[Vietnam] Circular 49/2026/TT-BXD: medium-risk and high-risk goods in the transport sector

Circular 49/2026/TT-BXD issued by the Ministry of Construction establishes the list of products and goods with medium risk and high risk in the transport sector under the ministry’s management, effective from 1 July 2026, replacing the earlier classification of products and goods capable of causing unsafety. The document has seven articles and two appendices: Appendix I lists high-risk goods, Appendix II lists medium-risk goods, and each line pairs a national technical regulation with an HS code and a specific quality management requirement. This article summarises the structure of the circular, the four quality control mechanisms it sets up and the position of the goods that must be tested under QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT, namely motors used for electric motorcycles and electric mopeds.

1. Circular 49/2026/TT-BXD replaces the previous unsafe-goods classification

Before 1 July 2026, goods in the transport sector were identified under Circular 12/2022/TT-BGTVT on the list of products and goods capable of causing unsafety and Circular 62/2024/TT-BGTVT amending several articles of Circular 12/2022/TT-BGTVT. Those two documents listed goods by their potential to cause unsafety, while quality inspection was carried out under each separate regulation.

The new circular moves to a risk-based approach, consistent with the risk management principle of Law No. 78/2025/QH15 amending the Law on Product and Goods Quality. Instead of a single list, the document splits the scope into two independent appendices and attaches a specific quality management mechanism to each line of goods. Clause 3 Article 6 repeals Circular 12/2022/TT-BGTVT and Circular 62/2024/TT-BGTVT, and also repeals Chapter X, Appendix II and Appendix III of Circular 71/2025/TT-BXD.

Circular 49/2026/TT-BXD was signed by Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Xuan Sang and published on the Government Portal on 3 July 2026. The document was issued as state management over transport was transferred to the Ministry of Construction, so older technical regulations still carry the BGTVT code, such as QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT, while new management documents are issued by the Ministry of Construction.

2. Four quality control mechanisms by risk level

The circular does not apply one single mechanism to the whole list. Articles 3 and 4 divide goods into two risk levels and then into groups by management mechanism.

2.1. High-risk goods

Under Article 3, goods in sections I, II, III and IV of Appendix I must be certified for technical safety quality and environmental protection under the law on road traffic order and safety. Goods in section V of Appendix I are certified for technical safety quality under the law on standards and technical regulations, specifically under Circular 35/2011/TT-BGTVT as amended by Circular 21/2023/TT-BGTVT.

2.2. Medium-risk goods

Under Article 4, goods in section I of Appendix II must be declared conformity under Clause 1 Article 48 of the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations 2006, as amended in 2018 and 2025. Goods in section II of Appendix II must be certified for technical safety quality and environmental protection. Goods in section III of Appendix II are certified under the law on railways, referring to Circular 33/2025/TT-BXD.

3. Appendix I: the high-risk groups of goods

Appendix I has five sections. Section I covers cars, motorcycles, mopeds and four-wheeled motor vehicles, divided into groups A, B and C. Section II covers trailers and semi-trailers under QCVN 11:2024/BGTVT. Section III covers special-purpose vehicles under QCVN 13:2024/BGTVT with 45 lines, from rubber-tyred and crawler cranes, forklifts, bulldozers, road rollers and excavators to road construction machinery and airport service vehicles. Section IV covers motor vehicle spare parts and section V covers industrial products used in transport.

Section IV of Appendix I has only three lines but a wide scope: pneumatic tyres for motorcycles and mopeds under QCVN 36:2024/BGTVT, pneumatic tyres for cars under QCVN 34:2024/BGTVT and batteries for electric motorcycles and electric mopeds under QCVN 91:2024/BGTVT. The battery group sits at the high-risk level, unlike the electric motor group at the medium-risk level.

4. Appendix II: the medium-risk groups of goods

Appendix II has three sections. Section I contains one line, child restraint systems used in cars under QCVN 123:2024/BGTVT, subject to conformity declaration. Section II covers motor vehicle spare parts with nine lines. Section III covers the railway sector with ten lines, from electric locomotives, urban rail cars and special-purpose rolling stock to bogies, locomotive distributor valves and coupler and buffer assemblies.

One point to note is that both the heading of section II of Appendix II and the heading of section IV of Appendix I exclude domestically produced spare parts used for repair and warranty of motor vehicles and of the same type as parts already certified. That exclusion applies only to domestically produced parts, not to imported ones.

5. Risk level of the goods that must be tested under QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT

Motors used for electric motorcycles and electric mopeds fall under section II of Appendix II, that is the medium-risk group, with HS code 85.01 and QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT as the applicable regulation. The quality management requirement on the same line is to ensure technical safety quality and environmental protection in import, production and assembly, where domestically produced and assembled goods are certified under Circular 55/2024/TT-BGTVT and imported goods under Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT.

The mechanism for the QCVN 90 group is therefore certification of technical safety quality and environmental protection, not conformity declaration. Testing under the eight tests of QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT is unchanged since the regulation took effect on 1 January 2025; the list circular only determines the risk level and the corresponding management mechanism.

For companies preparing a dossier for electric motors, the search should be done on two layers: the first is the risk level under the list circular, the second is the technical content and test methods under QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT. These two layers determine the certification mechanism and the dossier, and they do not replace each other.

6. Traceability and the 1 July 2029 milestone

Article 5 sets traceability requirements under Article 22 of Decree 37/2026/ND-CP. For goods in sections I, II and III of Appendix I, the minimum declared information includes the name of the vehicle type, images, name and address of the producer or trader, country of manufacture, year of manufacture, import date and certificate date for imported vehicles, certificate date and factory release date for domestically produced or assembled vehicles, brand, trade name, model code where available, frame number, engine number, and the national technical regulations and international standards applied.

For goods in sections IV and V of Appendix I, the declared information shifts from vehicles to motor vehicle spare parts and industrial products, including the import or factory release date and the regulations applied. Imported goods add the name, address and tax code of the importer. Clause 4 Article 5 encourages voluntary traceability for medium-risk goods.

Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of Article 5 take effect on 1 July 2029, while the rest of the circular takes effect on 1 July 2026.

The three-year window lets companies complete their traceability data before the declaration obligation starts. Even so, preparation should begin early, because most of the information, such as frame number, engine number, factory release date and model code, originates in production rather than at customs.

7. Effective date, repeals and transitional provisions

The circular takes effect on 1 July 2026, except Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of Article 5. Clause 3 Article 6 repeals Circular 12/2022/TT-BGTVT, Circular 62/2024/TT-BGTVT and Chapter X, Appendix II and Appendix III of Circular 71/2025/TT-BXD from the effective date.

Article 7 sets out two transitional cases. First, imported goods that are not in Appendix I or Appendix II of this circular but are in the list of Circular 12/2022/TT-BGTVT as amended by Circular 71/2025/TT-BXD, and for which a registration slip for quality inspection of imported vehicles or imported motor vehicle spare parts was issued before the effective date, continue to complete certification under the rules in force when the slip was issued. Second, imported goods that are in Appendix I or Appendix II of this circular but not in the list of Circular 12/2022/TT-BGTVT, and for which the customs declaration was registered before the effective date, continue to complete import procedures under the rules in force when the declaration was registered.

Article 2 applies to organisations and individuals producing, assembling, importing and trading products and goods, conformity assessment bodies, authorities issuing certification, and other organisations and individuals with activities related to quality management of the listed goods in Vietnam.

8. What companies need to do

The first step is to match each product against the HS code and goods name in the two appendices to determine whether it is high risk or medium risk. The second step is to identify the corresponding mechanism: conformity declaration for child restraint systems, certification of technical safety quality and environmental protection for most transport goods, certification under railway law for section III of Appendix II, and certification under Circular 35/2011/TT-BGTVT as amended by Circular 21/2023/TT-BGTVT for section V of Appendix I.

The third step is to review the certification dossier: domestically produced and assembled goods under Circular 55/2024/TT-BGTVT, imported goods under Circular 54/2024/TT-BGTVT for the motor vehicle spare parts group, including motors under QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT. The fourth step is to check the date the inspection registration slip was issued or the date the customs declaration was registered, in order to identify which transitional case under Article 7 applies.

Traders and import agents should confirm that the certificate, approval or conformity declaration of the shipment matches the line in the appendix, because HS codes in the list are given at group level and must be reclassified against the actual goods during customs procedures. Testing and certification bodies should compare their designated or accredited scope with the regulations referenced in the two appendices, including QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT, before accepting customer requests.

9. Related articles on the site

• Law 78/2025/QH15: risk-based quality management, import inspection and conformity declaration
• Circular 14/2026/TT-BKHCN: 8 certification methods and how to choose by risk level
• Circular 36/2026/TT-BKHCN: full text of the list of medium-risk and high-risk goods
• Circular 125/2026/TT-BCA: surveillance cameras enter the medium-risk list
• QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT: technical requirements for electric motorcycle and moped motors
• High-risk goods requiring QCVN 4 testing under Circular 36/2026/TT-BKHCN
• Designation of conformity assessment bodies under Decree 37/2026/ND-CP
• Appendix I of Decree 37/2026/ND-CP: lookup table of 69 groups of goods

10. References

• Ministry of Construction, Circular 49/2026/TT-BXD establishing the list of products and goods with medium risk and high risk in the transport sector under the ministry’s management, digitally signed on 30 June 2026, published on the Government Portal on 3 July 2026, with Appendix I and Appendix II.
• Law No. 78/2025/QH15 amending the Law on Product and Goods Quality No. 05/2007/QH12, available on the legal document system of the Government Portal.
• Decree No. 37/2026/ND-CP detailing several articles of the Law on Product and Goods Quality, Article 22 on product and goods traceability.
• QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT issued with Circular 48/2024/TT-BGTVT dated 15 November 2024, effective from 1 January 2025, replacing QCVN 90:2019/BGTVT.

11. Contact

Companies that need to match the list against their actual products or prepare a certification dossier for goods under QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT can send their details through the form below.

Note: this article is for knowledge sharing only and does not replace legal documents or legal and technical advice for a specific case. Always check the original circular with Appendix I and Appendix II together with QCVN 90:2024/BGTVT and any amending or replacing documents in force.