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ARTICLE · 23 JULY 2026

Vietnam Sharpens Pharmaceutical Counterfeit Enforcement As USTR Pressure Mounts

Vietnam faces unprecedented pressure from the United States Trade Representative over intellectual property enforcement, particularly in pharmaceutical counterfeiting. Following its designation as a Priority Foreign Country in April 2026, Vietnam launched a nationwide crackdown and restructured its IP enforcement framework, with recent police operations revealing large-scale counterfeit medicine rings that pose serious public health risks.

VietnamIntellectual Property

Vietnam is strengthening pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting enforcement through major IP reforms.

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

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