Decision No. 13/2001/QD-BKHCNMT date June 06, 2001 of the issuing the provisional regulation on certification of goods compatibility with safety standards

DECISION

ISSUING THE PROVISIONAL REGULATION ON CERTIFICATION OF GOODS’COMPATIBILITY WITH SAFETY STANDARDS

THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Goods Quality of December 24, 1999;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 22/CP of May 22, 1993 on the tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 86/CP of December 8, 1995 prescribing the assignment of responsibility for the State management over goods quality;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s opinions in Official Dispatch No. 5397/VPCP-KG of December 11, 2000 issuing a number of provisional regulations guiding the implementation of the Ordinance on Goods Quality;

At the proposal of the General Director of Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control,

DECIDES:

Article 1.-To issue together with this Decision the "Provisional Regulation on Certification of Goods’ Compatibility with Safety Standards" for goods subject to quality control by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.

Article 2.-This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

Article 3.-The General Director of Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control and concerned organizations and individuals shall have to implement this Decision.

PROVISIONAL REGULATION

ON CERTIFICATION OF GOODS’ COMPATIBILITY WITH SAFETY STANDARDS
(Issued together with Decision No. 13/2001/QD-BKHCNMT of June 6, 2001 of the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment)

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.1. This document provisionally prescribes the contents of certification of goods’compatibility with safety standards (hereafter referred to as safety certification for short) according to the provisions of Articles 15 and 18 of the 1999 Ordinance on Goods Quality.

1.2. The Provisional Regulation on safety certification is elaborated on the basis of the assignment of responsibility for the unified State management over goods quality to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment in Clause 2, Article 24 of the 1999 Ordinance on Goods Quality and the Ministry’s tasks and powers regarding the State management over goods quality prescribed in Article 4 of the Government’s Decree No. 86/CP of December 8, 1995.

1.3. The safety certification is effected on the basis of consideration and evaluation of goods’ compatibility with safety standards through the testing of typical samples.

The safety certification shall apply to the goods subject to requirements on safety for their direct users as provided for in the Vietnamese Standards (TCVN).

The list of goods subject to certification of their compatibility with safety standards (called list of goods subject to safety certification for short) is prescribed in Appendix 1 and shall be amended and/or supplemented according to the management requirements.

1.4. Manufacturing or importing organizations and individuals (hereinafter referred collectively to as enterprises) that have goods on the list of goods subject to safety certification shall have to register the safety certification and acquire safety certificates as well as safety stamps for those goods before circulating them on the market. The safety certification registration shall apply to each specific type of goods.

The following goods are not subject to safety certification:

- Goods temporarily imported for re-export;

- Export goods (except where it is so requested by enterprises or the importing party);

- Import goods being gifts, personal effects, diplomatic or sample goods not used for commercial exchange, goods for exhibitions and fairs.

1.5. The standards serving as basis for evaluation of the goods compatibility (called evaluation standards) and standards applied as goods testing measures are the Vietnamese Standards (TCVN) provided for in the list of goods subject to safety certification.

1.6. The testing of goods for safety certification must be conducted in the designated laboratories as specified in Item 2.2 of this Regulation.

1.7. The safety certificates (being the certificates of quality compatibility with the Vietnamese Standards on safety) and the safety stamps granted to goods on the list of goods subject to safety certification prescribed in Appendix 1 to this Decision shall comply with the corresponding Vietnamese standards.

1.8. Import goods on the list of goods subject to safety certification, if having objective evidences on their safety (similar to safety certificates and safety stamps prescribed in this Regulation), which are provided by the exporting countries and recognized by Vietnam, shall be exempt from testing and granted safety certificates as well as safety stamps according to this Regulation.

1.9. For goods already granted safety certificates and safety stamps, the concerned enterprises shall be allowed to use the safety certificates to announce by themselves their goods’compatibility with the Vietnamese Standards.

1.10. The General Department of Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control (hereafter abbreviated to GDSMQC) shall have to organize and guide in detail the safety certification as well as the post-certification monitoring according to this Regulation.

2. SAFETY CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES

2.1. The safety certification includes the following contents:

a/ Testing typical samples to evaluate the goods compatibility with safety requirements of the evaluation standards;

b/ Monitoring goods after safety certification at the production establishments, storehouses or on the market.

2.2. The testing of typical samples must be conducted at the designated laboratories.

The following laboratories shall be considered for designation to conduct safety testing:

- The laboratories already recognized under the VILAS system or those already recognized by recognizing organizations, which have signed the mutual recognition agreements with VILAS;

- The laboratories, which have not yet been recognized but have full capability for goods safety testing;

- The foreign laboratories or certifying organizations, which are recognized by Vietnam as having full capability for goods safety testing.

The GDSMQC shall announce the list of the designated laboratories.

3. SAFETY CERTIFICATION ORDER

3.1. Preparation

Enterprises having goods on the list of goods subject to safety certification shall go through the following preparation steps:

a/ Taking samples: Enterprises shall by themselves take typical samples of their goods according to the prescribed standards and send them to the designated laboratories for testing.

b/ Testing: The designated laboratories shall have to test goods according to corresponding standards already specified in the list of goods subject to safety certification and grant testing result cards to enterprises.

c/ Compiling technical dossiers: The technical dossiers compiled by enterprises shall comprise the following documents:

- The designs and photos of goods, especially of the parts and details related to the goods’safety;

- The goods basic technical parameters, especially the parameters on safety;

- The goods labels;

- The use instruction;

- The certificates (if any) for the goods and enterprises.

The GDSMQC shall provide guidance on the detailed contents of technical dossiers for each type of goods.

3.2. Registration

Enterprises shall compile dossiers of safety certification registration and send them to the GDSMQC. Each dossier consists of:

a/ The written registration of the goods compatibility with safety standards;

b/ The technical dossier (Point c, Item 3.1);

c/ The original or valid copy of the testing result card (Point b, Item 3.1), with a time limit of not more than six (6) months as from the date of its issuance.

3.3. Consideration and evaluation

The consideration and evaluation of registration dossiers shall be effected according to the following steps:

a/ Considering the dossier documents compatibility with the requirements of safety certification (within 5 days); in case of incompatibility, requesting enterprises to supplement and complete the dossiers; in case of compatibility, proceeding to the technical evaluation.

b/ Technical evaluation: evaluating the testing result cards conformity with the technical dossiers and evaluation standards (within 12 days); if the evaluation results are satisfactory, enterprises shall be granted safety certificates;

If the evaluation results are unsatisfactory, enterprises shall be notified thereof in order to take remedial measures within the prescribed time limit. Past the prescribed time limit, the dossiers shall be returned and enterprises shall have to fill in the registration procedures once again.

3.4. Post-certification monitoring

The monitoring of the compatibility of goods, which have been granted safety certificates, with the corresponding evaluation standards and this Regulation shall be effected to maintain the goods’compatibility with the evaluation standards.

The Departments of Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control shall conduct the post- safety certification monitoring twice a year. Once every six months, the Departments of Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control shall send periodical reports on the monitoring results to the GDSMQC and send extraordinary reports if detecting violations related to the goods and enterprises according to this Regulation.

Annually, enterprises shall have to send typical samples of their goods to the designated testing organizations for testing and send the testing result cards to the Departments of Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control in their respective localities.

On the basis of the testing result cards for the goods typical samples, the comments or complaints of consumers and managerial agencies, the post-certification goods monitoring shall be conducted at the production establishments and/or on the market.

4. SAFETY CERTIFICATES

4.1. Goods meeting the safety certification requirements shall be granted safety certificates, which shall be valid for not more than 3 years.

4.2. Within the effective durations of the safety certificates, enterprises shall have to ensure the goods compatibility with the corresponding evaluation standards and use the safety stamps strictly according to regulations.

4.3. Re-certification

Enterprises shall have to register for re-certification when goods safety certificates expire; the evaluation standards have changed or the already certified goods witness changes, which affect the goods compatibility with the safety requirements.

Goods subject to re-certification, if meeting the safety requirements under this Regulation, shall be granted new certificates. Goods, which are not re-certified shall have their appellations in the list of goods already certified for their safety, deleted. The re-certification contents and procedures shall be the same as those for the first-time certification.

4.4. When detecting that their goods show signs of incompatibility with the corresponding evaluation standards, enterprises shall have to report such to the Departments of Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control and the GDSMQC and at the same time, take measures to handle the goods being produced or imported or circulated on the market as well as the goods in use.

4.5. The safety certificates shall be withdrawn and invalidated in the following cases:

- The post-certification monitoring results are unsatisfactory;

- The goods cause accidents to their users due to their failure to meet the safety requirements.

5. SAFETY STAMP

The safety stamp is composed of the safety compatibility stamp and control number (the stamp model is provided for in Appendix 4).

5.1. The safety compatibility stamp has the shape and size prescribed in TCVN 5680-2000 on standard compatibility stamps.

5.2. Control number:

A control number consists of 8 digits to be inscribed in a safety certificate, of which:

The first 2 digits indicate the ordinal number of the goods, prescribed in the List of goods subject to safety certification;

The 3 following digits indicate the ordinal number of the enterprise registering certification;

The 2 following digits indicate the year of certificate issuance;

The last digit indicates the time of certificate issuance.

The control number must be inscribed below the safety standard compatibility stamp.

5.3. Before the goods, which have been granted safety certificates, are circulated on the market, they or their packing must be printed/affixed with the safety stamps on the forefront where they can be easily spotted by the consumers and monitoring bodies.

6. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

6.1. Within six (6) months after this Regulation takes effect, in order to give time for relevant organizations and individuals to make full preparations of the conditions for safety certification, goods on the list of goods subject to safety certification which have not yet been granted safety certificates and safety stamps under this Regulation, shall be allowed to circulate on the market.

6.2. Past the above-said 6-month time limit, all goods on the list of goods subject to safety certification must be certified for their safety and granted safety certificates and stamps before being circulated on the market.

7. INSPECTION, EXAMINATION AND HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS

The inspection, examination and handling of organizations and individuals that commit acts of violating the provisions on safety certification shall comply with the current law provisions.

LIST

OF GOODS SUBJECT TO CERTIFICATION OF THEIR COMPATIBILITY WITH SAFETY STANDARDS
(List of goods subject to safety certification)
(Issued together with Decision No. 13/2001/QD-BKHCNMT of June 6, 2001 of the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment)