Under Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s instruction in Directive No.824 on tightening state administration against trade frauds, the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) has been working on perfecting the legal framework and identifying offenses in trading activities.

The Ministry of Finance is requesting related agencies to soon issue specific criteria for domestically-produced goods. Photo: Hoai Nam.

In terms of legislation, the GDVC has issued specific instructions for provincial customs in dealing with act of trade and origin frauds, illegal transshipment as well as violations of intellectual property rights.

Additionally, the GDVC has given priority to training customs staff to ensure greater efficiency in determining cases of frauds in trade.

Meanwhile, the GDVC has been active in collecting and analyzing information domestically and internationally to identify products with high risk of trade and origin frauds; reviewing suspect transactions or traders with sudden surge in trade turnover although their capacity and operation scale remain the same.

Vietnam's customs authorities are scheduled to intensify supervision over specific import items, including wood planks, bicycles, e-bicycles, among others to timely uncover offenses.

To date, the customs authorities have carried out inspection at 78 enterprises with export-bound goods worth VND647 billion (US$28 million), in which 391 certificates of origins were found to be fake and other 1,894 cannot provide sufficient information for verification.

In order to better combat trade fraud activities in the future, the Ministry of Finance is requesting related agencies to soon issue specific criteria for domestically-produced goods.

Moreover, international cooperation is considered essential in prevent cases of trade and origin frauds or illegal transshipment, in turn protecting lawful rights of local compliant traders.

The GDVC is currently cooperating with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to prevent origin frauds related to some products and goods, including solar battery, shrimp, bicycle, e-bicycle, among others.

The GDVC would continue to raise public awareness related to the rule of origins, and negative impacts of trade and origin frauds to domestic companies and the economy as a whole.