The Agency of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) warned against a growing trend of foreign goods forging Vietnamese origin to commit trade fraud and cheat customers. 

Following the agency’s statement, foreign goods are finding ways to secure a Vietnam certificate of origin in a bid to enjoy preferential treatments from the participation of Vietnam in free trade agreements. 

Additionally, a Vietnam certificate of origin could also be used as means to evade trade barriers from import markets. 

According to the MoIT, an origin certificate fraud not only affects customers, but also causes negative impacts on domestic production, reducing credibility and competitiveness of made-in-Vietnam products. 

However, as Vietnam currently does not have specific regulations and criteria for products to be certified as made-in-Vietnam, customers do not have appropriate measures to verify the products. 

Existing requirements are mainly related to label, geographical indications and brands, while there are no standards to determine whether a product is considered to be made-in-Vietnam. 

As of present, made-in-Vietnam products must be partly or wholly produced in Vietnam. 

The MoIT urged the facilitation of new legal framework specifying requirements for products to be labelled as made-in-Vietnam in the near future. 

Hanoitimes