Tightening management of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics during Tet 2026

In a written directive sent to the Departments of Health of provinces and cities on December 16, the Department requested agencies to “stop” smuggling and trade fraud at the end of the year and the Lunar New Year of the Horse. The management agency determined the key inspection period to start from mid-December this year and end on March 31 next year.

“Functional units need to urgently evaluate the compliance with the law at establishments registering, producing and trading pharmaceuticals and cosmetics in the area,” said a representative of the Drug Administration of Vietnam.

Accordingly, inspection teams will evaluate the legality of the business as well as the legality of the products. For medicinal products, functional forces focus on reviewing business eligibility certificates, circulation registration numbers, invoices, documents, expiry dates and compliance with regulations on selling drugs by prescription. As for the cosmetics group, the review content includes production licenses, product information files (PIF), and consistency between published information and actual production. The inspection agency will also carefully review the labeling content on ingredients, features, and uses to detect violations.

Besides traditional distribution channels, the Drug Administration requires expanding the scope of supervision to e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop and social networking platforms Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. Authorities will crack down on products that have not been licensed for circulation, products that have been ordered to be recalled or destroyed but are still publicly sold, as well as cases of false advertising.

The representative of the Drug Administration of Vietnam affirmed that the viewpoint of handling violating organizations and individuals is “no prohibited areas, no exceptions”. Cases showing signs of crime such as trading in high-value counterfeit goods, causing serious consequences, organized violations or repeat violations will immediately transfer the files to the investigation agency for criminal prosecution.

The move to tighten management comes in the context of the rapid expansion of the Vietnamese cosmetics market, leading to many quality control challenges. According to data from Statista, the scale of this industry in 2024 is estimated to reach more than 2.4 billion USD, an increase of 3.4% over the same period and is expected to reach 2.7 billion USD by 2027. Currently 90% of supply in the market comes from imports. Although traditional retail channels still account for about 80% of the market share, the shopping trend is shifting strongly to online, causing the business of goods of unknown origin and poor quality to increase.