Government Decree No. 12/1999/ND-CP dated March 6, 1999. The Decree specifies particularly acts of IPR infringement, the form, level, procedures and authority to impose penalties on IPR infringers. IPR infringements settled in accordance with the Decree should be the cases, the seriousness of which has not yet risen to the level for criminal liability prosecution.

Government Decree No. 31/2001//ND-CP dated 26 June 2001 on administrative penalty in the filed of Culture - Information, where Section 7, Chapter II defines acts, form and level of penalty on Copyright Infringement.

With respect to the acts of import - export of counterfeits via border the Administrative measures taken by the Custom Office, please refer to Border measures for more details.

Petition:

IPR owner upon discovery of infringement over his IPR is entitled to submit a Petition to IPR enforcement bodies asking to stop such act. The Petition shall be accompanied by the following:

• Certified copy of IPR protection title - depending on each particular case the protection title  shall be Trademark Registration Certificate or Patent for Designs or Inventions or Untility Solutions or Registration Certificate of License Agreement.

• Evidence of infringement and information of infringer(s).  

Enforcement authorities involved in settlement of IPR infringements via administrative route are:

• People's Committees of all levels

• Industrial Property Inspectorate

• Economic Police

• Market Controllers

• Customs Offices

IPR owner may file his complaint on IPR infringement with any enforcement authorities. However, it is strongly recommended to file the complaint with the NOIP for obtaining its conclusion on IPR infringement. Foreign companies cannot file the complaint directly to the NOIP, but must authorise a registered IP Agency in Vietnam to act on its behalf.

Administrative penalties

All enforcement authorities such as Economic Police, Market Control, Inspectorate or Customs Department... have power to issue injunction to stop infringement and to impose penalty on IPR infringement. There are two main forms of administrative penalties :

• Warning, that is imposed to unintentional violation and on minor first-time violation with mitigating elements; or

• Monetary fine from 5 millions VND to 20 millions VND shall be imposed on IPR infringer in normal cases. In case of recidivism, monetary fine from 20 millions to 50millions VND; In case of organised infringement or infringement of a large scale, but the level is not high enough to be treated under the Criminal Code, monetary fine from 50 millions to 100 millions VND shall be imposed on infringer.

Besides the above mentioned main forms of penalties the following additional penalties can also be applied:

• Confiscating or destroying infringing products or ordering the infringer to remove the infringing sign.

• Revoking business license for definite or in-definite term.

Being forced to compensate for damages up to 1 million VND