Vietnam’s pharmaceutical and healthcare enforcement landscape is under heavy international scrutiny following the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) 2026 Special 301 Report, released on 30 April 2026, which raised Vietnam to a Priority Foreign Country, the first use of that category in thirteen years, threatening trade sanctions.[1] This put sudden pressure on Vietnam over persistent concerns around trade mark infringement, online piracy and the sale of counterfeit goods, including products affecting health and safety.
Vietnam had been gradually upgrading its IP system, with new IP laws and regulations in recent years, most recently the amended Intellectual Property Law (Law No. 131/2025/QH15), which took effect on 1 April 2026.[2] Then suddenly in May Vietnam had to demonstrate a far more robust enforcement system. They began a nationwide anti-infringement campaign and a significant restructuring of its administrative IP enforcement framework. Recent police action against large counterfeit medicine and supplement operations suggests that pharmaceutical counterfeiting is now in focus, both as an IP issue and as a public health concern.
A national campaign and recent legal changes
The nationwide crackdown on IP infringement was launched under Official Dispatch No. 38/CD-TTg, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung on 5 May 2026.[3] This campaign was to signal high-level direction for more visible and co-ordinated enforcement efforts across the country. Rather than relying on isolated raids or local administrative actions, the campaign appears intended to mobilise multiple agencies around priority sectors and repeat offenders. For pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, that matters because counterfeit medicines, supplements and medicated consumer products often fall between regulatory, criminal and IP enforcement channels. A centrally backed campaign increases the likelihood of joined-up action. By the end of the peak period on 30 May 2026, the campaign had detected over 2,000 IP violations and blocked 1,073 infringing websites.[4]
A second step was Decree No. 186/2026/ND-CP, issued on 26 May 2026, which revises Decree No. 99/2013/ND-CP and takes effect on 15 July 2026.[5] This reform materially reshapes the administrative enforcement framework for IP rights. Most notably, IP Vietnam now assumes the principal administrative enforcement role previously held by the Ministry of Science and Technology Inspectorate. Directors of provincial Departments of Science and Technology are also empowered to handle administrative enforcement. In parallel, police authority is clarified and expanded, including the role of cyber police in tackling online infringement. For rights holders dealing with pharmaceutical counterfeiting, these changes are significant because they should help streamline enforcement routes and improve the ability of the authorities to address digital sales channels. One common IP complaint had been the slow bureaucratic pace of administrative bodies.
Decree 186 also introduces a potentially valuable new remedy for online enforcement. Telecoms operators can now be ordered to block access to domain names used for infringing activity within five days. Access must be restored within three days if a restoration decision is issued. For fake pharmacy websites, unauthorised medicine sellers and online networks using infringing branding to market healthcare products, this creates a practical tool that did not previously exist in the same form. The decree also extends remedial measures to household business names, broadening the range of commercial actors that can be compelled to change infringing names.
The 2026 counterfeit medicine cases
These structural changes are now being tested against a series of major counterfeit healthcare cases. A recurring feature is adulteration with undeclared pharmaceutical actives. In February 2026, Thanh Hoa police dismantled a nationwide fake traditional medicine operation trading as the Hoang Minh Duong clinic. Sales staff posed as doctors to market the products online. Investigators recorded nearly 87,000 orders between 2023 and 2025, generating more than VND 227 billion (USD 8.7 million) in illicit profits.[6]
On 16 April 2026, Ho Chi Minh City police announced criminal proceedings against a counterfeit medicine ring. Three suspects led by Thai Chanh Kien face charges of producing and trading counterfeit medicines. The ring mixed herbal ingredients with paracetamol and sold the pills as imported traditional medicines. Packaging falsely claimed origin in Malaysia and Hong Kong. Officers seized more than 4,000 boxes of finished product and around 790kg of pills and materials. The authorities treated the conduct as serious criminal activity rather than a routine product infringement matter.[7]
Supplements follow the same pattern. On 26 April 2026, Ho Chi Minh City police arrested Tran Thi Nhu Hao and her husband Nguyen Trong Anh for mixing sibutramine, a banned weight-loss substance, into EMO'S branded functional foods. Police seized more than 5,200 finished packets and 639kg of raw powder, together with production machinery and printed packaging.[8]
Doctor impersonation can also be the entire scheme. In May 2026, Hanoi police arrested 13 suspects led by Tran Van Hien for cold-calling fibroid and thyroid patients while posing as a doctor's staff. The group worked from records of past patients and sold purported cures such as THYROID GOLD MK at high prices. Police charged the group with fraud rather than counterfeiting, which shows how these schemes move across regulatory, consumer and criminal law.[9] These cases blur the line between regulatory non-compliance, commercial fraud and IP infringement, and the risks to brand owners and consumers are correspondingly greater.
What this means for rights holders
The Vietnamese authorities are becoming more willing to pursue large and complex counterfeit healthcare operations through criminal channels. That is a positive signal for IP holders, particularly in a sector where administrative fines have for some time been asserted to be insufficient to deter repeat or commercial offenders. At the same time, the scale of these operations also illustrates the depth of the challenge. Major seizures and arrests do not simply demonstrate stronger enforcement. They also reveal how entrenched and profitable counterfeit medicine and supplement activity can be.
This is where the USTR context becomes important. Vietnam’s challenge is not only to show that it can conduct raids and issue penalties for a limited period, but to demonstrate that enforcement is becoming more systematic, more consistent and better adapted to current infringement patterns. The new US position seems to be driven by trade changes between China and Vietnam, Vietnam’s US trade deficit and the tariff position, as much as for pure IP issues. While Vietnam had been improving its IP regime for some time, practical enforcement remained a challenge and its increasing importance in Asian supply chains has led to the US taking a more assertive stance.
Pharma enforcement strategies in Vietnam should now be reviewed in light of the new role of IP Vietnam and the expanded powers of provincial science and technology authorities. Administrative options may become more effective in some cases, especially where trade mark infringement is clear and rapid intervention is needed. Online enforcement should be treated as a core part of anti-counterfeiting strategy not a separate type of work because online e-commerce shops and websites are part of real world counterfeit trade. Criminal enforcement should become easier on regulatory and IP grounds. For now, the direction of travel is clear: pharmaceutical counterfeit enforcement in Vietnam is becoming more active, more centralised and more consequential.
[1] Office of the United States Trade Representative, 2026 Special 301 Report (Vietnam country section), 30 April 2026: https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/files/Press/Releases/2026/2026%20Special%20301%20Report.pdf.
[2] Rouse, Vietnam's 2025 Amended IP Law: Major reforms effective from April 2026: https://rouse.com/insights/news/2026/vietnam-s-2025-amended-ip-law-major-reforms-effective-from-april-2026.
[3] Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre, Vietnam steps up IP enforcement as US raises concerns: http://itpc.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/web/en/-/vietnam-steps-up-ip-enforcement-as-us-raises-concerns. Full text of Official Dispatch No. 38/CD-TTg (in Vietnamese): https://sovhttdl.hungyen.gov.vn/cong-dien-so-38cd-ttg-cua-thu-tuong-chinh-phu-ve-tap-trung-chi-dao-thuc-hien-quyet-liet-cac-giai-pha-c22795.html.
[4] Bao Chinh Phu, Implementing Official Dispatch 38: an uphill copyright battle, 2 June 2026 (in Vietnamese): https://baochinhphu.vn/thuc-hien-cong-dien-38-gian-nan-cuoc-chien-ban-quyen-102260602125941888.htm.
[5] Rouse, IP Vietnam Takes on Key Enforcement Role: Major Changes under Decree 186/2026 revising Decree 99/2013: https://rouse.com/insights/news/2026/ip-vietnam-takes-on-key-enforcement-role-major-changes-under-decree-186-2026-revising-decree-99-2013.
[6] VietnamNet, Fake traditional medicine gangs stole millions of dollars from VN's patients, 26 June 2026: https://vietnamnet.vn/en/fake-traditional-medicine-gangs-stole-millions-of-dollars-from-vn-s-patients-2529675.html.
[7] DTiNews, Fake medicine ring using paracetamol broken up in HCM City, 16 April 2026: https://dtinews.dantri.com.vn/vietnam-today/fake-medicine-ring-using-paracetamol-broken-up-in-hcm-city-20260416155053161.htm.
[8] Tuoi Tre, Couple arrested for producing EMO'S weight-loss functional foods containing a banned substance, 26 April 2026 (in Vietnamese): https://tuoitre.vn/bat-hai-vo-chong-san-xuat-thuc-pham-chuc-nang-giam-can-emo-s-chua-chat-cam-20260426110817553.htm.
[9] Hanoi Moi, Impersonating doctors treating fibroids to defraud billions of dong, 28 May 2026 (in Vietnamese): https://hanoimoi.vn/gia-danh-bac-si-chua-u-xo-de-lua-dao-tien-ty-975951.html.
