Reviewing drug advertising activities on social networks
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan has just sent a Report to the National Assembly on the results of implementing the National Assembly's Resolutions on questioning and issues promised at the previous session in the health sector.
In the report, Minister Dao Hong Lan clearly stated the need to fulfill the promise to strengthen management, inspection, examination and post-inspection in the production and trading of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and functional foods, especially business activities on e-commerce sites, e-commerce trading floors, and social networks.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Health has issued many documents directing the strengthening of inspection, examination and post-inspection management in the production and business of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
In recent times, the Ministry of Health (Department of Drug Administration) has always closely coordinated with relevant agencies to exchange and verify information about cosmetics to serve the investigation and handling of counterfeit cosmetics, cosmetics of unknown origin and commercial fraud, cosmetics of poor quality.
At the same time, strictly handle organizations and individuals who violate the law.
The Drug Administration of Vietnam has revoked 58 receipts of cosmetic declaration forms, 2 products violating labels and 33 products violating production and labeling. Suspend, recall 9 poor quality products, destroy unsecured batches, and fine nearly 600 million VND.
Minister Dao Hong Lan said that since the beginning of 2025, the Ministry of Health has increased the review of drug business and advertising activities on e-commerce sites, e-commerce trading floors and social networks.
The Drug Administration has issued 4 official dispatches to transfer the violation file to competent authorities to prevent and handle administrative violations.
The Department has also handled 3 cosmetic products in circulation with labels that did not match the published records, and coordinated with media agencies to verify and provide information about cases of cosmetic advertising that misunderstands as drugs.
Developing a decree on cosmetic management
Regarding the solution, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that the Ministry of Health is urgently developing a Decree on cosmetic management, expected to be submitted to the Government in September this year, to complete the legal framework;
Deploy synchronous cosmetic management software from the central to local levels. Support for receiving and processing cosmetic publications and connecting with the National Public Service Portal to trace the origin;
Strengthen coordination with relevant agencies to combat counterfeit goods and trade fraud on e-commerce platforms and social networks.
For functional foods, according to the Minister of Health, the Food Safety Department has issued a plan to carry out post-inspection work.
The Ministry also issued an official dispatch on strengthening inspection, examination, and handling of food safety violations.
From January 1 to April 14, 2025, the Ministry of Health (Department of Food Safety) has fined 5 establishments producing and trading functional foods for 7 violations, with a total fine of nearly 370 million VND.
In the coming time, the Ministry of Health will continue to direct the strengthening of management of business activities on e-commerce sites, trading floors, and social networks.
