Under-grade cement, wrong-spec steel, underfired bricks — substandard materials entering the works delay progress and endanger structural safety. Upon discovery, investors and contractors hold a full legal toolkit to force the supplier to replace, pay penalties and compensate losses.
1. Discovery and evidence: speed wins
At the first suspicion, stop using the batch, segregate and seal samples; commission an independent assessor to test quality against the contractually agreed standards; draw up a site record signed by the parties (invite the supplier to witness — note any refusal in the record). Every delay lets the supplier argue "the goods were swapped" or "damaged in storage".
2. Buyer’s rights under the law
Under the Civil Code 2015 on sale of goods and the Commercial Law 2005, the buyer may demand: replacement of substandard goods; a price reduction if accepted as-is; cancellation for the breaching batch; contractual penalties at the agreed rate; and damages — demolition of work already built with bad materials, replacement-material cost uplift, delay losses, and worst case, structural remediation costs. The prerequisite: the contract must specify clear quality standards (grades, TCVN standards, CO/CQ certificates).
3. When the supplier won’t cooperate
Send a formal written complaint stating the breach, demands and deadline; on default, take the dispute to arbitration or court per the contract. In parallel, if bad materials have already compromised structural safety, notify construction authorities at once and stop the affected works — building on knowingly makes you the at-fault party. Where the supplier deliberately defrauded (forged CO/CQ, mixed-in inferior goods), report customer deception or counterfeit-goods offences for criminal consideration.
4. Prevention: tight inbound control
Material contracts must state technical standards and per-batch CO/CQ requirements; reserve the right to inspect and test before acceptance and to reject non-conforming goods; for critical materials (steel, cement, concrete), run periodic independent testing instead of trusting supplier paperwork alone. Testing always costs less than demolish-and-rebuild.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council
Frequently Asked Questions
What if substandard materials are already partly built in?
Stop the affected works immediately and assess the impact; built-in bad materials must be demolished and redone — at the supplier’s expense via damages.
The supplier blames our storage — who proves what?
Whoever alleges proves: assessment determines the cause (inherent defect vs storage); hence immediate segregation and sealing of samples is crucial.
Can penalties and damages apply together?
Yes. Penalties and damages are independent remedies under the Commercial Law 2005 and Civil Code 2015, applicable concurrently unless the contract excludes it.
What are the complaint and limitation deadlines?
Complaints follow the (usually very short) contractual deadline — act at once; damages claims prescribe in 3 years under Art. 429 of the Civil Code 2015.