Vietnam widens net for flood of smuggled toys
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With the Mid-Autumn Festival fast approaching, authorities are beginning a nationwide crackdown on the markets expected to see increasing demand during the holiday.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has revealed that recent inspections found over 30 per cent of toyshops were violating regulations on foreign-made goods.
Out of 340 toy shops checked in the last month, 92 were fined for not providing accurate labelling while 12 have been penalised for selling products without a conformity regulation (CR) stamp.
“Most of these toys were smuggled across the border without certificates of origin,” explained Tran Minh Dung, the ministry’s chief inspector. In the capital last month, authorities discovered many dangerous toys being transported and purchased by illegal means.
Last Monday, market-watch teams found and confiscated over 1,000 smuggled toys in two shops in Hang Giay and Luong Van Can streets.
On August 27, another team seized over 100 plastic toy guns and swords with unclear origin in a warehouse on Duc Giang street in Long Bien District.
The forbidden products were said to belong to the Ha Noi Industry Construction Joint Stock Company, who may have been planning to sell them during the Mid Autumn Festival.
City police previously discovered a truck transporting over 7,000 toy guns in Hoang Mai District, all of which were banned from being sold.
“There are a great many toys in the market nowadays, and many varieties. The management of the products’ CR stamps, as a result, is difficult,” Dung said.
