The Vietnamese Ministry of Health’s Department of Medicine Management has suspended the distribution of more than 30 beauty products as part of its ongoing compliance drive, aimed at halting the tidal wave of counterfeit cosmetics flooding the market, according to a report published by VietnamNet Bridge.

Some 19 of those products that had their license revoked for failing to comply with the ASEAN Cosmetics Directive were from Kim Quan Commercial Production Enterprise, while the remainder, 6 from Lulanjina Co, 3 from Pan Viet Name JV, and 2 from Gia Viet Co, were found to contain unregistered ingredients. Five products from Tung Anh Cosmetic Co were banned for inaccurate labelling also.

The report suggests that fake cosmetics have become so ubiquitous that the Director of Ha Noi Dermatology Hospital, Nguyen Quoc Hung, has warned consumers not to trust even more expensive, branded products unless sourced from official channels.