Enterprises are performing the identification of goods manufactured in Vietnam according to the principles of Decree 111/2021/ND-CP.

In a report sent to the National Assembly Standing Committee recently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade raised a series of problems and explained why up to now, after 5 years, it has not been able to issue regulations and conditions on what goods are manufactured in Vietnam or products of Vietnam with goods circulating in the country.

According to a report of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2018, it was found that there was no legal document stipulating specific criteria and conditions for enterprises to identify and display on goods and goods packaging as “products of Vietnam” or “made in Vietnam” for goods circulating in the domestic market, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has reported and proposed to the Prime Minister for permission to preside over the development of regulations “made in Vietnam”.

However, by 2019, when consulting ministries and branches about the content of the circular, there were policies that exceeded the authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has requested to change direction to develop a decree.

In 2021, the Government issued Decree 111/2021/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 43/2017/ND-CP on goods labels. Accordingly, the content on how to label goods is included in this document. That is, the policy content on how to label goods expected to be specified in the Decree "Made in Vietnam" has been included in Decree 111/2021/ND-CP.

Thus, the "made in Vietnam" regulation will only focus on providing a set of origin criteria to identify goods manufactured in Vietnam, which is the basis for labeling the goods' origin. The development of the document "made in Vietnam" at the decree level, according to the assessment of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, is no longer necessary.

At the same time, because this is a new and wide-ranging regulation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed to issue it at the circular level so that it can be more flexible when it is necessary to adjust the policy to suit the needs and impacts of reality.

In May 2022, the Government agreed to allow the Ministry of Industry and Trade to return to developing regulations at the circular level, instead of decrees. However, the matters regarding the issuing authority are "warped" with the functions and tasks of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also explained that the delay was due to the fact that the issuance of a circular with the content of regulations on the management of "made in Vietnam" goods would be stricter than the existing legal corridor for goods circulating in the country. On the basis of unclear and firm legal bases, there are many potential legal risks and negative reactions from businesses.

The ministry explained that, in theory, the provisions of the Circular only apply when traders have a need to label "made in Vietnam" their goods (This means that the goods that want to be labeled with this label will be adjusted). In case the goods are not stated as Vietnamese origin, they will not be affected by this policy.

However, according to Decree 111/2021/ND-CP, "origin of goods" is mandatory content on goods labels. Thus, except for goods originating from abroad, all goods manufactured in Vietnam will have to comply with regulations and criteria if the Circular "made in Vietnam" is issued. The scope of impact of the circular, if enacted, will be very large.

This agency also said that in fact, when the circular has not been issued yet, enterprises are still performing the identification of goods manufactured in Vietnam according to the principles of Decree 111/2021/ND-CP. Along with that, since 2018 after reporting on the development of production regulations in Vietnam, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has only received a number of documents from 16 businesses asking for guidance on determining whether goods are allowed to be labeled made in Vietnam or not. At the same time, after being guided to comply with the provisions of Decree 111/2021/ND-CP, these enterprises did not report any difficulties or obstacles in the implementation process.

In the context of a difficult economy, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that it is not appropriate to issue new regulations and conditions, potentially incurring compliance costs for businesses. This agency will work with the Ministry of Justice to study and handle problems related to the competence to issue circulars and consider promulgating this regulation according to its competence at an appropriate time to limit the impact on the production and business activities of enterprises.