On August 13, 2026, the National Authority for Standards, Metrology and Quality issued Official Letter No. 3105/TĐC-HCHQ, providing important guidance on conformity certification declaration procedures for companies importing materials classified as medium-risk goods for production and processing purposes, including:
1. Import of medium-risk goods used as materials for export production, research or testing: no conformity certification declaration is required yet
According to Official Letter No. 3105, if imported goods classified as medium-risk goods are used solely for one of the following purposes—and are in fact not put into circulation on the Vietnamese market—the enterprise is not yet required to make a conformity certification declaration:
- Research, development, testing, or internal use within the enterprise;
- Used as raw materials or materials for manufacturing products for export.
Important note: This does not mean that the goods are “exempt from conformity certification declaration.” Rather, the obligation to make a conformity certification declaration has not yet arisen, because the goods have not been put into circulation on the market. Once the enterprise puts the goods into circulation for purposes other than the original intended purposes, the obligation to make a conformity certification declaration will arise again.
Accordingly, the enterprise is responsible for:
- Ensuring that the goods are used for the stated purposes (export production, research, testing, or internal use);
- Not putting the goods into circulation on the Vietnamese market;
- Maintaining complete records and documents proving the intended purpose of use for inspection and post-inspection purposes when requested by the competent authority.
2. Why is this the case? Correct understanding of “circulation on the market”
Under the current regulations, imported medium-risk goods are not subject to quality inspection, but a conformity certification declaration must be made before the goods are put into circulation on the market. Therefore, what does “circulation on the market” mean?
According to Article 3 of Decree No. 37/2026/ND-CP*: “Circulation means all activities of placing products and goods on the market, including display, promotion, transportation, storage, keeping, and purchase and sale of products and goods; excluding the transportation of imported goods from the border gate to the first storage warehouse and storage at such warehouse.”
Official Letter No. 3105 clarifies that transportation, storage and keeping activities should be considered as part of the overall process of putting products onto the market. If an enterprise only carries out these activities internally—for example, transporting raw materials to a warehouse for production purposes—such activities are not considered “circulation on the market,” and therefore the obligation to make a conformity certification declaration has not yet arisen.
3. No need to make another conformity certification declaration for the same product in subsequent shipments
The Official Letter also refers to Clause 5, Article 86 of Decree No. 37/2026/ND-CP regarding cases where a conformity certification declaration does not need to be made again.
Accordingly, if imported medium-risk goods have already been subject to a conformity certification declaration for a previous shipment, a subsequent imported shipment does not need to be declared again if the following are the same:
Name, intended use, brand, model/type, technical specifications, manufacturing establishment, and origin.
This is a mechanism under which a subsequent declaration is not required, which is different from a case where the goods are exempt from the conformity certification declaration requirement from the outset.
(Official Letter No. 3105/TĐC-HCHQ dated August 13, 2026)
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