The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) of Vietnam issued changes to the certification method for products and goods specialized in IT and communication. The list of products and goods are under "Group 2" of its management scope.

The new Circular 10/2020/TT-BTTTT is amending and supplementing Circular 30/2011/TT-BTTTT (together with Circular 15/2018/TT-BTTTT).

Key features of Circular 10/2020/TT-BTTTT:

• MIC will grant Type Approval Certificate to overseas manufacturers directly, instead of a local importer holding the certificate. Now, oversea manufacturers hold the certificate and they can authorize multiple importers.
• Overseas manufacturers are allowed to sign the self-assessment declaration of conformity (DoC) which is part of the customs clearance process and needed for the Product Quality Inspection Registration (PQIR) process. In this case, the self-assessment DoC must be based on the test report in which the overseas manufacturer is an application (test report holder).
• In order to use Type Approval Certificate and Self-assessment DoC granted under the name of overseas manufacturer(s), the local importer will need to submit a “notification on list of product models, and importers allowed” to Vietnam Telecommunication Authority (VNTA) during the PQIR process.
• Conformity certification organizations include VNTA or any other certification bodies who are designated by MIC Vietnam for certification activities.
• Type Approval Certificate or Letter of Acceptance of Declaration of Conformity granted before enforcement date of this circular will still be valid.

New certification systems have been officially introduced:

• Certification System 1: Certification based on typical sample testing, applicable for products manufactured by ISO 9001 certified factory. Certificate will be valid for up to 3 years.
• Certification System 5: Certification based on typical sample testing combined with factory inspection applicable for products manufactured by factory that has not obtained ISO 9001 certificate yet. Certificate will be valid for up to 3 years, but the factory audit will be required to maintain certificate validity annually.
• Certification System 7: Consignment approval (per-lot approval), applicable when System 1 or System 5 are not applicable. Certificate will be valid for a single import lot/consignment only.

This new Circular 10/2020/TT-BTTTT will take effect on July 01, 2020.