Deputy General Director of Customs General Department Mai Xuan Thanh: Fraud of origin causes great damage to genuine businesses

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Deputy Director General of Customs General Department Mai Xuan Thanh.

Vietnam has signed many free trade agreements that facilitate export businesses and accept many goods and markets around the world. However, there is a phenomenon of taking advantage to fraudulently use "Made in Vietnam" labelling but they are not Vietnamese products to export to third countries. How do you assess this situation?

Deputy General Director Mai Xuan Thanh:

When Vietnam negotiates free trade agreements with advantages in supporting domestic production, some enterprises collude with foreign countries to bring goods from foreign countries to Vietnam and then illegally transfer from Vietnam to enjoy tax incentives.

Receiving direction from the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance, the Customs agency has researched and investigated to identify fraudulent acts related to goods origin. The cases are being investigated, the initial results show that forged Vietnamese origin goods are brought into Vietnam and simply manufactured then they are exported abroad with Vietnamese origin labels.

In the long term, this situation will negatively affect domestic enterprises and countries will apply tax penalties, thereby it will negatively impact domestic production, especially genuine businesses investing in machinery and facilities and creating jobs.

Does the Customs Department have a solution to prevent and monitor this situation?

Deputy General Director Mai Xuan Thanh:

Customs authorities have coordinated and proposed related ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Public Security to work together to verify and closely manage the issuance of origin to reduce the pressure on the Customs authorities in customs clearance procedures. Only some businesses take advantage of counterfeiting Vietnamese origin, while most enterprises export from domestic sources. Therefore, it can’t affect the genuine manufacturer when they do customs clearance procedures.

In particular, in the current situation, we are choosing the goods with sharply increasing value. This result will be compared to the general rate of increase, domestic supply, total domestic production capacity, as well as compared to previous years. If domestic production cannot meet the export volume, it will be subject to special control to eliminate the possibility that it is not a domestic product.

HCM City: Strongly implement solutions to control counterfeit goods from Vietnam

What is the need for coordination between relevant agencies such as the Police, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in combating fraud of goods origin, sir?

Deputy General Director Mai Xuan Thanh:

In order to control the situation and combat fraud of origin, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and VCCI need to immediately connect in the issuance of C/O to Vietnamese origin to the Customs authorities so that we can check and control, as well as creating conditions for genuine exporters during the inspection by the Customs authorities.

Thank you Sir!