Vietnamese consumers are losing their faith in many crash helmets, as the Conformity with Regulation stamps which supposedly guarantee that the products are appropriately manufactured and thus safe for use can be easily printed by anyone without regulatory supervision.

“Even helmets with Conformity with Regulation (CR) stamps are unlikely to meet required standards,” Dr. Cris Tunon, a World Health Organization (WHO) representative, told a meeting held by the Market Management Department to discuss measures to fight fake and substandard helmets last week.

WHO experts purchased many kinds of helmets listed as meeting required standards in four northern localities and had them tested at state-recognized laboratories. The tests found that 54 percent of the helmets did not meet the shock absorption standard, according to Dr. Tunon.

“The WHO warning and the test results have worried consumers as now they do not know what to look for when choosing the products that are crucial in protecting their lives,” commented Ngoc Bich Phong, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Consumer Rights Protection Association.

Many helmet manufacturers are in fact printing CR stamps on their own with all of the information required by the market management watchdog.

“The stamps can be considered authentic, but the information displayed on them is fake,” a market management officer said.

Easy to print

It is very easy to obtain a collection of CR stamps as all of the printing facilities in the city’s “printing quarter” on Ly Thai To Street are willing to make them without asking customers for their quality certificates.

On May 5, the HCMC market management agency busted an unlicensed helmet making facility in Tan Phu District.

The facility had not obtained any product quality certificates, but it had still placed CR stamps on all of its products, according to officers.

The stamps are appropriately printed with all necessary information such as a product code, manufacturer, manual, and the company address, which is Le Su Street, Ward 23, District 12, they said.

“But the address is fake because District 12 only has 11 wards, and there is no street called Le Su there,” an officer said.

It’s even easier to get the quality certificates from the quality assurance and testing centers, helmet makers revealed.

“Helmet manufacturers must file their applications along with product samples for testing in order to obtain the certificates,” a representative of a helmet producer said.

“So the businesses only have to send the high-quality samples to pass the tests. Once they receive the certificates, they can make the products at whatever quality they want,” he said.

The helmet manufacturers have another trick to get the certificates which they say is much simpler and safer.

They will buy products from a respectable company that have passed quality tests, altering their designs and stamps, and have them undergo tests again, they said.