Decree 60/2023/ND-CP inspection of technical safety quality, environmental protection of imported cars

DECREE

Providing regulations on inspection and certification of technical safety quality and environmental protection of imported automobiles and imported parts and equipment under treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party

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Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated June 19, 2015; the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Governments dated November 22, 2019;

Pursuant to the  Law on Treaties dated April 09, 2016;

Pursuant to the Law on Product and Goods Quality dated November 21, 2007;

In furtherance of the Free Trade Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the European Union;

In furtherance of the Free Trade Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;

At the proposal of the Minister of Transport;

The Government hereby promulgates the Decree providing regulations on inspection and certification of technical safety quality and environmental protection of imported automobiles and imported parts and equipment under treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Decree regulates the inspection and certification of technical safety quality and environmental protection of imported automobiles and imported parts and equipment under the Agreements to which Vietnam is a contracting party, that are included in the list of potentially unsafe products and goods subject to the state management by the Ministry of Transport. Such Agreements include:

1. The Free Trade Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the European Union (hereinafter abbreviated as EVFTA).

2. The Free Trade Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (hereinafter abbreviated as UKVFTA).

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. This Decree applies to importers and agencies, organizations and individuals involved in the management, inspection and certification of technical safety quality and environmental protection of imported automobiles and imported parts and equipment under treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party as mentioned in Article 1 of this Decree.

2. This Decree does not apply to automobiles and automobile parts and equipment imported for national defense and security purposes according to the plans approved by the Prime Minister.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

In this Decree, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. An automobile means an unused complete automobile of type M1 as defined at Point a, Clause 1, Article 1, Appendix 2-B of the EVFTA.

2. Parts and equipment mean unused components, systems and details of automobiles as defined at Points a and b, Clause 1, Article 1, Appendix 2-B of the EVFTA.

3. Unused parts and equipment mean type of components, systems and details that have not been used for the manufacture or assembly of automobiles or for any other purposes.

4. Unused automobiles mean automobiles that have not been registered for circulation before being imported into Vietnam.

5. Vehicle type approval (VTA) certificate means a certificate of vehicle type approval according to UNECE or EC regulations (including safety and environmental protection documents).

6. Type approval (TA) certificate means a certificate of type approval of parts and equipment according to UNECE regulations (including documents attached to TA).

7. Conformity of production (COP) documents mean documents that demonstrate the results of quality assurance evaluations for products at the manufacturing facility, which remain valid in accordance with ECE, EC regulations (for automobiles), or ECE regulations (for parts and equipment) conducted by competent foreign agency or organization.

8. COP audit report means documentation showing the evaluated results meeting the quality assurance requirements for products at the manufacturing facility of competent foreign agency or organization, which serves as the basis for issuing COP documents.

9. Competent foreign agency or organization means an agency or organization approved, accepted or recognized under the law of a foreign country to issue: Vehicle type approval certificates and type approval certificates; conformity of production documents for enterprises manufacturing and assembling imported automobiles and imported automobile parts and equipment.

10. Importers mean organizations or individuals importing automobiles, parts and equipment as prescribed by law.

11. A factory release certificate is a document issued by the manufacturer for each automobile when it is released from the factory in accordance with EC (also known as Certificate of Conformity - CoC) or UNECE (also known as Declaration of Conformance - DoC) regulations.

12. Automobiles of the same type mean automobiles with the same basic technical specifications in the factory release certificate and the same type approval number stated in the VTA according to the regulations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) or the European Commission (EC).

13. Parts and equipment of the same type are those with the same type approval number stated in the type approval certificate as specified by UNECE.

14. A certificate of origin (C/O) means a document issued by a competent organization or agency of the exporting country or territory of the exported goods, clearly stating that the goods originate from the European Union or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

15. Vehicle identification number (VIN) interpretation document is a document provided by the automobile manufacturer explaining the characters displayed on the VIN for each type of automobile.

16. Recall of automobiles means an action taken by an importer under the authorization of a foreign manufacturer for automobiles with defects during the design, manufacturing, production, and assembly process that have been already put on sale in order to overcome and prevent possible dangers.

17. The inspection agency is the Vietnam Register. which is responsible for organizing the inspection and certification of the technical safety quality and environmental protection for imported automobiles and imported parts and equipment in accordance with this Decree.

Chapter II

PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES FOR INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION OF TECHNICAL SAFETY QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Article 4. Inspection registration dossiers for inspection (paper or electronic dossiers)

1. An inspection registration dossier for imported automobiles must comprise:

a) A registration for technical safety quality and environmental protection inspection for imported automobiles, made according to the form provided in Appendix I to this Decree;

b) The information sheet of imported motor vehicles, made according to the form provided in Appendix IV to this Decree;

c) An original factory release certificate issued for each automobile;

d) A vehicle type approval (VTA) certificate;

dd) COP document issued to automobile manufacturers;

e) Certificate of origin (C/O);

g) VIN interpretation document of automobile manufacturer;

h) Commercial invoice, enclosed with a list of goods;

i) The import declaration, for paper dossiers; or the number and date of the declaration, for electronic dossiers.

The documents specified at Points d, dd, e, g, h and i Clause 1 of this Article are copies certified by automobile importers.

2. An inspection registration dossier for imported parts and equipment must comprise:

a) A registration for technical safety quality and environmental protection inspection for imported parts and equipment, made according to the form provided in Appendix II to this Decree;

b) Information sheet on parts and equipment, made according to the form provided in Appendix XII to this Decree; photographs of part and equipment products of each type (overall photographs of the product on two opposite sides and labels, symbols on the product);

c) COP document issued to part and equipment manufacturers;

d) A type approval (TA) certificate;

dd) Certificate of origin (C/O);

e) Commercial invoice, enclosed with a list of goods;

g) The import declaration, for paper dossiers; or the number and date of the declaration, for electronic dossiers.

The documents specified at Points c, d, dd, e and g Clause 2 of this Article are copies certified by part and equipment importers.

Article 5. Procedures and method of implementation

1. Submission of inspection registration dossiers

a) For imported automobiles

Importers shall prepare a set of inspection registration dossiers in accordance with Clause 1 Article 4 of this Decree, and submit it online to the inspection agency via the national single window (electronic dossier submission). In case of force majeure, importers may submit paper dossiers to the inspection agency.

For automobile types imported into Vietnam for the first time, at the time of registration for inspection, importers must provide the documents specified at Points a, b, c, d, dd, e, g, h Clause 1 Article 4 (particularly for factory release certificates, in case of electronic dossier submission, importers must submit 01 copy representing each type on the national single window and additionally submit all original factory release certificates of the automobiles in that imported shipment to the inspection agency before conducting the physical inspection).  Documents specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 4 must be submitted when requesting a physical inspection.

For automobile types that have been granted a certificate of technical safety quality and environmental protection for imported motor vehicles under this Decree, at the time of registration for inspection, importers must provide the documents specified at Points a, b, c, e, h Clause 1 Article 4 (particularly for factory release certificates, in case of electronic dossier submission, importers must submit 01 copy representing each type on the national single window and additionally submit all original factory release certificates of the automobiles in that imported shipment to the inspection agency before conducting the physical inspection). Documents specified at Point i Clause 1 Article 4 must be submitted when requesting a physical inspection. Importers shall provide the number of the certificate of technical safety quality and environmental protection for imported motor vehicle that the inspection agency has granted for the automobile of the same type in the first inspection registration dossier so that inspection agency can have grounds to track documents in service of inspection.

When the COP documents expire, importers must additionally provide new COP documents. If the COP documents are not provided, the importers shall provide a COP audit report, and must additionally provide the valid COP documents within 90 days.

b) For imported parts and equipment

For the type of parts and equipment imported into Vietnam for the first time, importers shall prepare a set of inspection registration dossiers in accordance with Clause 2 Article 4 of this Decree, and submit it online to the inspection agency via the national single window (electronic dossier submission). In case of force majeure, importers may submit paper dossiers to the inspection agency.

At the time of registration for inspection, importers must provide documents specified at Points a, c, d, dd and e Clause 2 Article 4 of this Decree. Documents specified at Points b and g must be submitted within 15 working days from the date of customs clearance.

For types of parts and equipment that have been issued a notice of exemption from technical safety quality inspection of imported parts and equipment under this Decree, importers shall be exempted from opening inspection registration dossiers, but every 12 months, they must send a report on the import status of such part and equipment types to the inspection agency, using the form provided in Appendix VIII to this Decree for monitoring. The inspection agency has the right to conduct an extraordinary inspection of imported shipments when detecting violations relating to technical safety quality, or when there are complaints or denunciations related to the technical safety quality of imported parts and equipment.

2. Receipt of inspection registration dossiers

The inspection agency shall receive and inspect the components of the inspection registration dossier and notify the result within 1 working day. To be specific: In cases where the inspection registration dossier is complete as prescribed, the inspection agency shall confirm by signature on the registration for technical safety quality and environmental protection inspection. The system shall automatically issue an inspection registration number send it to the national single window (for electronic dossiers) or the inspection agency shall issue an inspection registration number and sign in the registration for technical safety quality and environmental protection inspection, and return it to importer (for paper dossiers) for the importer to complete import procedures with the border gate customs office. In cases where the inspection registration dossier is incomplete as prescribed, the inspection agency shall notify on the national single window (for electronic dossiers) or send a notice, made according to the form provided in Appendix III to this Decree (for paper dossiers) for importers to supplement or amend.

The inspection agency may refuse to receive inspection registration dossiers and notify importers on the national single window (for electronic dossiers) or notify according to the form provided in Appendix III to this Decree (for paper dossiers) in the following cases: In cases where automobiles or parts and equipment pose a threat to safety or the environment; in cases where importers fail to present the vehicles for inspection for the previous shipment and after 15 days from the date of opening the inspection registration dossiers (except for force majeure events).

3. Inspection

a) For imported automobiles

Importers shall send a confirmation of inspection schedule made according to the form provided in Appendix XI to this Decree to the inspection agency via the national single window, enclosed with the number, date, month, and year of the customs declaration (for electronic dossiers), or a confirmation of inspection schedule made according to the form provided in Appendix XI to this Decree, enclosed with a copy of the customs declaration (for paper dossiers).  Within 1 working day from the date of inspection proposed by importers in the confirmation of inspection schedule, the inspection agency must conduct the inspection. In case of force majeure where inspection cannot be carried out (such as natural disasters, epidemics, etc.), the inspection agency shall reach an agreement with the importer to conduct inspection at an appropriate time.

Contents of inspection:

The inspection agency shall examine the consistency of the contents of the documents in the inspection registration dossier and cross-examine a random sample from each automobile type in the inspection registration dossier with the factory release certificates of automobiles and examine the frame and engine numbers of all automobiles. In case where the documents in the inspection registration dossier are inconsistent or the actual automobiles do not match the inspection registration dossier, within 4 working days, the inspection agency shall notify through the national single window (for electronic dossiers) or notify according to the form provided in Appendix III to this Decree (for paper dossiers) for the importer to supplement or amend the dossier or cancel the dossier to carry out customs procedures for automobiles imported outside the scope of regulation of this Decree.

For automobiles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), if manufacturers assess that these systems are not suitable for use in traffic in Vietnam, the manufacturers shall recommend and guide the importers to deactivate part or all of these systems after completing the import procedures and ensure to provide full information to customers.

b) For imported parts and equipment: The inspection agency shall examine the contents of the dossier within 07 working days from the date of receipt of all documents as prescribed. If the dossier is invalid, the inspection agency shall notify through the national single window (for electronic dossiers) or notify according to the form provided in Appendix III to this Decree (for paper dossiers) for the importer to supplement or amend.

4. Issuance of certificates of technical safety quality and environmental protection for imported motor vehicles (hereinafter abbreviated as certificates)

Within 4 working days from the date of completion of the satisfactory inspection and the dossier is assessed as complete and valid according to regulations, the inspection agency shall issue a certificate on the national single window (for electronic dossiers) or paper copies (for paper dossiers) for each automobile in the entire imported shipment, using the form provided in Appendix V to this Decree.

In cases where imported automobiles are on the list of those prohibited from import as specified in the Government's Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018, the inspection agency shall issue a notice of motor vehicles on the list of prohibited imports as prescribed in Appendix VI to this Decree on the national single window (for electronic dossiers) or in paper form (for paper dossiers).

5. Issuance of the notice of exemption from technical safety quality inspection for imported parts and equipment (hereinafter abbreviated as exemption notice): Within 4 working days from the date the dossier is assessed as complete and valid as prescribed, the inspection agency shall issue the exemption notice using the form provided in Appendix VII to this Decree on the national single window (for electronic dossiers) or in paper format (for paper dossiers). The validity of the exemption notice corresponds to the validity of the COP document.

6. Handling of cases of delay in producing the vehicles for inspection: Past the period of 15 days from the date of opening the inspection registration dossier, if the importer fails to present vehicles for inspection, the inspection agency shall notify the customs office to coordinate in inspecting the vehicles at the storage location, serving as a basis for issuing inspection results and handling customs procedures for the shipment.

Article 6. Principles of certificate issuance

1. For electronic dossiers: paper certificates will be granted if related agencies have not yet been connected to the inspection agency to use electronic data.

2. For paper dossiers, a certificate shall be granted with three duplicates: one for filing, one for carrying out the customs procedures, and one for use for registration fee collection and automobile registration.

3. Paper or electronic certificates may be used for the following purposes:  carrying out the customs procedures; registration fee collection; automobile registration; initial inspection for operation; or settlement of other procedures as requested by competent agencies.

Article 7. Provisions on re-issuance of certificates and exemption notices

1. Certificates and exemption notices shall be re-issued in case of loss, damage or expiration.

2. Importers shall submit 01 set of dossiers to request the re-issuance of certificates or exemption notices to the inspection agency through the national single window. In case of force majeure, importers may submit paper dossiers to the inspection agency. A dossier must comprise:

a) A written request for the re-issuance of exemption notice as specified in Appendix IX to this Decree (in case of expiration); a written request for the re-issuance of certificate or exemption notice as specified in Appendix X to this Decree (in case of loss or damage);

b) Original certificate or exemption notice (in case of damage);

c) Extended COP documents (in case the exemption notice has expired).

3. Re-issuance in case of loss:

a) In case the dossier is complete as required, within 4 working days, the inspection agency shall send a written notice to the importer and customs offices, tax and public security agencies; if the dossier is incomplete, the inspection agency shall guide the importer to supplement information.

b) If receiving no feedback from the related agencies within 24 working days after issuing a notice under Point a of this Clause, the inspection agency shall re-grant a paper or electronic certificate or exemption notice; if refusing to re-grant a certificate or notice, the inspection agency shall issue a written reply specifying the reason.

4. Re-issuance in case of damage: If the dossier is complete as required, the inspection agency shall re-issue a paper or electronic certificate or exemption notice within 4 working days; if refusing to re-issue a certificate or notice, the inspection agency shall issue a written reply specifying the reason.

5. Re-issuance in case exemption notices are expired:

Within 4 working days from the date the dossier is assessed as complete and valid, the inspection agency shall issue a new exemption notice with the validity corresponding to that of the new COP document.

If the new COP document cannot be provided, the importer must submit a report for quality assurance assessment. Within 4 working days from the date the dossier is assessed as complete and valid, the inspection agency shall issue a one-time exemption notice valid for 90 days.

Article 8. Provisions on recall of automobiles with technical errors

1. Automobiles to be recalled include:

a) Automobiles recalled according to notices of manufacturers;

b) Automobiles recalled at the request of the inspection agency. The inspection agency’s recall request shall be made on the basis of specific evidence and results of verification of reported information on the technical safety quality and environmental protection of imported automobiles.

2. Responsibilities of importers

For automobiles already put on sale which are to be recalled due to technical errors, importers shall:

a) Within 5 working days after receiving a recall notice from the manufacturer or inspection agency, issue written notices to sale agents to stop selling automobiles which are to be recalled unless their errors are fixed;

b) Within 10 days after receiving a recall notice from the manufacturer or inspection agency, send to the inspection agency a written report  on the cause of technical errors, fixing measures, quantity of automobiles to be recalled and a feasible recall plan;

c) Actively and strictly implement the recall plan and concurrently announce adequate information on the recall plan and the list of automobiles to be recalled on their own websites and the websites of their sale agents in a timely manner.

3. Responsibilities of the inspection agency

a) To issue written notices of receipt of recall plans and additional requirements for the recall programs (if any) to importers;

b) To request importers to recall automobiles;

c) To publish information about automobiles to be recalled on its website;

d) To monitor and inspect the recall by importers according to recall plans;

dd) To suspend the quality certification procedures with regard to automobile importers that fail to perform their responsibilities defined in Clause 2 of this Article;

e) To consider suspending the technical safety quality and environmental protection inspection and certification procedures with regard to automobiles of the same manufacturer if importers are able to provide evidence that such manufacturer refuses to collaborate in the implementation of the recall plan;

g) For automobiles subject to recall that have not been issued a certificate by the inspection agency, the inspection agency shall notify the customs office where the import declaration form is opened to allow the importer to release the goods temporarily so that the importer can rectify the automobiles subject to recall. After the importer provides a list of automobiles that have been rectified according to the manufacturer's provisions, the inspection agency shall continue to perform the inspection and certification procedures as prescribed.

Chapter III

RESPONSIBILITIES OF AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

Article 9. Responsibilities of importers

1. To be responsible for the truthfulness, accuracy, validity and lawfulness of dossiers and documents provided to the inspection agency.

2. To take responsibility for the quality of goods in accordance with the law for their imported goods.

3. To keep intact imported automobiles for inspection by the inspection agency.

4. To collaborate with the inspection agency in the course of technical safety quality and environmental protection inspection.

5. When an e-transaction incident occurs on the national single window, to notify it to the agency managing the national single window for coordination and settlement.

6. To pay charges, fees and service prices in accordance with law.

7. To send written reports every year and upon the end of the planned time limit for recall to the inspection agency.

Article 10. Responsibilities of the inspection agency

1. To uniformly issue and manage certificates and take responsibility for the inspection and certification results.

2. To conduct unscheduled inspections of imported part and equipment shipments when discovering quality issues or receiving complaints and denunciations about the quality of imported goods.

3. To coordinate with importers and the agency managing the national single window to handle e-transaction incidents as regulated.

4. To collect charges, fees and service prices related to the inspection and grant of quality certificates in accordance with law.

5. To store the dossiers under the regulations of the law.

6. To summarize results of inspection of technical safety quality and environmental protection for imported automobiles for reporting to the Ministry of Transport.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

Article 11. Effect

1. This Decree takes effect from October 1, 2023; and applies to the following subjects as bellow:

a) For parts and equipment: From the effective date of this Decree.

b) For automobiles:  From August 1, 2025.

          2. For imported automobiles, parts and equipment arriving at Vietnamese ports or border gates before the effective date stated in this Decree, the provisions of this Decree shall not apply.

          Article 12. Implementation organization

1. The Ministry of Transport shall organize and guide the implementation of this Decree.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities, and related organizations and individuals shall implement this Decree./.

* All Appendices are not translated herein.