The short answer
Most goods do not need an import licence in Vietnam. Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP sorts every consignment into three streams. Appendix I lists goods that are prohibited outright. Appendix III lists goods that need a licence or must meet conditions set by a line ministry. Everything else needs nothing more than a customs declaration. If your goods fall in Appendix III, the ministry has three working days to tell you the file is incomplete and ten working days from a complete file to issue the licence.
The three streams, set out in law
Article 4 of Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP:
1. For goods imported or exported under licences, traders must obtain a licence issued by the relevant ministry or ministerial-level agency. 2. For goods imported or exported under conditions, traders must satisfy the statutory conditions prescribed by law. 3. For goods subject to specialized inspection under Article 65 of the Law on Foreign Trade Management, traders must undergo inspection by competent authorities. 4. For goods not falling under Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of this Article, traders are only required to complete import or export procedures at the customs authority.
In practice this means you classify the HS code first, then look it up in the appendices, and only then decide whether a licence application is needed at all.
Stream one: prohibited goods
Article 5, Clause 1 of Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP:
Prohibited exports and prohibited imports shall comply with current legal documents and the List of prohibited exports and prohibited imports specified in Appendix I to this Decree.
Appendix I covers, among others, military weapons and ammunition (Ministry of National Defence); fireworks and radar jammers (Ministry of Public Security); Schedule 1 chemicals under the Chemical Weapons Convention and toxic chemicals (Ministry of Industry and Trade); used consumer goods, used medical equipment, used household electronics, used refrigeration appliances, used clothing and footwear (Ministry of Industry and Trade); used IT products (Ministry of Information and Communications); right-hand drive vehicles, modified vehicles and used vehicle parts, and used passenger cars more than five years old (Ministry of Transport); scrap and CFC refrigeration equipment (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment); and amphibole asbestos building materials (Ministry of Construction).
There is one narrow door. Article 5, Clause 3 of Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP:
The Prime Minister considers and decides to permit the import of prohibited goods for special purposes, warranty, analysis, testing, scientific research, medical use, pharmaceutical production, national defense, and security.
Commercial trade in these items is never permitted. Non-commercial entry requires an individual Prime Ministerial decision.
Stream two: goods needing a licence
Article 7, Clause 3 of Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP:
Based on Appendix III to this Decree, ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall promulgate or submit to competent authorities for promulgation detailed regulations on the issuance of import and export licences in accordance with the law and execute licensing accordingly.
Appendix III assigns product groups to ministries. Ministry of Industry and Trade: industrial precursors, explosive materials, tobacco raw materials, tobacco machinery, and tariff-quota goods including refined and raw sugar, raw tobacco, salt and poultry eggs. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development: plant protection products not on approved lists, first-time veterinary medicines, livestock breeds, live aquatic organisms, animal feed outside the circulation list. Ministry of Health: controlled medicines, active pharmaceutical ingredients without registration numbers, diagnostic reagents, medical devices without circulation numbers. Ministry of Information and Communications: postage stamps, specialised printing machinery, colour photocopiers, cyber security products. Ministry of Transport: maritime safety signal flares. State Bank of Vietnam: raw gold.
Stream three: everything else
If the goods are not in Appendix I and not in Appendix III, you file an electronic customs declaration with the commercial invoice, bill of lading, packing list and certificate of origin. No licence, no ministry.
The dossier and the clock
Article 9, Clause 1 of Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP:
An application dossier for a licence includes: (a) Written application form for licence issuance from the trader: 1 original; (b) Investment Certificate or Business Registration Certificate or Enterprise Registration Certificate: 1 copy stamped by the trader; (c) Relevant papers and documents as prescribed by law.
Article 9, Clause 2 sets the timetable:
(a) Traders submit 1 set of dossier directly, by post, or online if applicable to the competent ministry or ministerial-level agency; (b) In case the dossier is incomplete or incorrect or requires supplementary explanatory documents, within 3 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier, the ministry or ministerial-level agency shall notify the trader to complete the dossier; (c) Unless otherwise provided by law, within a maximum of 10 working days from the date of receipt of a complete and valid dossier, the ministry or ministerial-level agency shall issue a written response or licence to the trader; (d) In cases where the law requires the licensing authority to consult related agencies, the processing timeframe is calculated from the time of receiving written responses from those agencies.
Note point (d). If the ministry has to consult another agency, the ten-day clock does not start until that reply arrives. Build that into your shipping schedule.
What goes wrong in practice: a real case
Who signs the customs file, and whether the declared contract is genuine, decides who carries the loss.
A Taiwanese supplier shipped eight containers of plastic scrap, over 170 tonnes, to Saigon Port under a master bill of lading. The bill named a local trading entity as notify party and a Vietnamese joint stock company as consignee. The cargo was cleared at a district customs sub-department.
The supplier then sued the consignee and an individual for 117,386 US dollars of unpaid cargo value. The consignee denied buying anything: it said it had only acted as an import agent under an entrustment contract with the individual, and produced the customs sales contract filed at the sub-department showing a declared value of just 13,666 US dollars, which it said had been settled domestically. The supplier replied that the signatures and company seals on that customs contract were forgeries created without its authorisation, in order to under-declare value and cut the duty.
The trial court dismissed the supplier's claim, taking the filed customs documents at face value. On appeal the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City annulled the judgment and ordered a full retrial: the lower court had failed to investigate how the consignee on the bill of lading was changed, failed to clarify the agency relationship, and failed to order a forensic examination of the signatures and seals. The decisions are First-Instance Judgment No. 40/2020/KDTM-ST dated 8 January 2020 of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court case.unilaw.vn and Appellate Judgment No. 29/2021/KDTM-PT dated 27 April 2021 of the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City case.unilaw.vn .
The exposure is not only commercial. A customs file that does not match the real contract is a declaration offence as well as a civil dispute.
Four controls before you ship
Classify first, buy second. Run the HS code against Appendix I and Appendix III before signing the purchase contract, not after the container sails.
Start the licence application early. The statutory maximum is ten working days from a complete file, but the clock restarts if a ministry has to be consulted.
Keep the customs file identical to the commercial file. Declared value, contract, invoice and the parties named on the bill of lading must match.
Control your entrustment agent. If a Vietnamese agent clears the goods for you, require copies of every document filed, and check the declared value before release.
How UniLaw helps
We run HS classification and licensing audits before shipment, prepare and file line-ministry licence applications, and act in customs declaration disputes and cargo payment litigation before Vietnamese courts.
Sources
- First-Instance Judgment No. 40/2020/KDTM-ST dated 8 January 2020 (Ho Chi Minh City People's Court) / Appellate Judgment No. 29/2021/KDTM-PT dated 27 April 2021 (High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City) – plastic scrap import, entrustment contract, alleged forged customs contract, retrial ordered.
- Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP detailing the Law on Foreign Trade Management – Article 4, Article 5 (Clauses 1, 3), Article 7 (Clause 3), Article 9 (Clauses 1, 2), Appendix I, Appendix III.
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