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How to Ship from China to Vietnam: Hai Phong, VAT & Form E
Vietnam is the one lane in this series where the goods do not have to go by sea or air at all. China and Vietnam share a land border, and a truck leaving Guangxi clears into Vietnam and reaches Hanoi in a day or two. That single fact changes the freight decision more than anything else about this destination. If your consignee is in the north, the vessel may simply be the slower and more expensive option.
It also means most of what moves on this lane is not finished retail goods. It is factory inputs going to factories — fabric, yarn, plastics, components, sub-assemblies, machinery parts — feeding Vietnamese assembly for the electronics and consumer brands that have built their supply chains there. That shapes everything downstream: the paperwork has to reconcile against a production schedule, not against a shop opening, and the documents have to agree with each other to the last digit.
Three things trip up first time importers here, and none of them is freight. The certificate of origin has to be arranged before departure, because Vietnamese practice is not generous with retroactive certificates. The wood packaging has to carry the ISPM 15 mark, because a pallet without it is refused at the port. And Tet closes both ends of the lane at the same time, because it is the same holiday on both sides of the border.
How your cargo moves: China to Vietnam
Eight steps from your supplier's door to yours. The last four are the ones shaped by local rules.
- Pickup from your supplierWe collect the goods anywhere in China and bring them to our consolidation point.
- Export clearanceChina customs declaration filed and released before the goods move to the port.
- Loading and departureContainer loaded, sealed and handed to the carrier at the Chinese port.
- Main carriageOcean, air or rail movement booked on the route agreed for your cargo.
- Arrival at the gatewayDischarge at the port or airport of entry, recorded on the carrier's manifest.
- Import clearanceCustoms declaration filed locally, with duty and tax assessed on the declared value.
- Customs releaseGoods released into free circulation once duty and tax are settled.
- Final deliveryOnward movement to your delivery address, warehouse or nominated depot.
Duty rates, VAT rates and clearance times move, and the figure that applies to your goods is the one set for your commodity code on the day of clearance. We check the current position against your code before your goods sail and confirm it to you in writing — ask for that check when you request a quote.
The only lane where a truck crosses the border directly
Two Chinese provinces touch Vietnam, and each has a working border gate for commercial cargo.
| Gate | Chinese side | Serves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huu Nghi (Hu Nghi Quan) | Pingxiang, Guangxi | Hanoi, Hai Phong and the northern industrial belt | The busiest crossing. Trucks reach Hanoi in about one to two days and Hai Phong in one to three. |
| Lao Cai | Hekou, Yunnan | North-west Vietnam and the Hanoi corridor | The natural gate for cargo originating in Yunnan or south-west China. |
| Mong Cai | Dongxing, Guangxi | Quang Ninh and the coastal north-east | A coastal crossing used for certain regional flows and border trade. |
The consequence is straightforward. North Vietnam is a road freight lane, not only a sea lane, and the comparison is not close on time. Everything south of Da Nang is a sea decision, because driving from the border to Ho Chi Minh City is a long way.
Hai Phong, Cat Lai, Cai Mep and Da Nang
| Gateway | Region served | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hai Phong | Hanoi and the Red River Delta | The northern gateway and the closest seaport to the capital's industrial zones. The Lach Huyen deep water berths take larger vessels. |
| Cat Lai, Ho Chi Minh City | The southern manufacturing belt and the Mekong Delta | The largest container terminal in the south and the default for Ho Chi Minh bound cargo. |
| Cai Mep – Thi Vai | Southern Vietnam | A deep water complex south-east of the city, used for larger vessels and services that bypass Cat Lai. |
| Da Nang | Central Vietnam | Serves the Da Nang, Hue and Quang Nam corridor on regional services. |
| Noi Bai (HAN) and Tan Son Nhat (SGN) | Air freight, north and south | The two main air cargo gateways, with Da Nang serving central Vietnam. |
Choose by destination first and by schedule second. A container discharged at Cat Lai for a Hanoi consignee has most of the country still to travel, and the inland leg will cost you more than the choice of carrier did.
How long into Vietnam by vessel, truck and aircraft
| Mode | Typical transit | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean FCL | South China into Hai Phong commonly two to five days port to port; Shanghai or Ningbo into Cat Lai about three to six days, Cai Mep four to six, Da Nang five to seven; Qingdao or Tianjin into Hai Phong about five to nine days and into Cat Lai eight to twelve | Regular volume and anything south of Da Nang. |
| Ocean LCL | Vessel time plus consolidation and deconsolidation, commonly adding several days | Trial orders and part loads. |
| Cross-border trucking | About one to two days to Hanoi through Huu Nghi, one to three days to Hai Phong | Northern destinations and cargo already in southern China. Often better than air on cost and better than sea on time. |
| Air freight | One to three days airport to airport into Noi Bai or Tan Son Nhat | Urgent components, high value density, line-down situations. |
| Express courier | A few days door to door | Documents, samples and small parcels. No longer VAT exempt below the old threshold. |
Customs clearance on a clean file is commonly one to two days, sometimes faster on the automated channel. Vietnamese customs risk scores every declaration into a green, yellow or red channel: green releases on the documents, yellow requires supporting paperwork to be produced, and red means a physical examination. Household electrical goods, used machinery, branded merchandise and chemicals draw more red channel attention than average, so budget a little more time for those.
We do not publish freight rates here. Ask for base freight, origin charges in China, destination charges in Vietnam, duty, VAT and inland delivery as separate lines so you can see what moved when the price changes. See our local charges page.
Crossing at Huu Nghi or Lao Cai, and what it costs in paperwork
Cross-border trucking is fast, but it is not simpler. Clearance happens at the gate, not at a warehouse inland, and the same document standards apply as at a seaport — plus gate queueing, which is a real factor around holidays.
- The documents go with the truck. Invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and any permit have to be ready at the border, because there is no container sitting in a yard while you chase a signature.
- The classification has to be settled in advance. There is no opportunity to correct a declaration quietly after the truck has cleared.
- Gates congest before Tet and are slow to recover afterwards. A two day transit can become several.
- Destination matters more than usual. Gate to Hanoi is short. Gate to Ho Chi Minh City is a long domestic haul that usually argues for sea instead.
A useful test: if your factory is in Guangdong or Guangxi and your consignee is north of Da Nang, price the truck. If either of those is not true, price the vessel. There is no general answer, and a forwarder who only offers one of them is not really advising you.
Incoterms on a Vietnam booking, and the party who files the entry
The trade term sets who pays and where risk transfers. It does not change who is allowed to file, and it does not remove a product approval.
- EXW — you collect at the supplier's door and carry everything, including Chinese export formalities. Rarely sensible for a first import.
- FOB — the supplier loads and clears Chinese export; you take over at the Chinese port or, on a road move, at the border. The usual choice for experienced buyers.
- CIF — the supplier pays freight and insurance to the Vietnamese port, risk passes in China, and you still clear. Not delivered.
- DAP — delivered to a named place in Vietnam with you handling import formalities, duty and VAT.
- DDP — the seller carries duty and taxes too, which requires them to be able to act as importer of record in Vietnam. Ask who that is, and whether the MST they are using is theirs.
The tax code, the entry, and the time you get to file it
Vietnam runs imports through the VNACCS automated clearance system, integrated with the national single window. The mechanics are stable and three things decide whether they go smoothly.
A party with an MST tax code
The importer has to be registered for tax in Vietnam and hold a tax identification number, known as the MST. Without it there is no declaration to file. A foreign business with no local presence appoints an importer of record or imports through its Vietnamese counterpart.
The right classification, taken from Vietnam
Do not copy the Chinese export code. Vietnam publishes its own tariff with national subdivisions beyond the international six digit heading, and the rate, the control status and the certificate eligibility all follow from the Vietnamese code. Take it from your consignee or from their broker.
An electronic declaration lodged in time
A customs agent files through VNACCS with a digital signature, attaching the electronic certificate of origin where a preferential rate is claimed. The declaration is commonly required within fifteen days of arrival at the port or gate; cargo left unclaimed for a long period can be disposed of by customs.
Two further points that save real money. First, consistency is enforced: the description, quantity and value across the invoice, packing list, bill of lading and certificate should agree, because Vietnamese customs treats divergence as a reason to query the whole entry. Second, Vietnamese practice in recent years has been for declarations where value is disputed to be released and then reviewed, with supporting evidence supplied afterwards — worth knowing, but not a licence to declare carelessly.
A pallet of components from Shenzhen to a plant in Bac Ninh
Bac Ninh and the provinces around Hanoi are dense with electronics assembly. Here is what a routine shipment into one of them looks like.
Classify first, from the Vietnamese side
Get the code your consignee will declare under. Check the ACFTA rate against the RCEP rate. Electronic components frequently carry a low or zero preferential rate, which is exactly why getting the certificate right is worth more than negotiating freight.
Choose the mode honestly
Shenzhen to Bac Ninh argues for the truck through Huu Nghi, or for a short sea leg into Hai Phong followed by a short haul inland. Compare both on the actual delivery date, not on the freight line.
Apply for the certificate before loading
The certificate is issued by China Customs or CCPIT before departure. Because Vietnamese practice does not readily accept retroactive issue, this step has a hard deadline attached to it and it sits before everything else.
Pack to the rule
Wood packaging carries the ISPM 15 mark. Cartons carry clear marks and a country of origin label. This is the cheapest item on the list and one of the most common causes of a refused receipt.
Clear and deliver
The Vietnamese broker files on VNACCS, duty and VAT are assessed and paid, and the consignment moves the short distance to the plant. Door to door from collection, this is commonly a move counted in days rather than weeks.
The duty, the ten percent VAT, and the temporary eight
The structure is simple. What is temporary is the rate.
| Charge | Basis | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Import duty | Customs value, at the rate for your code | Applied rates commonly run from zero to around 35 percent. Many lines fall to zero to five percent once a preferential certificate is presented. |
| VAT | Customs value plus duty, plus special consumption and environmental tax where they apply | The headline rate is 10 percent. A reduction to 8 percent applies to eligible categories and has been extended to 31 December 2026, including at the import stage. |
| Special consumption tax | By category | Alcohol, tobacco, vehicles and luxury goods, levied before VAT and therefore inside the VAT base. |
| Environmental tax | By category | Applies to selected products including certain fuels and materials. |
The 8 percent rate is a stimulus measure, not the standard rate, and it is worth understanding before you build a price list on it. It covers goods and services that would otherwise carry 10 percent, with exclusions that include telecommunications, financial and insurance services, securities, real estate business, metal products and mining products other than coal, and goods subject to special consumption tax other than gasoline. The eligible list has been widened to include information technology services, prefabricated metal products, coal, coke, refined petroleum, chemical products and gasoline. The extension runs to the end of 2026.
Model at 10, book at 8. Work your landed cost at the headline rate and treat the reduction as a discount with an expiry date attached. Confirm the rate actually applies to your code with your broker — assuming 8 percent across a catalogue is how a margin quietly disappears in 2027.
And the small parcel exemption is gone. Until 18 February 2025, express shipments worth less than one million dong were exempt from VAT under a 2010 decision. Decision 01/2025 revoked it, and Vietnam Customs moved to automated collection for express shipments during 2025 across the air, road and rail channels. Samples and marketplace orders that used to arrive free now carry VAT like everything else.
Getting the certificate of origin issued before the goods sail
Vietnam is a member of ASEAN and party to RCEP, so there are two routes to a preferential rate and the decision is worth doing deliberately.
| Form E (ACFTA) | Form R (RCEP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Criteria | Wholly obtained, change in tariff heading, or regional value content of at least 40%, plus product specific rules | The same families of criteria, with value added anywhere in the RCEP region counting towards the threshold |
| Issued by | China Customs or the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade | The same issuing bodies |
| Timing | Arranged before departure as the normal expectation | Greater tolerance for issue after shipment in some circumstances |
| Practical note | The certificate Vietnamese customs handles most often | Useful where the supply chain crosses other RCEP members and Chinese value added alone falls short |
Whichever you use, the details have to line up. The certificate carries a classification that has to be consistent with the entry, the description has to be recognisable as the goods actually shipped, and where the route passes through a third territory the consignment should be documented accordingly. Vietnamese practice is not generous with certificates produced after arrival — treat the pre-departure date as a hard one.
QCVN conformity, the CR mark and MIC type approval
Electronics are where most first time exporters meet a Vietnamese regulator, and the rule is simple: CE and FCC do not carry over.
MIC type approval for radio equipment
The Ministry of Information and Communications regulates telecommunications and radio frequency equipment. Anything with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, RFID or satellite capability needs type approval before customs release, together with conformity to the applicable Vietnamese technical regulation, known as QCVN. QCVN 18 covers radio transmitters and QCVN 117 wireless LAN equipment, among others.
Testing goes through designated bodies. Plan for it as a lead time item, because it is not obtainable at the port.
Conformity marking for consumer products
A number of consumer product categories carry a mandatory conformity requirement with an associated mark before they can be imported and sold, assessed against the relevant technical regulation. The scope is set by product by the responsible ministry, so the answer comes from your code rather than from a general list.
The practical instruction to give the factory is unglamorous but important: confirm the marking requirement before the tooling and the print run, because relabelling at the Vietnamese end costs far more than getting it right in China.
Food, cosmetics and the declarations lodged with the agencies
- Food. Processed and packaged food needs a product declaration filed with the Vietnamese food safety authority before import, supported by documents such as a free sale certificate and specification sheets, and labelling that satisfies Vietnamese requirements.
- Cosmetics. A cosmetic product notification is required before the goods are placed on the market, handled through the Vietnam Drug Administration, with labelling in Vietnamese where required.
- Medical devices. Classified from lowest to highest risk and registered or declared with the Drug Administration accordingly, held by a locally authorised party.
- Restricted and licensed categories. Certain industrial goods, chemicals and equipment require permits from the Ministry of Industry and Trade or sector ministries, answered by classification rather than by guesswork.
The pattern is familiar by now: the registration is held on the Vietnamese side, it cannot be started by the factory, and it has to be finished before the goods ship. See our quarantine inspection page for plant and animal products.
Wood packaging and labelling, the two checks that stop clean cargo
These are cheap to get right and disproportionately expensive to get wrong, and they are the two items Vietnamese inspectors look at first.
ISPM 15 on every piece of wood
Pallets, crates, dunnage and any other wood packaging must carry the ISPM 15 mark showing it has been treated. Non-compliant wood is refused entry or has to be treated locally at cost and delay. Tell your supplier explicitly, and check before loading rather than after.
If pallets are being swapped or fumigated at origin anyway, do it for the Vietnamese standard rather than the general one.
Marking that survives inspection
Shipping marks should show the product name, specification, quantity, gross weight and country of origin clearly enough to be read from the carton. Goods for sale in Vietnam carry Vietnamese labelling requirements covering description, contents, origin and responsible party details.
Practitioners also flag that counterfeit goods and unregistered brands are pursued energetically in Vietnam. If you are shipping branded merchandise, carry proof of authorisation.
Meeting the supplier on a screen, and meeting one on a factory floor
Buying through a marketplace
Small parcels bought through a platform now attract VAT from the first dong of value, collected through the express channel rather than through a formal entry. It is simple and it suits a sample or a one-off.
What it does not do is give you a classifying decision you control, a certificate of origin, or clean documents for a subsequent container. It is a purchase channel, not an import programme.
Buying from a factory
You set the classification, choose the certificate, control the packing and the marking, and build the document set that a VNACCS entry can be filed against. It takes more work at the start and it is much cheaper per unit.
For anything feeding a production line, this is the only realistic route, because a factory cannot hold a schedule on parcels bought one at a time.
Feeding a production line, and sending a parcel to a person
Commercial imports are declared, assessed and released for use or resale, with duty and VAT accounted for by the importer. Goods sent to an individual are assessed too: since February 2025 the express exemption below one million dong no longer applies, so there is no value below which a parcel enters free of VAT. It is collected through the postal or courier channel rather than through a formal entry, but it is collected.
Samples deserve a specific note. A sample still has a value and should be declared at a defensible one, with documents to match. Undervaluing samples is a well known way to convert a routine clearance into a penalty, and on a lane this short it buys you almost nothing.
The China forwarder and the Vietnamese broker
What happens in China
Collecting from the factory or from several factories, consolidating where volume justifies it, Chinese export clearance, the verified gross mass on sea freight, booking the vessel or the truck, issuing the bill of lading or airway bill, and tracking. We also check that the invoice, packing list and certificate agree before they leave, because Vietnamese customs measures consistency across all three.
What happens in Vietnam
Your broker files the declaration on VNACCS with a digital signature, attaches the certificate of origin, pays duty and VAT, answers any channel queries, and arranges release and inland delivery. Vietnamese import registration, the MST, type approvals, product declarations and permits belong to the importer of record and their agent.
Goodhope works port to port on ocean freight, airport to airport on air freight, and border gate to border gate on cross-border trucking, naming the terminal or the gate rather than quoting a generic estimate. We coordinate with your broker and we do not pretend to do their job.
Checking a forwarder on a Vietnam booking
- Have they priced the truck as well as the vessel? For northern Vietnam they should have, and they should be able to say which one they recommend and why.
- Which gate, or which terminal? Huu Nghi or Lao Cai by road, Hai Phong, Cat Lai, Cai Mep or Da Nang by sea. A generic answer means a generic plan.
- Is the certificate being applied for, and when? The deadline is before departure, not on arrival.
- Is the product radio equipment, food, a cosmetic or a medical device? Each carries an approval or a declaration, and each takes time.
- Are the pallets ISPM 15 marked? Ask the question before loading, not after the port calls.
- Are duty and VAT shown separately, and at which rate? Ten percent or eight percent is a question with an answer attached to your code.
Red flags: a quote before you have said what the goods are; only one mode offered on a lane with two viable ones; a suggestion that the certificate can be sorted on arrival; silence about wood packaging; and any pressure to declare a lower value.
Three shipments into Vietnam, and the reason for each
The examples below are illustrative. They describe typical decisions on this lane, not specific customer shipments.
Components into an assembly plant, decided at the border
A truckload of electronic components from a Guangdong factory to a plant outside Hanoi, cleared through Huu Nghi. The deciding factor was not freight — it was that the production line could not wait the extra days a feeder service plus inland haul would have taken. The certificate of origin was arranged with the booking, because there is no fixing it at the gate.
Homewares into Ho Chi Minh City that tripped on a pallet
An LCL shipment of household goods into Cat Lai for a southern retailer. The freight and the paperwork were fine. The pallets were not marked to ISPM 15, and the options became treatment at destination at the importer's cost or a very expensive lesson. It is the single cheapest thing to check and one of the most frequently missed.
Wi-Fi hardware that was a licensing problem first
A shipment of networking equipment air freighted to Noi Bai. The cargo was never the issue: the equipment needed MIC type approval against the applicable QCVN before release, and CE certification did not help. Starting the approval while the freight was booked would have produced a storage bill; starting it before booking produced a clearance.
Tet, and why it closes both ends of the lane at once
- Tet is the same holiday as Chinese New Year. The factory in China stops, the consignee in Vietnam stops, the agencies stop, and the border gates congest before it and after it. Effective lost time is measured in weeks.
- Reunification Day on 30 April and Labour Day on 1 May create a cluster of Vietnamese public holidays that shorten the working week repeatedly.
- National Day in early September does the same.
- The pre-Tet production rush tightens space on every mode, and cross-border capacity particularly.
The practical rule: treat Tet as a fixed wall, and schedule backwards from it rather than hoping to pass through it. Check our holidays page when you are fixing a production date.
What Goodhope handles on the Vietnam lane
- We price both modes before recommending one — cross-border trucking into the north alongside short-sea into Hai Phong, because on this lane that comparison is often the whole answer.
- Ocean freight port to port, border gate to border gate on road freight, and airport to airport on air freight — with the terminal or the gate named rather than a generic estimate.
- We chase the certificate before departure — because Vietnamese practice is not forgiving about certificates produced later.
- We flag the approval question early — MIC type approval and QCVN conformity, product declarations for food and cosmetics, and permits that depend on your code.
- We check the boring things — ISPM 15 on the wood, shipping marks that can be read, and a document set where the invoice, packing list, bill and certificate agree with each other.
- Consolidation across suppliers — several factories, one container, one declaration. See our consolidated shipment and warehouse and consolidation pages.
- Regulated cargo handled properly — see our dangerous goods, reefer containers to Vietnam and quarantine inspection pages.
- Plain answers on what we do not do — Vietnamese import registration, the MST tax code, type approvals, product declarations, duty and VAT belong to the importer of record and their broker. We coordinate with them and we do not pretend otherwise.
- NVOCC licensed, since 2012 — see our why partner with Goodhope page.
Why importers use Goodhope on this lane
Six things that are different about working with us on China to Vietnam shipments.
Ask for a Vietnam quote with the crossing named
Send us the product and its classification if you have it, the carton count and total weight or volume, the supplier's city, and the delivery address in Vietnam. We will price the border gate alongside the vessel where that is honest to do, tell you whether a type approval or a product declaration is likely, and show the landed cost with the duty and the VAT as separate lines.
Frequently asked questions
How long does shipping from China to Vietnam take?
It is one of the shortest routes China has. Ocean freight from South China into Hai Phong is commonly quoted at two to five days port to port, and from Shanghai or Ningbo into Cat Lai at three to six days, with Cai Mep at four to six and Da Nang at five to seven. North China origins take longer, around five to nine days into Hai Phong and eight to twelve into Cat Lai. Cross-border trucking through the Huu Nghi gate in Guangxi reaches Hanoi in one to two days, which beats the sea option outright for northern destinations. Air freight into Noi Bai or Tan Son Nhat is one to three days airport to airport.
Can I ship from China to Vietnam by road instead of by sea?
Yes, and that is what makes this lane unusual. Vietnam shares a land border with Guangxi and Yunnan, and the main gates are Huu Nghi, reached from Pingxiang in Guangxi, and Lao Cai, reached from Hekou in Yunnan. Trucks through Huu Nghi reach Hanoi in one to two days and Hai Phong in one to three, which is faster than any sea service. It suits cargo originating in southern China and destinations in the north. It does not help cargo bound for Ho Chi Minh City, which is a long way south of the border.
How much duty and VAT will I pay importing into Vietnam?
Import duty is assessed on the customs value under Vietnam's tariff schedule, with applied rates commonly ranging from zero to around 35 percent depending on the code, and many lines falling to zero to five percent once a preferential certificate is presented. VAT is charged on the customs value plus duty plus any special consumption or environmental tax. The headline rate is 10 percent, but a reduction to 8 percent applies to eligible goods and services and has been extended to 31 December 2026, including at the import stage. Certain categories are excluded from the reduction, so the rate for your code has to be confirmed rather than assumed.
Is VAT in Vietnam 10 percent or 8 percent in 2026?
The standard rate is 10 percent. The National Assembly extended a reduction of two percentage points to 31 December 2026, so goods and services that would otherwise carry 10 percent are charged 8 percent for the eligible categories. The reduction does not apply to telecommunications, financial activities, banking, securities, insurance, real estate business, metal products, mining products other than coal, or goods subject to special consumption tax other than gasoline. The list has been widened to include information technology services, prefabricated metal products, coal, coke, refined petroleum, chemical products and gasoline. It is a temporary measure, so build your cost model at 10 and treat 8 as a timed discount.
What happened to the small parcel tax exemption in Vietnam?
Until 18 February 2025, goods worth less than one million dong sent by express delivery were exempt from VAT under Decision 78/2010. Decision 01/2025, signed in January 2025, revoked that exemption from 18 February 2025, so low value express parcels are now assessed under the normal VAT rules. In practice collection was manual for a period, and Vietnam Customs moved to automated collection for express shipments from the second half of 2025 across air, road and rail channels. If you have been sending samples or marketplace orders duty free under the old rule, that has changed.
Do I need a Vietnamese company to import?
The party lodging the import declaration has to be registered for tax in Vietnam and hold a tax identification number, known as the MST code. Without a valid MST there is no declaration. Most declarations are filed through a licensed customs agent using a digital signature on the VNACCS system. A foreign business with no Vietnamese entity therefore appoints an importer of record or works through its Vietnamese counterpart, rather than importing under a foreign name.
What documents does Vietnamese customs require?
A commercial invoice, a packing list, the bill of lading or airway bill, and the certificate of origin where a preferential rate is claimed. Regulated goods add approvals such as MIC type approval and QCVN conformity for radio and telecom equipment, product declarations for food and cosmetics, and medical device registration. Wood packaging must carry the ISPM 15 mark. Vietnamese customs places weight on consistency, so the description, quantity and value on the invoice, packing list, bill and certificate should agree rather than approximate each other.
What is Form E and when does it have to be issued?
Form E is the certificate of origin issued under the ASEAN–China Free Trade Area by China Customs or the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Presenting it moves the entry from the standard rate to the preferential rate, which is zero or close to zero on many lines. Vietnamese practice is that the certificate is arranged before departure and late or retroactive certificates are not readily accepted, which is stricter than some other destinations. Form R under RCEP is the alternative where the RCEP rate is lower or where Chinese value added alone does not meet the threshold.
Does my electronics product need approval in Vietnam?
If it transmits radio, yes. The Ministry of Information and Communications requires type approval, and the product has to conform to the applicable Vietnamese technical regulation, known as QCVN. Commonly cited regulations include QCVN 18 for radio transmitters and QCVN 117 for wireless LAN equipment. Testing is done by designated bodies and CE or FCC certification does not substitute for Vietnamese conformity. Some consumer product categories also carry a conformity marking requirement before they can be sold.
Are there seasonal risks on the China to Vietnam lane?
The dominant one is Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, which falls at the same time as Chinese New Year. Both countries close for essentially the same holiday, factories stop in China, agencies and carriers stop in Vietnam, and effective lost time is measured in weeks rather than days. Border gates congest before it and take time to clear afterwards. Add the April and May public holidays, National Day in early September, and the pre-Tet production rush for space.