In 2010, 69% of complaints were about product quality, 29.5% were about product warranty and 6% were about counterfeit labels; 29.5% of complaints were about electrical and electronic products, only 20% were about food safety, cosmetics, environment, 3% were about medicines and functional foods. [10, pp. 207-211] The number of complaints was mainly concentrated in big cities, many localities did not have any complaints all year. This is an alarming fact to demonstrate the shortcomings in the regulations on the right to complain in the law on consumer rights protection of the country. The lack of clarity has made them afraid to exercise the power recognized by the State. Because, with a weaker position, consumers will always be the ones who suffer the disadvantages.
On the mechanism of inspection, examination, supervision and handling of violations
According to the National Food Safety Strategy for the period 2011 - 2020 and vision 2030 approved by the Prime Minister, by 2020, food safety control in the entire food supply chain will be established and effectively promoted, proactively protecting the health and interests of consumers, meeting the requirements of development and international economic integration of the country. [34] The strategy clearly states that ensuring food safety is ensuring the rights of consumers and people's health, is a regular task that needs to be focused on by Party committees and authorities at all levels, is the responsibility and interests of organizations, individuals producing and trading food and of each citizen.
In the period from now to 2020, competent authorities will strengthen inspection and strictly control the production and trading of plant protection chemicals and agricultural materials, ensuring the correct use of quality, type, dosage, and quarantine period of agricultural materials in cultivation, animal husbandry, preservation, and processing of agricultural products and food. Regularly monitor
Supervise and check for toxic chemical residues in agricultural and aquatic products; strictly control slaughtering and veterinary hygiene, aquatic hygiene; inspect the implementation of regulations to ensure food safety conditions throughout the production chain. In addition, prevent the trading of fake, poor quality, expired food, food products that violate labeling regulations, smuggled goods and commercial fraud, and food products that violate food safety laws. In fact, in 2015, the whole country established over 20,600 interdisciplinary inspection and examination teams, thereby inspecting over 344,600 establishments, detecting 77,946 establishments in violation, accounting for 22.6%. In the first quarter of 2016 alone, the whole country established over 9,400 inspection teams, inspecting over 109,000 establishments, detecting 20,572 establishments in violation.[35] Within the scope of their functions and powers, local authorities also handle administrative violations of laws on food hygiene and safety, and increase deterrence against individuals and businesses that violate the law.
It can be seen that in the current inspection, examination and handling of violations mechanism, the 2010 Food Safety Law has not recognized the role of the police, especially the environmental police, in the fight against, prevention and handling of violations of food safety and hygiene. This reality limits the ability of local police agencies to support state management agencies in inspecting production and business establishments in cases where these establishments do not cooperate, causing difficulties for the inspection teams to perform their tasks. In addition, it is necessary to complete the legal basis for specialized food safety inspection activities at district and ward levels.
Regarding the mechanism for sanctioning administrative violations in the field of food safety: sanctions such as fines; temporary revocation of the right to use the certificate of qualified food safety facility or temporary suspension of operations; confiscation of administrative violation exhibits and means used to commit administrative violations in food safety are
strong impacts on the behavior of individuals and organizations. However, administrative sanctions in the field of food safety cannot be implemented, administrative sanctions cannot be applied if competent authorities do not pay attention to the issue of statute of limitations and time limits for sanctioning administrative violations in this field. In 2015, the Director of the Department of Food Safety issued a decision to sanction 261 companies for violating food safety with a total fine of more than 4,756 billion VND.[36] In the first quarter of 2016, the Director of the Department of Food Safety issued a decision to sanction 20 companies for violating food safety with a total fine of 480,457,000 VND.[41] Along with the fine, the Department of Food Safety has forced the above establishments to immediately stop violating; remove advertising content that violates regulations; Conduct periodic product testing according to regulations; recall and destroy batches of products that violate quality.
Regarding the mechanism for handling violations of criminal law on food safety. Criminal law criminalized violations of food safety quite early (from the 1985 Penal Code), but this crime is regulated with material elements (requiring consequences to occur), causing difficulties for authorities in handling criminal violations of food safety. These acts not only cause damage to life and health in the present but can also cause dangerous effects in the future. Therefore, the regulation requiring immediate consequences to be able to prosecute violations is one of the barriers that makes it very difficult for violations of food safety to be handled criminally. It should be noted that, in criminal sanctions, in addition to the main penalties, it is necessary to apply additional penalties such as permanent ban from practicing a profession or doing certain jobs to individuals and organizations that commit crimes causing particularly serious consequences to human life and health.
people in the laws related to food safety behavior, especially the crimes specified in Article 317 of the 2015 Penal Code.
In recent times, the prosecution agencies have also detected and handled violations that have sufficient elements to constitute a crime. According to statistics from the Supreme People's Court, from 2011 to 2015, the whole country only tried 03 criminal cases under Article 244 of the 1999 Penal Code (amended and supplemented in 2009) "Crime of violating regulations on food hygiene and safety", specifically in 2012: 02 cases and in 2013: 01 case. In addition, nationwide, a number of crimes related to food safety violations have been tried as follows: (see Chart No. 2.6) [30]
Charge
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2015 | 2015 | |
Article 153 | 74 | 79 | 97 | 97 | 101 |
Article 154 | 56 | 65 | 67 | 71 | 69 |
Article 155 | 276 | 422 | 458 | 493 | 57 |
Article 157 | 38 | 41 | 23 | 42 | 38 |
Article 186 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Article 244 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Maybe you are interested!
-
Improving the law on gender equality in the civil, marriage and family fields - Theoretical and practical issues - 1 -
Practice of Determining the Crime of Resisting a Law Enforcement Officer According to the CU Increases the Aggravated Penalty -
Crimes in the field of land management and use in Vietnam Criminal Law Based on practical research in Hanoi city - 2 -
Law Enforcement Practices on the Organization and Operation of Private Hospitals -
Improving the Quality of Law Enforcement in Investigation, Prosecution, and Trial of Crimes of Violating State Secrets
[30]
2.2. Practical implementation of laws on consumer rights protection in the field of food hygiene and safety in Binh Duong
2.2.1. Food safety and hygiene situation in Binh Duong province
Binh Duong is a province in the Southeast region, located in the Southern Key Economic Zone. The East borders Dong Nai province, the North borders Binh Phuoc province, the West borders Tay Ninh province and part of Ho Chi Minh City, the South borders Ho Chi Minh City and part of Dong Nai province. According to Resolution No. 136/NQ-CP dated December 29, 2013 of the Government, Binh Duong province has a natural area of 2,694.43 km2 (accounting for about 0.83% of the total area of the country).
water, about 12% of the Southeast region); population 1,802,500 people (General Statistics Office - October 2014); 09 district-level administrative units (including: Thu Dau Mot city, Di An town, Thuan An town, Ben Cat town, Tan Uyen town and Bau Bang, Bac Tan Uyen, Dau Tieng, Phu Giao districts) and 91 commune-level administrative units (48 communes, 41 wards, 02 towns). From a province mainly producing agriculture and small-scale industry, Binh Duong has become an industrially developed province, with a population of over 2.0 million people . The whole province has 28 industrial parks with an area of 10,560 hectares and 10 industrial clusters with an area of 707 hectares. Currently, the province attracts more than 2,800 foreign investment projects with a total capital of 25.7 billion USD and 25,350 domestic enterprises with a total capital of more than
188,000 billion VND. In recent years, Binh Duong has achieved a fairly high economic growth rate compared to the region and the whole country, the period 2011-2015 increased by 13% ; by the end of 2016, the economic structure according to GRDP corresponding to industry - services - agriculture - import tax minus product subsidies was 63% - 23.5% - 9.2%; GRDP per capita reached 108.6 million VND.
According to the socio-economic development orientation of Binh Duong province until 2020, the urbanization and industrialization process will be promoted, specifically: The urbanization rate from 40% in 2010, increased to 50% in 2015 and is expected to reach 75% in 2020. It is forecasted that if the urban population in 2010 was 480 thousand people, it will be 1.5 million people in 2020. Striving to turn Binh Duong province into a type I city, directly under the Central Government by 2020. The space of Binh Duong city connects with Ho Chi Minh City and Bien Hoa city to become a metropolis of the whole country. In 2020, it is expected that the whole province will have 31 industrial parks with a total area of 9,360.5 hectares and 23 industrial clusters with a total area of 2,704 hectares.
It can be seen that Binh Duong is one of the provinces located in the food ingredient transportation belt, especially fresh food ingredients from the provinces transported to supply the provinces in the Southeast region in particular.
in general and Binh Duong in particular to serve people in industrial parks and clusters, while the development and promulgation of coordination regulations between provinces in controlling food ingredients has not been implemented. Food hygiene and safety (FS) is one of the urgent emerging issues in recent times, which has received much attention and voice from many voters. People's concerns about unsafe daily meals are considered a "problem". In Binh Duong alone, since the beginning of the year, functional agencies have discovered many cases related to unsafe food sources. These food sources are indispensable in the daily meals of many families. Below, the author would like to cite a few "frustrations" of voters in Binh Duong Province:
Voter Do Trong Kieu, a member of the Veterans Association of Phu Tho Ward, Thu Dau Mot City, shared: “Nowadays, eating and drinking are always accompanied by the fear of illness. The destruction caused by dirty food does not come suddenly but smolders and affects many generations.” Voter Tran Thi Hong, Ward 1, Tan An Ward, Thu Dau Mot City, said: “Going to the market for housewives like me is a real headache. Pork is afraid of banned substances, beef is “enchanted,” water spinach is watered with slime; some establishments were discovered to mix yellow o - a toxic substance used only in industry - into pickles; fruit can be kept for several months without spoiling... Many times, we do not know what to buy and what to eat to be safe.”[38]
Voter Bui Thu Hoa, Chanh Nghia Ward, Thu Dau Mot City said: "Housewives like us must become wise people. Therefore, every household and every person grows safe vegetable gardens at home. Moreover, in Thu Dau Mot City, there are also a number of stores specializing in providing safe vegetables to customers such as Da Lat House store, 7P supermarket, and safe agricultural products store on 30-4 street. However, I, like many other voters,
The general market desire is to provide clean food for each person and each household to ensure their daily meals. Because in reality, not every individual can afford to use clean food at a fairly high price.”[38]
Voter Tran Anh Tuan, Hung Dinh Ward, Thuan An Town said: “A few years ago, I raised pigs to stabilize my family's economy. However, the reality is that when traders come to buy, they advise farmers like us to use banned substances to create lean meat to fatten the pigs to gain weight. This type of pig, when sold on the market, is more expensive than normal pigs because the lean meat ratio is higher. Normal pigs like the ones I raise are always bought at a price 4-5 times lower. This reality has made honest farmers like us miserable. Because the pork products using growth stimulants and rapid lean meat creation often have red meat color and are very low in fat and sell for a good price, while the color of pork without using banned substances is pale and fatty, and cannot be sold for a good price.”[38]
Talking to reporters, many voters said that the timely response of the delegates to the "problem" of "dirty food" is very commendable. At the National Assembly sessions, especially the recent provincial People's Council sessions, the issue of food safety has been brought up on the agenda. The delegates conveyed the concerns and frustrations of the voters at the forums. Voter Tran Anh Tuan, Hung Dinh ward, Thuan An town expressed his excitement at the positive signs of sanctions against dirty food. Mr. Tuan said: "I am very pleased that the delegates have spoken up for the people about the problem of dirty food. I hope that, with strong measures, in the coming time, this problem will be thoroughly handled to ensure the health of consumers and fair competition for honest producers and traders."
Voter Phan Ngoc Hoa, Hung Loc quarter, Hung Dinh ward shared: “Food safety and hygiene is always an issue of concern to the whole society. The voices of delegates and the involvement of functional forces in the past time on this issue have partly helped people feel more secure. I hope that, from strict handling measures, the awareness of ensuring food safety and hygiene of livestock farm owners, food production and trading units will be raised. I also hope that the synchronous solutions implemented by the sectors will ensure the food source serving the people is safe and ensures health”.[38]
Voter Nguyen Van Bay, Nguyen Trai quarter, Lai Thieu ward happily said: “To ensure a source of clean food for the people, the authorities have also taken drastic measures to stop many shipments of dirty food. On July 1, the revised 2015 Penal Code with strict regulations on the use of banned substances in animal husbandry will officially take effect. Accordingly, the penalty for individuals and owners of establishments violating the production and use of banned substances in slaughter and animal husbandry will be very high. Those who produce and trade banned substances can be fined from 100 million to 1 billion VND, imprisoned from 1 to 5 years; those who transport banned substances will be fined 200 million VND, imprisoned from 1 to 5 years; those who use banned substances will be fined 200 - 500 million VND, imprisoned from 1 to 5 years; If there are aggravating circumstances, the penalty can be up to 20 years in prison, which is a strong measure in the process of eliminating dirty food."[38]
Nowadays, more and more businesses and individuals are highly aware of ensuring food safety and hygiene. Many large-scale farms and fruit gardens meet VietGAP standards; product output is carefully inspected and follows the correct procedures... and are contributing to bringing clean food to consumers. To thoroughly eliminate dirty food, voters believe that, in addition to the main responsibility of the authorities, the participation of the entire system is also necessary.