Vietnam Risk-Based Products: New Compliance Rules

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has enacted Circular No. 36/2026/TT-BKHCN, completely overhauling the quality control and market-entry rules for information technology, telecommunications, and radio frequency hardware in Vietnam. Effective July 1, 2026, this regulation implements the statutory quality mandates driven by the updated Law on Product and Goods Quality No. 78/2025/QH15 and Decree No. 37/2026/NĐ-CP.

To streamline the legal environment, Circular 36/2026 completely repeals and consolidates several fragmented legacy documents. This includes the automatic repeal of the short-lived Circular No. 29/2025/TT-BKHCN and the historic Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) type approval framework under Circular No. 30/2011/TT-BTTTT.

The New Risk-Tiered Paradigm

The regulation permanently retires the older “Group 2” product designation, substituting it with a targeted, risk-tiered classification system that determines your pre-market and border-clearance obligations.

• High-Risk Products (Appendix I): These items face the most aggressive state enforcement. They are subject to mandatory State Quality Inspection at import and must obtain a third-party Certificate of Conformity (Chứng nhận hợp quy) from a designated Vietnamese certification body before they are legally permitted to clear customs.
• Medium-Risk Products (Appendix II): These items are granted border-clearance relief and are exempt from pre-import quality checks at the port of entry. Importers must still execute a formal Declaration of Conformity (Công bộ hợp quy) before market release, but they have the flexibility to back this declaration using either an accredited body’s certificate or an internal corporate Self-Assessment dossier (Tự đánh giá).

The Applicability Boundary

Crucially, a product is only pulled into these mandates if it matches both its customs HS code and the specific functional description outlined in the regulation’s scope. If an industrial item shares a tariff code with a regulated device but lacks its functional purpose, it remains out of scope.

Portfolio Mapping for IT, Telecom & Radio Hardware

The following structure details exactly where major commercial portfolios are slotted within the new risk tiers:

• High-Risk Infrastructure & Enterprise Routing: This tier locks in mobile network base stations (covering GSM, 3G, 4G/LTE, and 5G nodes) , network repeaters and signal boosters , commercial or enterprise-grade Wi-Fi routers and gateways transmitting at $\ge$ 60mW EIRP , high-power Non-Stop Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) RFID systems , and traffic/rail radar arrays.
• Medium-Risk Endpoints & Consumer Assets: This tier covers smartphones and cellular handsets , consumer computing devices (laptops, tablets, and desktop PCs) , standard low-power RFID tag/reader peripherals , standalone 60 GHz ultra-high-speed gigabit wireless access components , and detached lithium battery packs designed for portable consumer hardware.
• Absolute Footnote Exemptions: Under Master Footnote Note 3, embedded wireless modules (including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee micro-chips) are completely exempt from mandatory testing or declaration channels if their maximum output power (EIRP) is less than 60 mW.

Factory Audits, ISO Rules & The “6-Month Trap”

The methodology for executing product certifications has changed significantly under the parent guidelines of Circular No. 14/2026/TT-BKHCN.

• Ban on Type-Testing Shortcuts: For High-Risk portfolios, Method 1 (simple type testing) is strictly prohibited. Manufacturers must clear products using Method 3 (type testing combined with an active factory production control audit) or Method 7 (batch consignment testing of cargo lots at the border).
• The On-Site Audit Waiver: Under Note 13, international manufacturing plants can completely wave off physical factory inspections by Vietnamese state regulators under Method 3 by submitting a recognized, active Quality Management System certificate, such as an ISO 9001 certification.
• The 6-Month Validity Trap: To successfully claim the Note 13 factory audit waiver, the plant’s ISO 9001 certificate cannot have less than 6 months of validity remaining at the time of the application filing or during subsequent annual surveillance reviews. If your factory’s ISO document dips below this 6-month threshold, the audit exemption is voided, exposing the plant to an active inspection or forcing the importer into expensive consignment-by-consignment batch testing at the port.

Technical Standards & Footnote Reliefs

Circular 36/2026 introduces key integration reliefs alongside major standard updates that alter engineering and testing pipelines:

• Note 12 Integrated Module Relief: If an enterprise device integrates a highly regulated, high-risk radio transceiver card within a broader medium-risk product frame, the finished assembly is legally downgraded to the more flexible Medium-Risk track, allowing the importer to utilize simple self-declaration pathways. However, the internal module must still satisfy its standalone technical standards.
• SAR Limits Implementation: The specific absorption rate framework QCVN 134:2024/BTTTT becomes fully mandatory for cellular mobile terminals on January 1, 2027, and for tablets/laptops on July 1, 2027.
• Extreme Condition Testing Suspended: To speed up market delivery, the obligation to test hardware under extreme environmental variables (such as voltage and temperature spikes) is officially suspended for core standards including QCVN 41, 16, 110, 111, 122, 37, 43, 44, 42, 54, 55, and 65.
• Total Testing Moratoriums: Active testing compliance mandates are completely suspended until June 30, 2027, for several niche or legacy regulations, including QCVN 128 (for 1-O/2-O base stations), 38, 39, 26, 28, 50, 52, 57, 58, 60, 62, 68, 107, and 123.

Transitional Rules & Grandfathering Clauses

To prevent supply chain gridlocks at the border, MOST has put clear transitional guardrails in place:

• Grandfathering of Active Approvals: All Certificates of Conformity and official Notices of Acceptance legally issued under legacy rules prior to July 1, 2026, remain fully active and valid until their original expiration dates.
• In-Flight Application Protection: Any compliance dossiers or state import quality inspection applications formally logged into government portals before July 1, 2026, will continue to be processed and completed under the legacy rules.
• Testing Body Continuity: Previously authorized testing laboratories and certification bodies can continue issuing valid compliance data until their current structural designations officially expire.
• National Single Window Fail-Safe: While the automated National Single Window digital custom systems are being upgraded to map to these new risk classifications, importers are explicitly permitted to file state quality inspections manually or via the National Public Service Portal to ensure cargo flows without delay.

Impact Assessment