Effective July 1, 2020

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has officially released Circular 10/2020/TT-BTTTT amending and supplementing Circular 30/2011/TT-BTTTT (together with Circular 15/2018/TT-BTTTT). Circular 10/2020/TT-BTTTT of Vietnam MIC has made some major changes in certification method for products and goods of “Group 2” under its management scope. The new circular shall be effective from July 01, 2020.

Circular 10/2020/TT-BTTTT:

1. MIC shall grant Type Approval Certificate to overseas manufacturers directly.  Previously, a local importer is the certificate holder. Now, oversea manufacturers hold the certificate and they can authorized multiple importers.)
2. Overseas manufacturers are allowed to signed the self-assessment declaration of conformity (DoC) which is needed for the Product Quality Inspection Registration (PQIR) process, and is also part of customs clearance process. In such case, the self-assessment DoC must be based on the test report which the overseas manufacturer is an application (test report holder).
3. In order to use Type Approval Certificate and Self-assessment DoC granted under name of overseas manufacturer(s), the local importer shall need to submit a “notification on list of product models, and importers allowed” to VNTA during PQIR process.
4. Conformity certification organizations can be VNTA or any other certification bodies who are designated by MIC Vietnam for certification activities.
5. New certification systems (methods) have been officially introduced, which now include three methods (previously only Type Approval System – Type 1B):

• Certification System 1: Certification based on typical sample testing, applicable for products manufactured by ISO 9001 certified factory(ies). Certificate granted under this system shall be valid for maximum 3 years.
• Certification System 5: Certification based on typical sample testing combined with factory inspection applicable for products manufactured by factory that has not obtained ISO 9001 certificate yet. Certificate granted under this system shall be valid for maximum 3 years but factory audit shall be required annually to maintain certificate validity.
• Certification System 7: Consignment approval (per-lot approval), applicable when System 1 or System 5 are not applicable. Certificate granted under this system shall be valid for a single import lot/consigment only.

6. Type Approval Certificate or Letter of Acceptance of Declaration of Conformity granted before enforcement date of this circular shall still be valid.