VIETNAM – The Ministry of Industry and Trade is looking to stick labels on beer products in a bid to stop counterfeiting – a move that has already been implemented for tobacco products sold in Vietnam.
This proposal from the ministry is part of a draft decree governing beer manufacturing, sales and management. To further ensure the authenticity labels are also not counterfeited, market-watch inspectors will be equipped with a device to help them distinguish real from fake labels.
Breweries have been invited to comment on the proposal, and Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association chairman Nguyen Van Viet says the domestic beer industry hopes the ministry will reconsider the proposal.
According to Viet, Vietnam currently produces about three billion litres of beer per annum – or the equivalent of about 10 billion beer authenticity stamps for canned and bottled products: “Sticking the labels on the cans and bottles would be costly, so this idea should not be included in the draft decree.”
Vu Xuan Dung, deputy director of the Ha Noi Beer, Alcohol and Beverages Corporation, agreed, noting that each labels would cost about VND160-170; 10 billion labels would cost VND1.6-1.7 trillion (US$76.1-80.9 million) a year.
Calling for more in-depth research into this issue, Dung said, "Different plants use different technology, so the way to put the labels on the bottles should be researched. Different products will need different techniques."
Beer industry representatives suggested applying the labels on imported beer products only.
While noting the complaints from industry, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa said that authenticity labels are currently applied to four billion tobacco products a year and questioned why beer products should be treated differently.
Thoa assured though that the ministry would conduct more research on the new regulation to make sure it did not create too many difficulties for companies.
