The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoIT) is drafting a decree relating to the origin of items produced or manufactured in Vietnam in an effort to protect the interests of domestic consumers and combat trade fraud. 

The common label "Made in Vietnam" will no longer exist after a new decree
on product labelling is approved. (Illustrative image)

According to the MoIT, many local businesses have deceived consumers by importing spare parts to assemble a product locally and then labelling it as a “Vietnamese product”, “Country of origin: Vietnam”, or “Made in Vietnam”. Many even go so far as to label it as a “high-quality product”.

The MoIT has stated that Vietnam has released regulations on the origin of a product, including methods on naming a product of Vietnamese origin. These regulations apply to imported and exported products, helping the products enjoy preferential tariffs in line with free trade agreements that the country has signed up to.

In terms of locally made products, including those that are manufactured from imported materials and then put into circulation, the country has yet to issue any regulations regarding whether they are “products of Vietnam” or “manufactured in Vietnam”.

Under the draft decree, Vietnamese products will class as those that are purely of Vietnamese origin, or those that are made in Vietnam from all raw materials which originate in the country. Products that are of non-pure origin or are not produced locally but are fully fabricated and processed in Vietnam that fundamentally change their nature are Vietnamese products.

Items which are simply fabricated or processed domestically therefore cannot be considered to be products of Vietnamese origin.  

Furthermore, the common phrase “Made in Vietnam” will no longer exist, instead the MoIT has put forward several phrases to replace it. These include “Produced in Vietnam”, “Manufactured in Vietnam”, “Country of Production: Vietnam”, “Country of Origin: Vietnam”, and “Produced by Vietnam”.

In the event that there is uncertainty surrounding the origin of a product, organisations and individuals may choose from a number of different phrases that describe the main process of fabrication or processing locally. These include “Designed in Vietnam”, “Designed by + name of Company / Group”, “Assembled in Vietnam”, “Completed in Vietnam”, “Assembled by + name of Company / Group”, “Processed by + name of Company / Group”, “A product of + name of Company / Group Name”, or “Packaged and labeled by + name of Company / Group”.

The MoIT hopes that the impending decree will provide a mechanism in order to help prevent trade fraud, safeguard domestic production, and ultimately protect the interests of consumers.