Regulations on stamping import and export goods

GOVERNMENT DECREE ON STAMPS AND LABELS OF GOODS

DECREE ON GOODS LABELS

On April 14, 2017, the Government issued Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP Regarding goods labels, it is stipulated that organizations and individuals producing and trading goods in Vietnam or importing goods must label the goods, except for some goods such as:

Real estate; Luggage of people leaving or entering the country, movable property; Goods are fresh, raw food, processed food without packaging and sold directly to users; Used goods; Exported goods are not consumed domestically; Goods are fuel, raw materials, construction materials, scrap without packaging and sold directly to consumers...

In particular, product labels are required to display the following contents:

• Goods name;
• Name and address of the organization or individual responsible for the goods;
• Origin of goods and other contents according to the nature of each type of goods. Specifically, for food groups, product labels are required to have quantity, production date, expiry date, and warning information (if any); For wine, there must be quantity, ethanol content, expiration date (if any), storage instructions (for wine), warning information (if any), lot identification code (if any); For cigarettes, mandatory information on the label includes quantity, date of manufacture, warning information, expiration date and codes, barcodes...

This Decree takes effect from June 1, 2017. Decree No. 89/2006/ND-CP August 30, 2006 of the Government on goods labels expires from the effective date of this Decree.

Applicable subjects

This Decree applies to organizations and individuals producing and trading goods in Vietnam; Organizations and individuals importing goods; state agencies; relevant organizations and individuals.

Article 3. Explanation of words

In this Decree, the following terms are understood as follows:

• A goods label is a written, printed, drawn, photocopy of words, drawings, or images that are pasted, printed, attached, molded, engraved, or engraved directly on the goods, the commercial packaging of the goods, or on Other materials attached to goods and commercial packaging of goods;
• Original label of goods is the label shown for the first time by the organization or individual producing the goods attached to the goods or commercial packaging of the goods;
• Secondary label is a label showing mandatory contents translated from the original label of the goods in a foreign language into Vietnamese and supplemented with mandatory contents in Vietnamese according to the provisions of Vietnamese law that the original label of the goods "Expiry date" or "expiration date" is the period of use assigned to goods or a batch of goods after which time the goods no longer fully retain their inherent quality characteristics. It.
• The shelf life of goods is expressed as the period of time from the date of manufacture to the expiration date or expressed in days, months, and years of expiration. In case the expiration date only shows the month and year, the expiration date is calculated until the last day of the expiration month;
• Warning information is information to note to ensure safety for health, property and the environment during transportation, storage, preservation and use;
• Technical specifications include technical criteria that determine the value of use or affect the safety and health of users, the environment, and the process specified in the product's standards or technical regulations. that goods.

Article 4. Product label location

• The goods label must be displayed on the goods and commercial packaging of the goods in a position where the required contents of the label can be easily identified and fully recognized without having to disassemble the details. parts of the goods.
• In case the outer packaging cannot or cannot be opened, the outer packaging must have a label and the label must fully present the required content.

Article 5. The size of the goods, the size of the letters and numbers on the label

Organizations and individuals responsible for labeling goods determine the size of the goods label and the size of letters and numbers shown on the goods label but must ensure the following requirements:

The size of letters and numbers must be large enough to be read with the naked eye and meet the following requirements:

1. a) The size of letters and numbers representing measurement quantities must comply with the law on measurement;
2. b) In case the goods are food, food additives, pre-packaged food processing aids, the letter height of the mandatory contents on the label must not be lower than 1.2 mm. In cases where one side of the package used for labeling (excluding the border) is less than 80 cm2, the letter height must not be lower than 0.9 mm.

Article 6. Colors of letters, symbols and images on product labels

• The colors of letters, numbers, drawings, images, signs and symbols on the product label must be clear. For mandatory content according to regulations, letters and numbers must have a color that contrasts with the background color of the product label.

The 7th rule. Language for presenting product labels

For goods produced and circulated domestically, the content shown on the label may be written in another language. Content recorded in other languages must correspond to Vietnamese content. The font size written in another language must not be larger than the font size of the content written in Vietnamese.

Goods imported into Vietnam that do not show or do not show enough mandatory content in Vietnamese must have an additional label showing mandatory content in Vietnamese and keep the original label of the goods intact. The content written in Vietnamese must correspond to the content written on the original label.

The following contents are allowed to be written in other languages with Latin roots:

• a) International name or scientific name of the drug for human use in case there is no Vietnamese name;
• b) International name or scientific name with chemical formula and structural formula of chemicals, pharmaceutical substances, excipients, and drug ingredients;
• c) International name or scientific name of the ingredient or quantitative ingredient of the goods in case it cannot be translated into Vietnamese or can be translated into Vietnamese but does not make sense;
• d) Name and address of foreign enterprise related to goods production.

Article 8. Secondary labeling

1. Secondary labels used for imported goods according to regulations in Clause 3 Article 7 of this Decree.
2. Secondary labels are used for goods that cannot be exported or are returned or circulated on the market.
3. Secondary labels must be attached to the goods or their commercial packaging and must not obscure the mandatory contents of the original label.
4. The content written on the secondary label is the original translation into Vietnamese from the mandatory content written on the original label and supplemented with other missing mandatory content according to the nature of the goods as prescribed in this Decree. Organizations and individuals labeling must be responsible for the accuracy and truthfulness of the recorded content. The content recorded on the secondary label, including additional content, must not misunderstand the content on the original label and must accurately reflect the nature and origin of the goods.

For goods that cannot be exported or are returned and circulated on the market, the secondary label must have the bold words "Made in Vietnam".

5. The following goods do not require additional labeling:
6. a) Components imported to replace damaged components in the goods warranty service of the organization or individual responsible for those goods, not sold on the market;
7. b) Raw materials, food additives, food processing aids, components imported for production, not sold on the market.

Article 9. Responsibility for labeling goods

1. Organizations and individuals responsible for labeling goods, including additional labels, must ensure that the labeling is truthful, clear, accurate, and reflects the true nature of the goods.
2. For goods produced for domestic circulation, the producing organization or individual must be responsible for labeling the goods.

In cases where an organization or individual responsible for labeling goods requests another organization or individual to carry out the labeling, that organization or individual is still responsible for their own product labels.

3. In cases where exported goods cannot be exported or are returned or put into circulation on the market, the organization or individual that puts the goods into circulation must label them according to the provisions of this Decree.
4. For goods imported into Vietnam whose original labels do not comply with the provisions of this Decree, importing organizations and individuals must add additional labels according to the provisions of this Decree. Clause 3, Article 7 and Clauses 3 and 4, Article 8 of this Decree when put into circulation and must keep the original label.