Rampant violation in the production and trading of drugs, cosmetics, functional foods

Functional forces seize cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, and functional foods in Mong Cai, Quang Ninh province. Picture: Quang Hung.

Subtle tricks

According to representatives of the National Steering Committee 389, smuggling and illegal transportation of medicines, functional foods and cosmetics develop complicatedly on all routes: land routes, sea routes, air routes, mainly focussing in the provinces such as: Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Tri, Ho Chi Minh, Tay Ninh…

Specifically, on the land borders, the violators take advantage of the difficult terrain with many trails, shortcut, river borders to gather goods in bordering areas, awaiting the appropriate time when functional forces do not patrol or control for illegal cross-border transportation; goods are gathered at the people's homes, market areas, border trade centers for consumption; and then transported to the provinces and cities such as Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh,...

For functional foods, the inspection shows that the main violations are untrue advertising on the effect, the use of medical treatment; products brought back to Vietnam for canning, bottling without quality inspection, trading expired goods, etc. Notably, the inspections show that many items violated of quality such as quality indicators are lower than published, some products have not main substance, using active ingredients are not allowed to use in functional foods.

For cosmetic products, there appear on the market of cosmetics products by individuals themselves create the recipe, blend, and packaging. These products are traded mainly on the internet and small private households, so it is difficult for management and inspection. However, the number of people using these products at a high level due to cheap prices, fast results.

For pharmaceutical products, the status of portable rare drugs, the sale of western medicine without invoices at the central market and even in hospital pharmacies still exist.

Too many difficulties

The status of rampant violations in the production and trading of pharmaceuticals, functional foods, and cosmetics is, according to representatives of the National Steering Committee 389, due to lack of specific provisions in the normative documents on the law on management, business, advertising, trading cosmetics, functional foods on the social network (Facebook, Zalo, Instagram...), thus, the inspection and handling of violations of online business individuals is very difficult, especially the explosion of social networking and information currently.

Not to mention, the information system of the Drug Administration of Vietnam, the Ministry of Health has not published the list and units are issued circulation of cosmetic products; There is no rule on the registration number on the product, so it is difficult to detect licensed goods and unlicensed goods which are not allowed to circulate on the market. Therefore, the inspection work is difficult, especially there are many kinds of cosmetics, not the same batch...

In addition, the inspection of the quality of goods of specialized agencies wastes a lot of time, each unit has different results. Thus, it is directly causing many obstacles for the handling of violations of the functional forces. In addition, the ability of officials in charge of anti-counterfeiting is still limited. They have not been trained in professional skills, skills in identifying and distinguishing counterfeit goods and goods infringing intellectual property.

According to representatives of the National Steering Committee 389, in the field of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, information system of the Drug Administration of Vietnam has not published the list and units which are issued circulation of cosmetic products; There is no rule on the registration number on the product, so it is difficult to detect licensed goods and unlicensed goods which are not allowed to circulate on the market. Therefore, the inspection work is difficult, especially there are many kinds of cosmetics, not the same batch...

As the fact, according to the National Steering Committee 389, in order to intensify the struggle, detect, arrest and handle violations of functional agencies, it is necessary to take action, inspect drastically from many related ministries. In particular, the Ministry of Health should direct functional units to expeditiously complete regulations, management policies, licensing and announcement of quality standards; promulgate strict regulations on production, business and import conditions for cosmetics and functional foods. At the same time, publicize information about the licensing of enterprises on the media, so that functional forces can look up and exploit during the inspection and control.