging Vietnamese origin

	Cooperate with Customs authorities in other countries to verify origin fraud
	Deputy General Director of Customs General Department Mai Xuan Thanh: Fraud of origin causes great damage to genuine businesses
	HCM City: Strongly implement solutions to control counterfeit goods from Vietnam

Converse-branded shoes in a container from China to Hai Phong port are labelled Made in USA. This shipment was seized in 2017. In the written response to Customs, Nike Vietnam Company Limited (Owner of the Converse brand) confirmed that the above shipment was fake and was not produced by Converse, or not allowed to be produced and circulated in the market. Photo: T. Binh

Chinese electric rice cookers, loudspeakers, LED lights are labelled with Vietnamese origin

The Conference was attended by leaders of Departments under the General Department of Customs and reporters from press agencies.

According to the report of the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department, following the directions of the Ministry of Finance’s leaders, Customs has focused on fighting and preventing fraudulent acts of Vietnamese origin.

The typical cases were: in 2016, the Customs authority inspected an import shipment of LED lights by a company and detected 18 sets of LED light accessories and 1,030 LED lights made in China but labelled ‘Made in Vietnam’.

Specifically, a company imported “new speakers and phone chargers, made in China” and presented with C/O form E. But through physical inspection, boxes of the products and products themselves were printed with ‘Made in Vietnam’ labels.

Another case was imported ‘fiberglass mesh tape used in construction, made in China’, with C/O form E. Through physical inspection, customs officers detected that the package containing goods showed the manufacturing place was Vietnam (‘Made in Vietnam’).

Or an import case of 2,000 electric rice cookers from China forging Vietnamese origin

And the case of Hieu Nghia import and export joint stock company importing 1,600 pairs of shoes from China which were labelled ‘Made in Vietnam’.

In 2017, a foreign invested company, headquartered at Nhon Trach Industrial Zone 3 (Dong Nai) had fraudulent acts of Vietnamese origin to export to the United States. The inspection results showed that this company did not perform production in Vietnam but imported products from China and changed the label from China to Vietnam for export.

The press conference attracted many reporters. Photo: T.Binh

Chinese goods printed ‘Made in Ha Dong’

In 2018, the Customs authority discovered many origin-related fraud cases.

Typically, Bao Tien An General Trading Co., Ltd. imported from China 3,300 sets of locks branded Viet Tiep, 1,560 valves of gas stoves, with test stamp by Bao Minh Vietnam Insurance Corporation.

The case of Tran Vuong Import-Export Co., Ltd declaring import of speakers, recorders and sound reproducing device 100% new and made in China with a value US$10,217.

However, when the Customs authority conducted an inspection, there were 600 speaker boxes and 1,200 microphones, on cartons and microphones were Vietnamese language with the content "NANOMAX Speakers" and the name of a Company in Ho Chi Minh City; Made in Vietnam.

The Customs authority identified that Tran Vuong Import-Export Co., Ltd. misrepresented the goods name, capacity, quantity, brand, origin of goods and suggested a criminal prosecution.

The case of Thanh Quy Import and Export Co., Ltd and Aeolus Henan Trading Co., Ltd, importing goods from China, but the products showing famous brands of Vietnam such as: 2,880 ballpoint pens labelled Thien Long, 438 sets of Huy Hoang's door locks, 287 commodity lines which were not declared and were suspected of fake labels. The case has been criminally prosecuted by the customs authority and transferred to the competent agency according to law.

The case of H.T Co., Ltd importing 6 containers of unglazed tiles, 100% new, made in China. But the product package showed ‘Made in Vietnam’ with brand ROYALGRESPORCELANTATO, produced in My Xuan A Industrial Zone, Tan Thanh District (Ba Ria-Vung Tau).

The most typical case was four trucks transporting a large shipment from the northern border to Vietnam for consumption with a volume of 100 tons including clothes, motorcycle parts, electric bicycles, household electricity with Chinese origin, but labelled ‘Made in Vietnam’ and even ‘Made in Ha Dong district (Hanoi)’ with a 1-year warranty period and certificate of standards and Vietnamese high-quality goods.

Customs force struggles to prevent fraud of Vietnamese goods origin

In addition, last year the Customs authority verified the case of transporting more than 1 million tons of aluminium with Chinese C/O, consigned at bonded warehouses in Ba Ria Vung Tau.

It can be said that the proactive and drastic action of Customs has helped prevent and warn of the risks of foreign goods forging Vietnam origin for export to a third country.