According to Circular No. 54/2024/TT-BGTVT
Recently, Vietnam has issued a series of new regulations, including changes in the process and procedures for certifying technical safety and quality for imported electric vehicles. The new regulations will officially take effect from January 1, 2025 and are expected to have an impact on businesses importing electric vehicles and electric vehicle parts.
1. Abolishing regulations on quality inspection of imported electric bicycles from January 1st, 2025.
Circular No. 54/2024/TT-BGTVT was issued, officially repeals Circular No. 41/2013/TT-BGTVT regulating the inspection of technical safety and quality of electric bicycles.
(According to Article 22.2 of Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT)
Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT only applies quality inspection to imported motor vehicles (cars, motorcycles, mopeds) and motor vehicle spare parts. Electric bicycles belong to the group of rudimentary vehicles, so they will not be subject to application.
(According to Article 6 of Circular 53/2024/TT-BGTVT)
Therefore, it is likely that electric bicycles to be imported will not be subject to quality inspection procedures from January 1, 2025 if there are no new regulations to replace the repealed Circular 41/2013/TT-BGTVT.
Read more: “Recommendations for Electric Bicycle Importing Businesses”
2. Procedures for importing electric motorcycles from January 1st, 2025
(According to Article 5 of Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT)
a. Dossier of registration for inspection:
- Test Registration Form
- Imported Vehicle Information Sheet
- Brochure introducing the manufacturer’s vehicle features and specifications
- Commercial invoice with list of goods
- Declaration of imported goods
- Safety Test Report;
- Power Consumption Registration Form
- Power Consumption Test Report
- Confirmation of the inspection plan
Thus, the new point of Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT is that imported electric motorcycles must be registered for electricity consumption and must be tested for electricity consumption.
b. Methods of quality inspection of imported vehicles
(i) Method of vehicle inspection, sample testing:
This method applies to:
- Models imported for the first time into Vietnam
- The model has been certified 36 months ago, the test sample will be randomly selected in the import shipment at the request of the importer but not earlier than 06 months before the end of the above 36-month period.
- The goods lot of the same type as the adjacent import goods lot was previously issued a notice of failure.
Inspection contents:
- Check the conformity between documents in the inspection registration dossier;
- Check the status of frame numbers and engine numbers of vehicles in the shipment and compare them with the list of frame numbers and engine numbers in the inspection registration dossier;
- Define the types that are included in the shipment. Select 01 random sample for each type to check and compare the model vehicle with the documents in the inspection registration dossier and for testing. The requirements for testing each type of motor vehicle are specified in Appendix IX issued together with this Circular;
- Inspect and re-evaluate the dossier after the importer supplements the safety test report and the exhaust gas test report.
(ii) Probabilistic inspection method
This method applies from the second shipment onwards, only checking documents and comparing them with model vehicles.
Inspection contents:
- Checking for conformance between documents in the application for inspection
- Check the status of frame numbers and engine numbers of vehicles in the shipment and compare them with the list of frame numbers and engine numbers in the inspection registration dossier;
- Determine the types of vehicles included in the shipment.
Select 01 random sample for each type and check and compare the model vehicle with the documents in the inspection registration dossier
(According to Articles 6 and 7 of Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT)
c. Notes on the inspection process:
(i) Cases of application rejection
- Documents in the registration dossier for inspection contain images or content that do not reflect the national sovereignty or contain other content that adversely affects the security, politics, economy, society, or diplomatic relations of Vietnam.
- The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is not declared in the registration dossier for inspection.
(ii) Cases where applications are deemed non-compliant
Vehicle Identification Number (‘VIN’)
- The vehicle’s VIN or engine number inspected does not match the registration dossier for inspection.
- The vehicle does not have a VIN.
- The vehicle’s VIN is partially or wholly unidentifiable.
- The vehicle’s VIN is affixed to a metal plate or other material attached to the vehicle’s frame using welding, riveting, or adhesive methods.
- The vehicle does not have a trademark.
- The VIN of the vehicle matches the VIN of a previously imported vehicle.
(iii) Other cases to note:
- Vehicles with illegible, altered, or tampered VINs require specialized forensic examination.
- If the documents in the dossier do not match the actual vehicle, the importer is allowed to supplement the dossier within 15 working days.
- At the request of the inspection authority, software provided by the manufacturer may be used for vehicle structure evaluation instead of physical testing.
- Test vehicles that have been run-in abroad must be certified by the manufacturer as unused.
- Imported vehicles damaged during transportation may be repaired or have unused spare parts of the same type replaced (applicable to body parts, glass, lights, relays, mirrors, wipers, batteries, tires, and windshields).
(According to Article 4 of Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT)
3. Publicize energy consumption, level energy before selling vehicles to the Vietnamese market
Motorcycles belonging to the group of means of transport are required to be labeled with energy.
(According to Article 1.4 of Decision No. 04/2017/QD-TTg)
Electric motorcycles must publicize their energy consumption and label them before they are sold to the market. Public information must match the certification and be posted on the importer’s website (if any).
Energy labels must be registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
(According to Article 15 of Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT)
4. Responsibilities of the importer
- Ensure that imported goods remain unchanged as required for the certification authority to carry out inspections.
- Ensure that imported goods remain unchanged as required for the certification authority to carry out inspections.
- Submit an annual report related to energy labeling, with the deadline for submission no later than December 31.
- Attach the chassis number and engine number plate to the back of the quality, technical safety, and environmental protection certificate of the imported vehicle, and seal the stamp for the purpose of online vehicle registration as per the regulations of the Minister of Public Security.
- Store import dossiers for at least 05 years from the time of stopping import of the type of goods. When destroying these documents, the importer must ensure that data can be retrieved for product recall.
(According to Article 19 of Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT)
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