From 1 March 2027, importers will handle customs procedures under Law No. 11/2026/QH16 amending the Law on Customs, while quality obligations stay with Decree 37/2026/ND-CP and Decree 22/2026/ND-CP. This article sets out the obligations that arise at the customs stage: who must declare, which documents to file, the deadlines, when an amendment is still possible, how long records must be kept, and what to prepare before the law takes effect. Quality inspection and the declaration of conformity are covered in the next article of the series.
1. Who declares customs under Law 11/2026: one more party becomes liable
From 1 March 2027, the revised Customs Law (Law No. 11/2026/QH16) adds e-commerce platform owners to the list of customs declarants. The change reaches businesses that sell cross-border goods through a platform, and importers that appoint a foreign partner to sell on their behalf in Vietnam.
Amended paragraph 14 of Article 4 lists eight categories of customs declarants. The new entry, compared with the law in force, is the e-commerce platform owner. The obligations sit in Article 18: paragraph 2 is amended to bring this new category in, which means all seven duties under points a to g apply to it.
| Group of customs declarants | Obligations under Article 18(2) | Points to note |
|---|---|---|
| Goods owners, vehicle owners, e-commerce platform owners, providers of transit and transhipment services | All of points a, b, c, d, đ, e and g | Includes five-year record keeping and payment of tax |
| Customs agents, authorised persons | Points a, b, c, d, e and g, within the scope of the authorisation | Excludes point đ, so the agent does not keep the five-year records on the owner’s behalf |
| Drivers of means of transport | Points a, c, d, e and g | No obligation to supply advance information on the goods |
| International postal and express courier operators | Points a, b, c, d, e and g | Applies to goods sent through the service; low-value consignments must still be declared |
One point matters for companies that use an agent: agents are not in the group required to keep customs records for five years. That duty stays with the goods owner. In a post-clearance audit the customs office works with the owner and calls for the documents, so the agency agreement should require the agent to hand over and retain copies of everything it files.
2. The customs dossier: filed electronically, no resubmission of documents already on the National Single Window
Article 24 has been rewritten to digitise the whole filing step. The dossier still has two parts, the declaration (or a document replacing it) and the supporting documents, but the way it is filed has changed markedly.
A customs declaration is valid for carrying out customs procedures for 15 days from the date of registration.
Article 24(1)(a), Law No. 11/2026/QH16
Three points are new in Article 24:
- Paragraph 3 widens where documents may be filed: they are submitted or presented through the customs electronic data processing system or at the customs office. The law in force only allows filing at the customs office.
- Where a document has already been issued by a specialised management agency or a specialised inspection body through the National Single Window, the declarant does not have to file or present it to customs a second time.
- Paragraph 2 requires documents in the form of data messages to be complete and correctly formatted under the law on electronic transactions.
| Scenario | Documents to file or present | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Standard imports | Declaration, sale contract, commercial invoice, transport documents | Article 24(1) |
| Goods eligible for tariff preferences under an agreement | Additional document certifying origin | Article 24(1)(b) |
| Goods subject to licences or to conditions | Additional import or export licence | Article 24(1)(b) |
| Goods subject to specialised quality inspection | Notice of the inspection result, or of exemption from specialised inspection | Article 24(1)(b); Article 83, Decree 37/2026/ND-CP |
| Licence and inspection result already issued through the National Single Window | No need to file again with customs | Article 24(3) |
With imported electronics and machinery, the documents most often missing are the description of technical characteristics and the product label needed for quality inspection. Without those two, a complete customs dossier still cannot clear, because the inspection body has not yet issued the notice that the goods meet quality requirements.
3. Deadlines: filing, registering the declaration and how long customs has to act
Article 25 keeps the deadlines in force but splits them into three separate paragraphs; the rule on the 15-day validity of a declaration has moved to Article 24.
- Imports: documents are filed before the goods arrive at the border checkpoint, or within 30 days of their arrival.
- Exports: filed after the goods are gathered at the notified location and no later than 04 hours before the means of transport leaves the country; for express courier the limit is 02 hours.
- Means of transport: under Article 69(2).
On the customs side, Article 23 keeps the same milestones: the document check is completed no later than 02 working hours after a complete dossier is received; physical inspection no later than 08 working hours after the enterprise presents all the goods, extendable to 02 days for large or complex consignments. For goods subject to specialised inspection, the clock starts when the specialised inspection result is available, so total time depends on that agency, not on customs.
| Step | Deadline | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Filing import documents | Before the goods arrive at the border checkpoint, or within 30 days of arrival | Article 25(2) |
| Validity of the declaration for clearance | 15 days from the date of registration | Article 24(1)(a) |
| Document check by customs | No later than 02 working hours | Article 23(2)(a) |
| Physical inspection of goods | No later than 08 working hours; extension of up to 02 days | Article 23(2)(b) |
| Post-clearance amendment | 60 days from the date of clearance | Article 29(4)(b) |
| Retention of customs records | 05 years from the date of registration | Article 18(2)(đ) |
| Post-clearance audit | Up to 05 years from registration to the date the audit decision is issued | Article 77(4) |
One point is easy to overlook: goods management policy and tax policy apply as at the date the declaration is registered, not the date the contract is signed or the date the goods reach the port. Importers of electronic equipment whose HS codes shift between shipments should recheck the tariff schedule at the actual registration date.
4. Post-clearance amendment: 60 days, but the cut-off point has changed
Article 29(4) has been amended to tighten when an amendment is allowed. For goods still in procedure, the enterprise may amend before the customs office notifies its inspection decision. The law in force sets a narrower limit: before notification of a direct check of the customs dossier.
For goods already cleared: within 60 days from the date of clearance and before the decision to stop bringing the goods through the supervision area, or before a post-clearance audit, inspection or check of the cleared goods.
Article 29(4)(b), Law No. 11/2026/QH16
The phrase to watch is the decision to stop bringing the goods through the supervision area. In practice, cleared goods stay under supervision until they leave the port, warehouse or yard. Once customs issues that stop decision, the right to amend ends, even if the 60 days have not run out and no audit decision has been made.
Three matters cannot be amended even within the 60 days: anything relating to import or export licences; specialised inspection of goods quality; and the fields of health, culture, animal and plant quarantine, and food safety. For electronics, a discrepancy in the label or in the certificate of conformity cannot be fixed by amendment: the conformity assessment step has to be redone.
An amendment filed after the deadline, or made at the request of the customs office, is dealt with under tax law and the law on administrative violations. In other words, self-detection and amendment within the deadline is the only route that avoids a penalty.
5. Customs supervision: obligations last until the goods leave the area
Clearance is not the end point. Imported goods are under customs supervision from the moment they enter the customs operating area until they are cleared, released and taken out of it. Article 40 sets six duties for the declarant during that period: comply with supervision and create conditions for it; keep the goods intact and the seals unbroken, and carry them by the correct route and within the notified time; use the goods for the declared purpose; use means of transport that meet the requirements; present documents and goods on request; and notify customs immediately in case of force majeure.
Article 65 has been shortened to two paragraphs; paragraph 2 states clearly that the declarant is responsible for notifying the transport route for goods under supervision. This is a notification duty, but notifying the wrong route is still treated as carrying goods by the wrong route.
For goods subject to specialised quality inspection, Article 35(2) requires that they be kept at the border checkpoint until clearance. Where the law allows transport to another place, or the owner asks to bring the goods back for preservation, that place must meet customs supervision conditions and the owner remains responsible for the goods until a clearance decision is issued.
Backlog is the largest cost risk: goods not claimed within 90 days of arrival at the border checkpoint are treated as backlogged, and where they remain unclaimed 60 days after a public notice they are handled under the regulations, including sale and payment into the budget after storage costs are deducted.
6. Tax, customs value and the five-year record-keeping duty
Article 83 requires the declarant to declare and calculate tax accurately, honestly, completely and on time, and to answer for the declaration. Article 85 fixes the rate by reference to the tariff code and the tax policy in force at the time the tax is calculated, with the calculation date and payment deadline set by tax law.
Article 86(2) has been redrafted for clarity: the customs value of exports is the actual price at the border checkpoint of export, excluding international transport and international insurance costs. For imports it is the price actually paid up to the first border checkpoint of import.
Two mechanisms let goods move earlier. Release under Article 36 applies where the official tax amount is not yet fixed but the enterprise has paid, or has a credit institution guarantee for, the self-declared amount; the official amount is then determined within 30 days at most. Clearance under Article 37 applies once procedures are complete, including cases where tax is still owed but a bank guarantee or a payment deadline is in place.
The five-year retention duty runs from the date the declaration is registered and belongs to the goods owner, not to the agent. The documents have to be produced when customs checks under Articles 32, 79 and 80, that is, at the document check at the customs office and at a post-clearance audit at the company’s premises.
7. Imports through e-commerce platforms: Article 16a
Article 16a is entirely new: orders traded through a platform must go through customs procedures. Four points stand out.
- Goods exported or imported through e-commerce platforms must clear customs and are subject to customs inspection and supervision.
- Organisations and individuals in Vietnam who buy from or sell to foreign parties through a platform must complete electronic identification and authentication. The platform owner is responsible for connecting to the customs e-commerce data system for that purpose.
- Platform owners, bonded warehouse operators and transport businesses or agents must supply information on the goods to the customs office.
- The Government sets out the detail.
For online sellers the practical consequence is that sales data on the platform becomes customs data. Companies that sell equipment to foreign buyers through a platform, or import from foreign sellers through one, should clean up their identification data now: the platform owner makes the connection, but accuracy of the goods information remains the declarant’s responsibility.
8. Compliance management and the authorised trader regime: conditions for reduced inspection
Article 17a sets out compliance management as a function of customs in its own right for the first time: collecting data, building compliance records, rating businesses and applying management measures by compliance level. Paragraph 2 states the upside: declarants that comply with the law are given priority in procedures and see inspection, supervision and post-clearance audit reduced or waived.
The priority regime in Article 42 rests on six conditions; three are commonly where the file falls short: two consecutive years of compliance with customs and tax law, electronic procedures run on a system connected to customs, and an internal control system.
In return, Article 43 allows exemption from document checks and physical inspection during procedures, and the use of an incomplete declaration with the complete version filed within 30 days. Article 45 adds the obligations: an annual audit report and financial statements to the customs office, and notification of any competent authority’s decision on tax or accounting violations. That is the only periodic report the Customs Law imposes, on top of the specialised quality reports.
| Incentive | Conditions attached |
|---|---|
| Exemption from document check and physical inspection | Still inspected where there are signs of violation or on a random basis |
| Incomplete declaration, completed within 30 days | Complete declaration and documents filed on time |
| Priority in tax procedures | Audit report and annual financial statements |
| Reduced post-clearance audit | Notification of decisions handling tax and accounting violations |
9. What to prepare before 1 March 2027
The law takes effect on 1 March 2027, but most obligations rest on data and records built up beforehand, so waiting until that date is not an option.
| Action | Legal basis | Why it cannot wait |
|---|---|---|
| Review the list of medium-risk and high-risk electronic goods | Articles 82 and 83, Decree 37/2026/ND-CP | To know which consignments must register for quality inspection before clearance |
| Standardise five-year records for each declaration | Article 18(2)(đ) | Post-clearance audit reaches back up to 05 years |
| Review agreements with customs agents | Article 18(3) | The agent is not required to keep records on the owner’s behalf |
| Standardise identification data for goods sold on platforms | Article 16a(2) | Platform data becomes customs data |
| Take stock of goods in bonded warehouses and consolidate retail consignments | Article 61; transitional clause of Article 4 | New 24-month and 180-day limits, with no extension |
| Assess eligibility for the priority regime or for good compliance status | Articles 17a and 42 | Two consecutive years of compliance are required to qualify |
For importers of electrical and electronic equipment, three things come first: determine the risk level of each product code correctly, complete the quality records required by Decree 37/2026/ND-CP, and make the declaration of conformity required by Decree 22/2026/ND-CP. Distributors and investors should write those deadlines into the sale contract, in particular the duty to supply quality documents and the point at which risk passes.
Related reading
- Quality inspection of imported electronics under Decree 37/2026/ND-CP
- Post-clearance audit and post-market checks for imports
- Law 78/2025/QH15: risk-based quality management, import inspection and declaration of conformity
- Decree 22/2026/ND-CP: structure and the two chapters on conformity assessment
- Registration under Decree 22/2026 and designation under Decree 37/2026
- Conformity declaration and self-assessment report forms under Circular 14/2026
- Circular 33/2026/TT-BCT: medium-risk and high-risk goods of the Ministry of Industry and Trade
- QCVN 25:2025/BKHCN: electrical equipment installed in the home
- Choosing a testing laboratory that satisfies Vietnamese law
- Product classification and analysis for classification under Circular 85/2026/TT-BTC
Sources
- Law No. 11/2026/QH16 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Customs, passed on 23 August 2026, in force from 1 March 2027.
- Law on Customs No. 54/2014/QH13 (amended and supplemented in 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2025).
- Decree No. 37/2026/ND-CP of 23 January 2026 detailing the Law on Product and Goods Quality.
- Decree No. 22/2026/ND-CP of 16 January 2026 detailing the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations.
This article is published to spread knowledge about import and export standards, regulations and procedures. It does not replace the legal documents and is not legal advice for any specific case. Enterprises should check the original texts and the instructions of the customs office before applying.
