Notifications for Viet Nam (119 notifications)

The draft Circular was developed to complete the legal framework for the management of aquatic breeds, aquatic feed, and environmental treatment products in aquaculture, while simultaneously implementing decentralization of power and levels and administrative procedure reform in line with the orientation of draft laws amending legislation in the agricultural and environmental sectors, decrees guiding the Law on Fisheries, and Prime Ministerial decisions on cutting and simplifying administrative procedures.Accordingly, the draft focuses on shortening the processing time for several key administrative procedures; specifically: the time for granting aquatic breed export licenses is reduced from ten days to seven days, while removing the requirement for Prime Ministerial approval and decentralizing authority to the Minister; the time for granting aquatic breed import licenses is reduced from five days to four days, with no requirement to resubmit certain digitized documents, and authority is decentralized to the Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees. Similarly, the procedure for aquatic feed import licenses is also shortened from five days to four days and decentralized to the Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees.In addition, the draft reviews and amends regulations to align with the two-level local government model, unifying terminology and authority as per National Assembly resolutions and Government decrees on state apparatus reorganization. The draft also supplements and updates specialized management lists, including the List of aquatic species allowed for trading in Viet Nam, the List of aquatic species banned from export, and the List of aquatic species for conditional export; it adds regulations on naming aquatic breeds and specifies cases for the re-issuance of licenses for certain procedures.Furthermore, the draft addresses practical obstacles arising from management practice, such as adding information on aquatic breeds, updating the list of endangered, precious, and rare aquatic species of legal origin, and the list of chemicals, biological products, microorganisms, and raw materials for aquatic feed production allowed for use, thereby creating favorable conditions for fishery production and business while ensuring strict management and sustainable fishery development.

The Circular amending and supplementing some articles of the Circulars regulating the management of veterinary drugs was developed with the goal of reducing and simplifying administrative procedures related to the production and business of veterinary drugs and raw materials, creating favorable conditions for businesses to simplify documentation, save costs, and shorten the time for administrative procedures.

The draft Circular is developed to streamline and simplify administrative procedures, resolve practical bottlenecks, and enhance the validity and efficiency of state management regarding risk assessment and licensing for the import of live aquatic products, in alignment with the administrative reform policy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.Accordingly, the Draft focuses on shortening the processing time for administrative procedures: the timeframe for issuing or reissuing live aquatic product import permits is reduced from 35 to 30 days for cases requiring risk assessment, and from 12 to nine days for cases not requiring risk assessment; notably, the timeframe for reissuing permits is significantly reduced from five days to two days. Furthermore, the Draft amends application requirements to promote electronic submissions, permitting the use of scanned copies of original documents to reduce costs for organizations and individuals, and waiving the requirement for certain documents if they are accessible via specialized databases.In addition, the Draft addresses several inadequacies arising from practical management. This includes standardizing the nomenclature of regulatory bodies in accordance with the new organizational model (replacing the "General Department of Fisheries" with the "Fisheries and Fisheries Inspection Department"; and the "Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development" with the "Ministry of Agriculture and Environment"). It also replaces all forms issued under Circular No. 25/2018/TT-BNNPTNT to ensure consistency and ease of implementation.Moreover, the Draft amends and supplements certain provisions of Circular No. 01/2022/TT-BNNPTNT, such as expanding the scope of adjustments on permits, introducing hybrid (in-person and online) council meetings, and repealing obsolete regulations. These changes aim to facilitate the importation of live aquatic products and promote the sustainable development of the fisheries sector.

This Decree details the implementation of:- Clause 5a Article 13 of the Law on Plant Protection and Quarantine regarding the import of plants with soil-attached root balls, as amended and supplemented under Clause 2 Article 2 of the Law on Amending and Supplementing Certain Articles of 15 Laws in the Fields of Agriculture and Environment;- Article 64 of the Law on Crop Production regarding production unit codes (PUCs) and packing house codes (PHCs), as amended and supplemented under Clause 5 Article 15 of the Law on Amending and Supplementing Certain Articles of 15 Laws in the Fields of Agriculture and Environment.

This draft Decree includes the following key updates:- Clarifies the definition of "products of genetically modified organisms" as products derived from GMOs that contain genetic material or proteins resulting from the modified gene;- Defines "Genetic technology" as the application of molecular biology to directly intervene in the genetic material of organisms, including gene editing techniques and genetic recombination techniques;- Defines "Gene-edited organism" as an organism whose genetic material has been modified through gene-editing techniques and does not contain new genetic material from another species or from synthetic sources that are not equivalent in composition and structure to that of the species;- Article 3a is added to establish a clear basis for distinguishing between genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and gene-edited organisms (GEs) for biosafety management. GMOs continue to be subject to existing risk assessment and risk management procedures under Decree No. 69/2010/ND-CP. GEs are managed in accordance with existing regulations on production and business, with organizations and individuals responsible for determining and publicly declaring classification results, reporting to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, and maintaining relevant documentation for 10 years from the date of declaration. The amendment aims to clarify classification criteria, ensure consistency with current legislation, simplify administrative procedures, and strengthen accountability in biosafety management.

This Draft Circular will fully replace the following legal instruments:Circular No. 26/2016/TT-BNNPTNT dated 30 June 2016;Circular No. 36/2018/TT-BNNPTNT dated 25 December 2018;Circular No. 06/2022/TT-BNNPTNT dated 28 July 2022;Circular No. 09/2025/TT-BNNMT dated 19 June 2025.Additionally, it will annul Article 23 of Circular No. 09/2025/TT-BNNMT dated 19 June 2025.

This Draft Circular is promulgating the List of permitted plant protection products and List of banned plant protection products in Viet Nam in 2025. Circular including three parts: Circular, Annex 1 (List of permitted plant protection products in Viet Nam) and Annex 2 (List of banned plant protection products in Viet Nam).This Circular adds 16 new plant protection active ingredients (Ivermectin, Capsaicin, Streptomyces misionensisBacillus siamensis, Fluopimomide, Allicin, Dicloran, Cupric nonyl phenolsulfonate, Florylpicoxamid, Pyrisoxazole, Imazalil, Saflufenacil, Fluroxypyr, Cholecalciferol, S-Abscisic acid, Flumetralin) to Annex 1 at the request of pesticide registration organizations or individuals in 2025. In addition, this Circular includes several new plant protection products containing existing active ingredients and mixtures that are already included in the list.

This Draft Circular will fully replace the following legal instruments:Circular No. 25/2016/TT-BNNPTNT dated 30 June 2016;Circular No. 35/2018/TT-BNNPTNT dated 25 December 2018;Circular No. 09/2022/TT-BNNPTNT dated 19 August 2022;Circular No. 04/2024/TT-BNNPTNT dated 1 April 2024;Circular No. 28/2025/TT-BNNMT dated 24 June 2025.Additionally, it will annul Article 22 of Circular No. 09/2025/TT-BNNMT dated 19 June 2025.

1. This Law provides regulations on:a) The rights and obligations of organizations and individuals in ensuring food quality and safety; b) Conditions for ensuring the quality and safety of food, food ingredients, food additives, and food processing aids;c) Conditions for business establishments; import and export; testing;d) Risk analysis, prevention, control, and remediation of incidents;e) Information, education, and communication;f) Responsibilities of state management for food safety, food ingredients, food additives, and food processing aids.2. Structure:The Draft Law consists of 51 Articles divided into 11 Chapters, with the following main contents:- Chapter I. General Provisions (Articles 1 to 6)- Chapter II. Rights and Obligations of Organizations and Individuals to Ensure Food Safety Conditions (Articles 7 to 10)- Chapter III. Conditions for Ensuring the Safety and Quality of Food and Food Ingredients (Articles 11 to 16)- Chapter IV. Conditions for Food and Food Ingredient Business Establishments (Articles 17 to 21)- Chapter V. Import and Export of Food and Food Ingredients (Articles 22 to 25)- Chapter VI. Advertisement and Labelling of Food, Food Ingredients, Food Additives, and Food Processing Aids (Articles 26 to 27)- Chapter VII. Testing of Food, Food Ingredients, Food Additives, and Food Processing Aids (Articles 28 to 30)- Chapter VIII. Risk Analysis and Management for Food, Food Ingredients, Food Additives, and Food Processing Aids (Articles 31 to 38)- Chapter IX. Information, Education, and Communication on Food (Articles 39 to 43)- Chapter X. State Management of Food Safety (Articles 44 to 49)- Chapter XI. Implementation Provisions (Articles 50 to 51)3. Key Changes:- Amend and supplement certain terminologies: health-protective food, medical nutrition food, food for special dietary purposes, food supplements, micronutrient-enhanced food, small-scale food business establishments, food ingredients, semi-finished food products, counterfeit food, testing, and trials;- Amend and supplement certain policies in line with practical realities: establish a national food database interconnected with the national and specialized databases; develop a food information system; and strengthen the management of e-commerce, traceability, and food control;- Add several strictly prohibited practices regarding advertising and conducting business in the e-commerce environment;- Amend and supplement the specific monetary penalties for administrative violations;- Clarify the rights and responsibilities of production and business establishments, and add the rights and responsibilities for entities registered for circulation;- Conditions for ensuring the safety and quality of food and food ingredients;- Conditions for establishments engaged in the business of food and food ingredients;- Conditions for ensuring the safety of imported and exported food and food ingredients;- Advertising and labelling of food;- Testing of food, food ingredients, food additives, and food processing aids;- State management of food: establish and amend the responsibilities for food safety inspections in accordance with the framework law; specifically define the responsibilities of the ministries; remove provisions regarding the powers and duties of food regulatory bodies and assign the government to stipulate the specific responsibilities of food safety management agencies; clearly define the tasks and powers of inspection teams and add provisions on the principles, forms, and timeframes of food quality and safety inspections; and add provisions on handling overlaps in food quality and safety inspections.

Viet Nam notified to update the new version of the Draft. The updated contents focus on: 1. The contents related to Administrative Procedure Reform as requirement of the Government: a) Remove certain cases from state inspection requirements for imported food safety (Products already granted a Certificate of Product Declaration Registration; imported products and ingredients used solely for internal production); b) Reduce and simplify certain administrative procedures and requirements for designating food testing laboratories:Reduce/simplify the requirement to submit a business registration certificate aligned with the product type in dossiers for certifying food safety-eligible establishments;Abolish one procedure regarding exemption from regular monitoring of testing facilities;Cut down and simplify 4 of 9 documents required in the dossier for testing facility designation serving state management: 1. Establishment decision or business registration certificate; 2. List and profile of main equipment and infrastructure (aligned with the capacity report); 3. List and profile of testing personnel with certified copies of relevant qualifications; 4. Testing results for the registered field in the last 12 months;c) Ministries (Health, Agriculture & Environment, Industry & Trade, and Finance) and Provincial People's Committees are responsible for developing online public service systems to process administrative procedures and manage food safety consistently from central to local levels, ensuring data sharing with the National Public Service Portal.  2. The contents related to other amendments and supplements:  Supplementing regulations to enhance food safety management and increase accountability among ministries, agencies, organizations, and individuals in ensuring food safety and performing administrative procedures:  - Strengthen management of self-declared products; - Enhance oversight of product registration declarations; - Improve standards for facilities producing medical nutrition foods, foods for special dietary use, nutritional products for children under 36 months, and food supplements; - Supplementing post-marketing surveillance regulations based on US standards; - Enforce stricter food safety law compliance by:     - Revoking administrative procedure outcomes;    - Suspending receipt and processing of product declaration dossiers in case of violations; - Introduce re-registration requirements for product declarations issued before the effective date of the Decree; - Regulations to strengthen advertising management, including additional regulations on strengthening the responsibilities of parties participating in advertising; - Supplementing regulations on transferring domestic consumption or changing the purpose of use for food products; - Specify specific responsibilities of a number of relevant ministries and the Provincial People's Committee in food safety management to proactively manage and prevent businesses from abusing the production of fake products and falsifying test certificates; trading and advertising on e-commerce platforms and social platforms; controlling prices of functional foods and milk for children under 6 years old according to the Law on Prices. The emergency measures are based on the following information: (1) Telegram No. 40/CD-TTg dated 17 April 2025 of the Prime Minister: On handling the case of manufacturing and distributing fake milk; (2) Telegram No. 41/CD-TTg dated 17 April 2025 of the Prime Minister: On handling the case of manufacturing and trading in counterfeit medicines and health protection foods; (3) Telegram No. 55/CD-TTg dated 2 May 2025 of the Prime Minister on strengthening coordination and strictly handling organizations and individuals involved in manufacturing and trading in counterfeit medicines, fake milk and fake health protection foods; (4) Telegram No. 65/CD-TTg dated 15 May 2025 of the Prime Minister on launching a peak period to fight against and repel smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods and infringement of intellectual property rights; (5) Telegram No. 72/CD-TTg dated 24 May 2025 of the Prime Minister on continuing to promote the peak of the fight to prevent and repel smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and infringement of intellectual property rights. Relevant documents: - Viet Nam's Law of Food Safety 55/2010/QH12 - Decree 15/2018/NĐ-CP dated 2 February 2018

1) From 1 July 2025, Viet Nam will officially use new formats of the Phytosanitary Certificate for export and the Phytosanitary Certificate for re-export. These new formats remain consistent with the IPPC standard format and comply with the provisions of ISPM 12, with the change concerning the name of the competent authority and the official logo, as follows:- The name of the competent authority has been changed from Plant Protection Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to Plant Production and Protection Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment- Logo and the Financial liability statement, the name of the competent authority have also been changed to Plant Production and Protection Department.2) The Phytosanitary Certificates in the old format certificated before 1 July 2025 are valid. We kindly request the support of importing NPPOs in accepting these certificates for the clearance of consignments upon arrival.3) Specimens of the new formats of Phytosanitary Certificate for export and for re-export are attached in the PDF file.

The Draft Circular amended and supplemented clause 1, section II, Appendix XII of Circular No. 25/2016/TT-BNNPTNT dated 30 June 2016 by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development regulating the quarantine of terrestrial animals and terrestrial animal products (Sampling and Testing).For the indicators of SalmonellaE.coli, sampling is performed at the following frequency: Sampling three consecutive consignments of goods (from the same owner and the same country, territory) for inspection and testing. If the inspection and testing results of three consecutive consignments of goods meet the requirements, only one random consignment of goods shall be sampled for inspection and testing for every three subsequent consignment of goods. In case an unsatisfactory consignment is detected, sampling of the next three consecutive consignments of goods shall be applied for inspection and testing (Inspection indicators: Salmonella, E.coli, detailproduct type in item c) of Clause 1, section II, Appendix XII).

This draft amends some articles of Decree No 15/2018/NĐ-CP dated 2 February 2018 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Food Safety Law:I. Administrative procedure reform1. Eliminating the regulation on translating and notarizing English legal documents after consular legalization and acceptance of electronic copies of legal documents;2. Allowing the use of the Testing Result for health supplement of production facilities that meet Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) without having to send samples for testing at designated testing laboratories or recognized testing laboratories;3. Stipulating the number of times enterprises can submit additional request documents (maximum three times) and the time limit for enterprises to submit additional request documents (30 days) for the sequence of food groups that must register product declarations according to the recommendation of the Government Inspectorate;4. Adding regulation on importing food donated by organizations and individuals for charity purposes, not for business purposes, in the direction of simplifying the process and procedures compared to the case of food business;5. Supplementing regulations assigning ministries to develop unified management software from central to local levels to handle administrative procedures and manage food safety according to assigned management areas;6. Adding regulation on product declaration registration for mixed food additives with new uses, food additives not on the list of additives permitted for use in food or not for the right users as prescribed by the Ministry of Health;7. Reducing and simplifying some administrative procedures:Simplifying procedures for registration of advertising confirmation, issuance of Certificate of food safety qualified facilities;Adding one procedure on exemption from periodic inspection and supervision of testing facilities;Simplifying requirements on registration dossiers for designating testing facilities currently regulated in Joint Circular 20/2013/TTLT-BYT-BCT-BNNPTNT stipulating conditions, procedures for designating food testing facilities for state management.II. Strengthening decentralization and delegation of authorityDecentralizing granting Certificates of Free Sale for food products, except health supplement; Health Certificate and other relevant certificates for exported foods to local authorities.III. Strengthening post-inspection1. Regulations on only the manufacturing facility or product owner being allowed to be named in the declaration dossier. In case it is not the above two entities, the organization or individual responsible for bringing the product to the market must have a letter of authorization from the manufacturing facility or product owner;2. Controlling changes to products after announcement: adding cases where re-announcement is required if there is a change in the organization or individual responsible for bringing the product to the market; manufacturing facility, origin; product name; ingredients; uses, subjects; dosage; concentration, content, volume of ingredients that create the product's uses, dosage form; quality and safety indicators;3. Adding provisions on the withdrawal and suspension of the acceptance of the Certificate of registration of product declaration, Certificate of confirmation of food advertising content, withdrawal of the Certificate of food safety qualified facility, in which specific provisions are made on the cases of withdrawal and the authority to withdraw;4. Organizations and individuals responsible for bringing products to market must keep records as prescribed in Point g, Clause 2, Article 7 and Point d, Clause 1, Article 19 of the Food Safety Law and in accordance with the provisions of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for health protection foods, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system, ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System, International Food Standards (IFS), Global Food Safety Standards (BRC), Food Safety System Certification (FSSC 22000) or equivalent if they apply and are certified for this system to serve inspection and examination work and present it when requested by competent inspection and examination agencies;5. Requiring organizations and individuals to provide Standards including testing methods for safety indicators and quality indicators of the product in the registration dossier of the declaration so that the dossier receiving agency can provide them to public testing units to deploy sampling for monitoring on the market;6. Adding regulations on Food Testing for State Management (including conditions for food testing facilities for State Management and verification testing facilities; registration dossier for designating testing facilities; procedures for designation and cases of recall.IV. Implement the recommendations of Ministries, including the Government Inspectorate1. Adding and clarify the concept of functional foods introduced to the market for the first time;2. Amending and adding the concept of scientific evidence proving the product's uses.V. Some other contents1. Amending and adding the concept of dietary supplements to control the features and uses of this product;2. Regarding self-declaration procedures for food products: clearly stipulate the responsibilities of the competent state management agency designated by the Provincial People's Committee to post the self-declaration dossier on the unit's electronic information page within seven days from the date of receiving the dossier; At the same time, the records must be reviewed within three months after the organization or individual self-declares (regarding product classification, uses, users, ingredients) to ensure that the product is declared correctly in nature and in accordance with regulations.

Circular promulgates the amendments and additions to the List of permitted plant protection products and the List of banned plant protection products in Viet Nam published in 2024.Circular including three parts: Circular, Annex 1 (List of plant protection products with changed information related to the trade name and the registrants) and Annex 2 (List of additional products to the List of permitted plant protection products in Viet Nam).This Circular adds several new plant protection products and changes information to Annex 1 at the request of pesticide register organizations or individuals in 2025.

Modification of the attached file.

The regulation on inspection and control of albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) originating from catches that are imported, temporarily imported, re-exported and transited through Vietnam by container vessels.The regulation shall apply to Vietnamese organizations and individuals related to the import of Albacore Tuna and Albacore Tuna products by container vessels

The draft QCVN 8-1:2025/BYT replaces QCVN 8-1:2011/BYT National technical regulation on limits of mycotoxin contamination in food. This draft National technical regulation stipulates technical requirements (Maximum permitted limits on the limits of mycotoxin contamination in food), testing methods, sampling; management requirements; and responsibilities of organizations and individuals producing and trading food. The reference basis for reviewing and amending the regulations on mycotoxin limits in the draft QCVN is based on the provisions of the Codex General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food (CODEX STAN 193-1995) updated in 2023 and EC Standard 2023/915 dated 25 April 2023 on maximum limits of certain contaminants in food replacing Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006, latest version dated 22 July 2024 and referring to other regulations on mycotoxin contamination limits in food that vary between countries around the world as follows:EC Standard 2023/915 dated 25 April 2023 on maximum limits for certain contaminants in food replaces Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006, the latest update dated 22 July 2024, which has changed the maximum limits for some indicators and added regulations for some food groups, such as: adding and changing the limits of Aflatoxin M1, Ocharatoxin A, Zearalenone for some product groups; adding exclusions for the group of formula products for children aged 6-36 months; Additional limits for Ergot sclerotia and ergot alkaloids, T-2 and HT-2;The Codex general standard for contaminants and toxins in food (CODEX STAN 193-1995) 2023 update has added regulations for some product groups and maximum contamination limits for some indicators different from EU regulations.This draft National technical regulation update testing methods: The testing methods stated in the National Technical Regulation QCVN 8-1:2011/BYT are all AOAC methods. However, the Ministry of Science and Technology has currently issued 24 Vietnamese Standards (TCVN) on testing methods for mycotoxins (with appendices attached). Referencing and citing TCVNs in QCVN will create more favourable conditions for organizations and individuals in assessing the conformity of mycotoxin indicators with current regulations. TCVNs on testing methods for mycotoxins referred to in QCVN need to be assessed and confirmed for the validity of the testing method to be suitable for the equipment and technical capacity of testing laboratories.This regulation applies to a) Organizations and individuals importing, producing and trading food products at risk of mycotoxin contamination; b) Relevant organizations and individuals.

Circular promulgating the List of permitted plant protection products and the List of banned plant protection products in Viet Nam in 2024. Circular including:- Three parts: Circular, Annex 1 (List of permitted plant protection products in Viet Nam) and Annex 2 (List of banned plant protection products in Viet Nam);- Adding plant protection products to Annex 1 at the request of pesticide register organizations or individuals in 2024.

Draft Circular promulgates the List of veterinary drugs authorized for marketing and the List of banned veterinary drugs in Viet Nam, which replaces Circular No. 10/2016/TT-BNNPTNT dated 1 June 2016. The amendments are as follows:a) Appendix I: updates the List of veterinary drugs authorized for marketing in Viet Nam until now.b) Appendix II: amends the List of banned veterinary drugs in Viet Nam for aquatic and terrestrial animals:-  As in the List of banned veterinary drugs in Viet Nam in aquaculture:+  Changes "Nitrofuran (includes Furazolidone)" to "Nitrofuran and its metabolites (Furazolidone, Furaltadone, Nitrofurantoin, Nitrofurazone, Nifursol)+  Adds Leucomalachite Green.- As in the List of banned veterinary drugs in Viet Nam for terrestrial animals:+  Removes Ciprofloxacin+  Adds Leucomalachite Green+  Changes the active substance group "Furazolidon and derivatives of Nitrofuran (Nitrofuran, Furacillin, Nitrofurazon, Furacin, Nitrofurantoin, Furoxon, Orafuran, Furadonin, Furadantin, Furaltadon, Payzone, Furazolin, Nitrofurmethon, Nitrofuridin, Nitrovin)" to "Nitrofuran and its metabolites (Furazolidone, Furaltadone, Nitrofurantoin, Nitrofurazone, Nifursol)+ Removes alternative names of Chloramphenicol, Dimetridazole, Metronidazole and Dipterex.

This addendum concerns the withdrawal of the previously notified draft regulation.