Traditional rice wine brewers that lack production licences will be forced to close after January 1, 2013 when a new government decree takes effect.
Ignorant
According to Decree No.94/2012/ND, any individual or organisation that wants to produce alcoholic spirits must possess a production license and their products must have their own brand. The move is aimed to eliminate bootleg and poorly manufactured rice wine which has had a detrimental effect on people’s health.
Nguyen Thi Tuyet, a rice wine producer in Hung Yen Province’s Khoai Chau District, knows nothing about the decree
However, both wine producers and users in many localities seem ignorant of the new decree. When informed, many rice wine producers claimed that the law would surely be ignored.
Nguyen Thi Tuyet, owner of a rice wine producer at Bai Say 3 Village in Hung Yen Province’s Khoai Chau District said she did not know anything about the decree.
Nguyen Thi Tam, a wine producer at To Village in Hanoi’s Thanh Tri District which is famous for a handmade wine production process that dates back hundreds of years, said, “We just sell our products to local people, not for export, so it’s unnecessary to have a license. In a situation where the regulation is applied, who will be in charge of supervising the implementation?”
Even Pham Ngoc Lieu, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Trung Hoa Commune in Hanoi’s Chuong My District where is home to the famous wine village Chi Ne, also claimed ignorance over the decree in an interview with reporter on December 28. “I haven’t yet received any documents about the new regulation. I’ll have to ask some staff to check.”
Tran Van Thanh, Chairman of My An Ward in Danang City’s Ngu Hanh Son District, is also in the same situation, saying that both local authorities and rice wine producers were completely in the dark over the decree.
Many wine producers in the south west, including Long An and Tien Giang Province also remain ignorant.
Do Van Tep in An Vinh Ngai Commune, Long An Province, said he was entirely unaware of the regulation, despite his daughter working for the local commune authorities.Concern over the future
Nguyen Van Hanh, owner of a wine production establishment in Chi Ne Village, said “Decree 94 may kill the traditional wine industry because we never thought of registering a brand for a product which is only sold within a village.”
Another producer Nguyen Van Su in Voc Village in Ha Nam Province said, “We should develop a trademark for Vietnamese alcoholic products and I agree with Decree 94. However, the hasty implementation of decree would threaten the wine production sector.”
Van Village in Bac Giang Province’s Viet Yen District is famous for rice wine production. Nevertheless, to date, the village has only around ten households which have wine production licenses, while the remainder has not yet been licensed.
According to Huynh Hung, head of a residential area in Danang City’s Hoa Vang District, “It is very difficult to control small-scaled wine producers. They will hide their equipment when inspectors visit. In my opinion, it is better to supervise their wine production activities to force them conform to food safety, quality and fire prevention and control regulations instead of just banning them.”
