Vietnam Customs Clearance Policy Update

South Vietnam has issued Prime Minister's Decision No. 31/2026/QDTTg, which will officially come into effect on August 14, 2026. This new policy will make significant adjustments to the customs clearance mode for imported high-risk goods, and is an important compliance policy update for Vietnam Customs this year. It has important binding significance for foreign trade factories, cross-border enterprises, and logistics service providers who have long been deeply involved in the Vietnamese market.

Prior to the implementation of this new policy, most of Vietnam's conventional and partially controlled imported goods could be declared through local customs clearance. After the goods arrived at the port, they could be directly transferred to inland cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, where they would be declared, inspected, and taxed by local customs. This mode has flexible processes and high turnover efficiency, and is also the mainstream customs clearance method used by domestic export enterprises to Vietnam for a long time, effectively reducing delays and additional costs caused by port congestion.

According to the clear requirements of this new policy, the customs declaration authority for 12 categories of high regulatory risk imported goods will be completely abolished in inland areas. After all regulated goods arrive at the first port of entry in Vietnam, they must stay at the port site to complete the full process of customs declaration, physical inspection, tax calculation, and tax payment release. The entire process does not support inland customs transfer or local verification release mode, completely reshaping the customs clearance operation logic of related categories.

The implementation of this policy is based solely on the time when the goods arrive at the Vietnamese port of entry, and is not related to the domestic loading or departure time. Simply put, regardless of when the goods are booked and shipped, as long as they arrive at the Vietnamese port of entry on or after August 14, 2026, strict implementation of the new customs clearance regulations at the port is required, with no transitional period buffer. Enterprises need to plan the shipping rhythm in advance.

The 12 types of controlled goods subject to mandatory on-site customs clearance at the port this time cover multiple mainstream export categories, including tobacco and tobacco products, alcoholic beverages and beer, passenger cars with less than 16 seats, airplanes and yachts, gasoline and finished oil, air conditioners with a cooling capacity of ≤ 90000 BTU, playing cards, prayer paper, explosives and industrial explosive precursors, defense and security controlled goods, imported goods from countries at risk of epidemic areas, and other controlled categories listed by the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade. Among them, household air conditioners, alcoholic beverages, refined oil products, passenger cars, etc. are all popular export categories from China to Vietnam, with a wide range of policies affecting them.

In order to balance the needs of industrial production and trade circulation, the new policy has simultaneously clarified the exemption situations for compliance. Goods that meet the conditions can continue to use the traditional local customs declaration mode and are not subject to the restrictions of this new regulation. It mainly includes compliance categories such as factory engineering project supporting equipment and production materials, imported raw materials for processing and re export, warehouse goods settled in free trade zones and bonded warehouses, duty-free shop exclusive goods, emergency rescue supplies, national defense and security special supplies, etc. Enterprises can apply for exemptions based on their own business scenarios to reduce compliance costs.

The policy adjustment this time has a profound impact on Vietnam's export supply chain, with the most obvious change being a significant extension of customs clearance time. In the past, the local customs declaration mode could quickly release and transfer goods. After the implementation of the new regulations, all controlled goods need to queue up for inspection at the port. Coupled with the pressure of peak season port operations, the regular customs clearance cycle will increase by 2-5 working days. The delay time during peak shipment periods may further increase, which can easily affect downstream production, sales, and performance progress.

The delay in delivery synchronization has led to an increase in logistics costs. The prolonged demurrage of goods will continue to incur additional expenses such as port storage fees, demurrage fees, and port operation surcharges; At the same time, the manual declaration and special inspection processes at the port site are more complicated, and the corresponding customs clearance operation costs will also significantly increase, further compressing the export profit margin.

It is worth noting that the new regulations specify the inspection rules for mixed goods. If the same bill of lading and container contain both controlled and ordinary categories, the entire container of goods will undergo a full set of inspections at the port site in accordance with the new regulations, which can easily cause delays in the entire container. LCL shipping companies need to focus on avoiding such risks and make advance plans for container division and separate booking of goods.

To ensure the smooth and compliant operation of enterprise business, avoid policy risks and economic losses, it is recommended that all export enterprises to Vietnam conduct comprehensive self inspection of goods, accurately verify the HS codes and category attributes of exported goods, and confirm whether they belong to the control list or exemption scope. At the same time, we should adjust the shipment plan in advance, reserve sufficient time buffer for customs clearance, standardize the production of documents, ensure the authenticity and compliance of data, give priority to the selection of compliant and stable logistics channels, eliminate concealment, mixed loading, illegal declaration and other acts, and effectively avoid the risks of goods withholding, fines, delays and so on.

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