Government to set up General Department of Market Surveillance

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has decided to upgrade the Market Surveillance Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade into the General Department of Market Surveillance.

The Government leader recently issued Decision 34/2018, which defines the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the General Department of Market Surveillance. The decision will take effect on October 12.

The general department will be organized into a vertical system from the central to the local levels, while fulfilling the requirements set by the minister of industry and trade. The department will have one general director and up to four deputy general directors.

It will be responsible for preventing and handling the trade of smuggled, fake and banned commodities; dealing with violations such as infringements of intellectual property rights and the breaking of regulations on the quality and safety of products; and protecting the rights and interests of consumers.

The structure of the general department will be upgraded and improved by six agencies – the office of the department; the department of personnel and organization; the general, planning and financial department; the department of policy and legal affairs; the department of inspection; and the bureau of market management.

As many as 63 provincial-level market surveillance departments will be established under the umbrella of the General Department of Market Surveillance.

Market management agencies at the district level will fall under the management of these provincial-level departments instead of the departments of industry and trade.

The Prime Minister has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to work with the provincial People’s Committees on the transfer of the local market surveillance agencies. The handover should be completed by October 12.

The ministry has also been tasked with devising a scheme for establishing interprovincial market surveillance bureaus. The scheme needs to be submitted to the Prime Minister by December 2019.

Meanwhile, as many as 681 market management agencies at the district level are expected to be merged with 305 inter-district agencies by 2020.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai remarked that the restructuring of the market surveillance apparatus is aimed at strengthening cooperation and fighting against trade fraud and the trade of fake goods more effectively.

Source: The Saigon Times