Ensuring standardized production processes, improving quality management capacities, and controlling the market are currently focused on and implemented by the province.

To support enterprises in improving quality right from input stages, the Department of Science and Technology has guided organizations and enterprises to apply quality management systems such as ISO 9001, ISO 22000, HACCP, GMP, and productivity and quality improvement tools. Through this, processes are progressively standardized, governance efficiency is elevated, and risks in production are reduced.

Recently, the Department of Science and Technology organized a training course on skills to maintain, improve, and internally assess the Quality Management System under National Standard TCVN ISO 9001:2015 within state administrative agencies. Civil servants from departments, sectors, affiliated units, and People’s Committees of communes and wards across the province acquired practical work-related skills. Thanks to this, cadres step by step incorporate ISO requirements into daily routines, from reviewing procedures and updating documents to internal auditing; proactively identifying non-conformities and proposing improvement solutions, contributing to elevating work processing quality in agencies.

In parallel with improving quality from the production stage, market surveillance is a crucial link to protect consumers, legitimate producers, and a healthy business environment.

According to the assessment of the Market Surveillance Sub-department, across the province, smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods primarily occur on a small, scattered scale with modest-sized cases, but still carry latent potential and complex developments. Detected and handled cases concentrate on food safety; trading goods of unknown origin and provenance; intellectual property infringements; violations of customs regulations; and illegal trading of forest products.

Facing this situation, functional forces have intensified patrols and inspections across border areas, road border gates, trails, openings, river routes, air routes, and cargo gathering areas near the border. In the domestic market, the inspection focus centers on distributors, distribution hubs, key transport routes, warehouses, yards, transshipment points, markets, supermarkets, and commercial centers.

Through this, forces promptly detect, prevent, and handle acts of smuggling, trading prohibited goods, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property infringements; along with transporting and trading animals and animal products of unknown origin, unquarantined, or failing to ensure food safety. Since the beginning of the year to date, the market surveillance force has inspected over 230 cases, detecting and imposing administrative sanctions in 126 cases involving 126 subjects.

Violations primarily involved food safety, pricing, industrial property, goods of unknown origin and provenance, and healthcare, with revenue remitted to the state budget exceeding VND 500 million. Violating goods forced into destruction included prepackaged foods, fruits, livestock, poultry, seafood, livestock and poultry products, and goods of unknown origin and provenance. The provincial Police force also took the lead in arresting and handling over 480 cases involving more than 580 law-violating subjects; imposing administrative fines in over 190 cases involving more than 190 subjects, remitting over VND 800 million to the state budget. Violating acts were mainly trading goods with counterfeit trademarks, trading goods of unknown origin and provenance, and trading expired goods.

According to Nguyễn Hồng Sơn, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade and Permanent Deputy Head of the Provincial Steering Committee 389, departments, sectors, and functional forces continue to execute effectively the annual Plan on combating smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods, along with the Plan on fighting, preventing, and repelling smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property infringements in the province up to 2030.

Along with strengthening local management and carrying out inspections and audits according to programs and plans, forces will step up coordination, information exchange, and sharing; promptly detecting, preventing, and strictly handling violations. In particular, given the growing trend of e-commerce and online shopping, methods and tricks of smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods have become more sophisticated, requiring surveillance work to be proactive, flexible, and effectively apply science and technology. The province continues to build a contingent of cadres, civil servants, and public employees possessing adequate capacity and integrity in official duty performance, strictly handling cases of harboring or abetting violations in the spirit of “No concessions, no forbidden zones, and no exceptions.”

Controlling quality from production to circulation is a solution to protect consumers, establishing a foundation to heighten the competitiveness of commodities, build brands, and sustainably develop markets. This is a consistent requirement to progressively form a safe, transparent, and healthy production and business environment in the province.