The Market Management Department of Vinh Long province said that the Chairman of the People's Committee of Vinh Long province has signed and issued a Decision to sanction administrative violations against business households trading in counterfeit goods in terms of use value and function; goods with quality not conforming to corresponding technical standards; goods infringing on trademark rights and goods violating labels, with a fine of VND 207,690,000.
Previously, on March 22, 2024, the Inspection Team of Market Management Team No. 4 suddenly inspected the agricultural materials business household D.C owned by Mr. N.V.D (Hoa Loc commune, Tam Binh district, Vinh Long province).
Through inspection, the Inspection Team discovered that the business household was selling goods with labels that did not fully and correctly contain the required content on the product label according to the law on product labeling, including 10 bags of DAP fertilizer - DAP KOREA 18-46 MONYKA, 20 bags of mixed NPK fertilizer Mua Vang NPK 20-20-15 and 600 packages of NPK - micronutrient fertilizer AV-US 1 with labels containing additional information "LACA THAILAND SOTO" infringing on the rights to the LACA SOTO 4SP trademark that Tan Thanh Trading Company Limited had registered under the Trademark Registration Certificate No. 359899 of the Department of Intellectual Property.
The inspection team took 6 fertilizer samples and sent them to the Can Tho Technical Center for Standards, Metrology and Quality, including DAP fertilizer, potassium pellets and 4 types of NPK mixed fertilizers.
Based on the sample testing results of the Can Tho Technical Center for Standards, Metrology and Quality compared with the provisions of Decree 84/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019 of the Government and Decree No. 98/2020/ND-CP dated August 26, 2020 of the Government, there are 3 types of fertilizers that are counterfeit in terms of use value and function and 2 types of fertilizers are goods with quality that does not comply with the corresponding technical regulations (only 1 type of fertilizer meets the quality according to the applicable announcement).
Through the results of the examination and verification of fertilizer samples, it was found that the case had signs of crime (counterfeit fertilizers worth from VND 30,000,000 to under VND 150,000,000) according to the provisions of Point a, Clause 1, Article 195 of the Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13 (amended and supplemented in 2017).
On April 8, 2024, Market Management Team No. 4 transferred the case file to the Investigation Police Agency of Tam Binh District Police (Vinh Long Province) for handling according to regulations.
After investigation and verification, on August 26, 2024, the Tam Binh District Police Investigation Agency transferred the case file to Market Management Team No. 4 to handle administrative violations because the behavior did not constitute a crime. Then, Market Management Team No. 4 transferred the file to the Director for consideration and submission to the Chairman of Vinh Long Provincial People's Committee for handling according to authority.
On September 18, 2024, the Chairman of Vinh Long Provincial People's Committee signed and issued a Decision to administratively sanction the business household D.C owned by Mr. N.V.D with an amount of VND 207,690,000 for the above violations.
At the same time, the remedial measure is to force the destruction of physical evidence for acts of trading in counterfeit goods in terms of use value and function and acts of trading in goods that infringe upon trademark rights.
After receiving the penalty decision, business household D.C. has paid the fine of VND 207,690,000 and is cooperating in implementing remedial measures according to regulations.
