Functional agencies have stepped up inspections and handled violations, while accelerating the improvement of coordination mechanisms and amendments to legal regulations to enhance the effectiveness of this work.
Strengthening coordination among functional forces
As the agency responsible for compiling information on the detection, seizure and handling of acts infringing intellectual property rights under official dispatch No. 38/CD-TTg, the Ministry of Science and Technology said that after one month of implementation, ministries, sectors and localities had taken drastic and coordinated action.
In May 2026, functional forces detected 2,036 violations, a sharp increase compared with the same period in 2025; and prosecuted 44 criminal cases related to intellectual property rights infringements. Cases involving infringements of trademark rights accounted for more than 98% of those handled administratively.
Some localities recorded a large scale of handling, reflecting their determination in market inspection and control, and in the fight against counterfeit goods and intellectual property rights infringements, such as Ha Noi with 340 cases handled, up 236%; and Ho Chi Minh City with 234 cases handled, up 1,170% compared with the same period in 2025.
Many localities have established inter-agency working groups, strengthening coordination among the Police, Market Surveillance forces, Customs and relevant agencies in detecting, verifying and handling violations. The handling of violations in the digital environment has been strengthened, initially creating a deterrent effect and raising awareness of compliance with intellectual property law.
Alongside the role of enforcement forces, the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam under the Ministry of Science and Technology has strengthened professional support in the process of handling intellectual property rights infringement cases.
Tran Le Hong, Deputy Director of the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam, said the office had proactively supported enforcement agencies in handling infringements, providing 17 expert opinions and 12 official letters supplying industrial property information for violation-handling activities. The Viet Nam Intellectual Property Research Institute received 52 requests for assessment and processed 42 dossiers, including 39 dossiers settled within two working days, meeting the urgent requirements of enforcement agencies.
To address inadequacies arising in practice, the Ministry of Science and Technology submitted to the government for promulgation of Decree No. 186/2026/ND-CP, amending and supplementing a number of regulations on administrative sanctions in the field of industrial property, which will take effect from July 15, 2026.
Accordingly, entities competent to impose sanctions have been consolidated in a manner that closely follows localities, avoids gaps in responsibilities and improves coordination among enforcement forces.
Sanctioning authority is assigned to the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam, specialised inspection teams, the Police, Market Surveillance forces, Customs, Directors of provincial Departments of Science and Technology, and local authorities according to their assigned management scope.
The decree clearly defines the responsibilities of each force, limiting overlaps in the process of detecting and handling violations. For the first time, the measure of blocking access to domain names infringing industrial property rights has been added to the system of remedial measures.
This regulation is expected to provide an additional legal tool for swiftly handling violations in the digital environment, especially those involving international domain names provided by international domain name registrars without headquarters in Viet Nam.
Improving a synchronous and more appropriate legal system
Although the peak period for implementing Official Dispatch No. 38/CD-TTg has brought about clear changes in the detection and handling of acts infringing intellectual property rights, functional agencies say violations remain complex.
Infringing acts are becoming increasingly sophisticated, in both traditional commerce and e-commerce. Public trading of goods bearing counterfeit trademarks still occurs at some traditional markets and commercial centres, affecting the rights and interests of businesses and consumers, as well as the investment and business environment.
Meanwhile, although coordination and data sharing among functional forces have improved, they remain inconsistent; the application of technology in monitoring and detecting violations in the digital environment remains limited.
In particular, there is currently no standardised and interconnected national database on intellectual property rights enforcement, making it difficult to carry out statistics, forecasting and violation handling.
Some legal regulations have also revealed shortcomings, as they have not kept pace with the development of e-commerce and the digital economy. Some acts infringing intellectual property rights have not been clearly stipulated in the Penal Code, while sanctions against certain violations are not yet sufficiently deterrent.
The Ministry of Science and Technology recommended continuing to improve the legal system in a synchronous manner, in line with reality and international practice. The focus is on reviewing and amending regulations related to the fight against, prevention and handling of acts infringing intellectual property rights; studying amendments to the Penal Code, the Law on Handling Administrative Violations, the Law on Customs and relevant guiding documents, in order to address legal gaps, strengthen deterrence and improve enforcement effectiveness.
Functional agencies need to accelerate the development of a national database on intellectual property rights enforcement, increase the application of artificial intelligence and traceability technology in detecting, monitoring and handling violations in the digital environment; continue to strengthen inter-agency coordination mechanisms, improve the capacity of enforcement forces and ensure resources for the protection of intellectual property rights.
