Though the Laws on Competition and Consumer Rights Protection tookeffect many years ago, a majority of Vietnamese businesses and consumersdo not understand their legal rights, a seminar heard on April 10 in HoChi Minh City.
According to Tran Phuong Lan, head of the VietnamCompetition Administration Department's Competition Supervision andManagement Division, the competition law was written to preserve therights of enterprises to compete freely and lawfully with each other. Ittook effect about 10 years ago, but only about 25 percent of Vietnamesefirms understand the law.
"About 78 percent of FDI firms know how to use the law to protect their rights," she said.
Underthe law, unfair competitive practices include misleading instructions(misleading consumers in their understanding of the goods and services);infringement of business secrets; coercion in business; defamation ofother enterprises; causing disruption to business activities of otherenterprises; advertisements or promotions aimed at unfair competition;discrimination by association; and illegal multi-level selling.
Advertisements or promotions aimed at unfair competition and illegal multi-level selling were two common violations.
"Whenenterprises discover unfair competitive practices of their rivals, theyneed to submit their complaints to the VCAD for investigation," shesaid.
But she said sanctions applied to unfair competitivepractices were not strong enough to prevent people from repeating theoffence.
Phan The Thang, deputy head of the Division of ConsumerRights Protection under the department, said awareness of consumersabout the law had increased, but they were still afraid to filecomplaints or lawsuits when their rights were violated.
Thenumber of violations of consumer rights was increasing, especially theselling of poor quality products and fake goods, and dubious promotionprogrammes. Exaggerated advertising and trade fraud were also morecommon.
He suggested that consumers carefully check informationabout products they want to buy, keep all bills, warranties and otherrelevant documents and inform authorised agencies when their rights areviolated.
Businesses needed to focus more on improving their customer services and product quality and design, he said.
NguyenPhuong Nam, deputy head of the department, said free trade agreementswould open opportunities for local firms to boost exports, but presentchallenges as well. Importing countries would increase trade remediesand barriers, including anti-dumping, anti-subsidies and safeguards toprotect their local production.
If a company faces ananti-dumping investigation, or anti-subsidies and safeguards, it mustclosely co-operate with relevant agencies of that country to solve theproblem. Otherwise, it would have to pay very high duties when exportingits products to that market.
The seminar was organised by thedepartment, the Vietnam Association of Women Entrepreneurs, the VietnamAssociation of Consumer Goods Development, and the Business Associationof High-Quality Vietnamese Goods.-VNA
According to Tran Phuong Lan, head of the VietnamCompetition Administration Department's Competition Supervision andManagement Division, the competition law was written to preserve therights of enterprises to compete freely and lawfully with each other. Ittook effect about 10 years ago, but only about 25 percent of Vietnamesefirms understand the law.
"About 78 percent of FDI firms know how to use the law to protect their rights," she said.
Underthe law, unfair competitive practices include misleading instructions(misleading consumers in their understanding of the goods and services);infringement of business secrets; coercion in business; defamation ofother enterprises; causing disruption to business activities of otherenterprises; advertisements or promotions aimed at unfair competition;discrimination by association; and illegal multi-level selling.
Advertisements or promotions aimed at unfair competition and illegal multi-level selling were two common violations.
"Whenenterprises discover unfair competitive practices of their rivals, theyneed to submit their complaints to the VCAD for investigation," shesaid.
But she said sanctions applied to unfair competitivepractices were not strong enough to prevent people from repeating theoffence.
Phan The Thang, deputy head of the Division of ConsumerRights Protection under the department, said awareness of consumersabout the law had increased, but they were still afraid to filecomplaints or lawsuits when their rights were violated.
Thenumber of violations of consumer rights was increasing, especially theselling of poor quality products and fake goods, and dubious promotionprogrammes. Exaggerated advertising and trade fraud were also morecommon.
He suggested that consumers carefully check informationabout products they want to buy, keep all bills, warranties and otherrelevant documents and inform authorised agencies when their rights areviolated.
Businesses needed to focus more on improving their customer services and product quality and design, he said.
NguyenPhuong Nam, deputy head of the department, said free trade agreementswould open opportunities for local firms to boost exports, but presentchallenges as well. Importing countries would increase trade remediesand barriers, including anti-dumping, anti-subsidies and safeguards toprotect their local production.
If a company faces ananti-dumping investigation, or anti-subsidies and safeguards, it mustclosely co-operate with relevant agencies of that country to solve theproblem. Otherwise, it would have to pay very high duties when exportingits products to that market.
The seminar was organised by thedepartment, the Vietnam Association of Women Entrepreneurs, the VietnamAssociation of Consumer Goods Development, and the Business Associationof High-Quality Vietnamese Goods.-VNA
