Nghị định số 43/2017/NĐ-CP của Chính phủ: Về nhãn hàng hóa

DECREE

ON GOODS LABELS

Pursuant to the Law on Government organization dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on product and goods quality dated November 21, 2007;

Pursuant to the Law on Commerce dated June 14, 2005;

Pursuant to the Law on consumers’ right protection dated November 30, 2010;

At the request of the Minister of Science and Technology;

The Government promulgates a Decree on goods labels.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

1. This Decree deals with information on goods labels, presentation thereof, and state management of labels of goods circulated in Vietnam and imported goods.

2. The following goods shall not be regulated by this Decree:

a) Real property;

b) Goods temporarily imported for re-export; goods temporarily imported for re-export after participation in fairs or exhibitions; goods in transit, goods involved in merchanting trade transactions; transshipped goods;

c) Baggage of incoming/outgoing passengers; personal belongings;

d) Confiscated goods for auction purpose;

dd) Goods being fresh, raw food, processed food without packaging and sold directly to consumers;

e) Commodities being fuel, materials (agricultural products, aquatic products, minerals), construction materials (bricks, tiles, lime, sand, stone, gravel, cement, color soil, mortar, commercial mixed concrete), scrap (in production and business) without packaging and sold directly to consumers;

g) Commodities being petrol and oil, gas (LPG, CNG, LNG), liquid, bulk cement without commercial packaging in containers, tankers;

h) Used goods;

i) Exported goods without domestic use;

k) Goods in the area of security and national defense; goods being radioactive substances, goods to be used for emergencies so as to solve problems of natural disaster, epidemic diseases; railway, waterway, airway vehicles.

Article 2. Regulated entities

This Decree applies to manufacturers and traders of goods in Vietnam; importers of goods; regulatory authorities; relevant organizations and individuals.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

For the purposes of this Decree, the terms below shall be construed as follows:

1. Label means any manuscript, printed copy, drawing, photocopy of words, pictures, images that is stuck, printed, attached to, casted, or carved, a container of goods or on other kinds of materials to be attached to the goods or commercial container;

2. Presentation of goods labels means presenting essential information on a label about its contents so as to enable consumers to identify the goods, give suitable selection, consume, and use; to enable manufacturers and traders to advertise the goods; and to enable regulatory agencies to carry out the inspection and supervision; 

3. Original label means the initial label that is attached to a goods or the goods' commercial package by the manufacturer;

4. Supplementary label means a label representing mandatory information translated from the original in a required foreign language and additional mandatory information in Vietnamese as prescribed by Vietnam’s law that is missing in the original label;

5. Commercial container means a package containing the goods and to be circulated accompany with the goods; commercial containers include the following types: Primary container and secondary container:

a) Primary container means the layer of packaging containing or in direct contact with the goods, forming the shape of goods, or tightly covering goods by their shape;

b) Secondary container means the layer of packaging to be used to cover one or a number of units of the goods in primary container;

6. Simple prepackaged goods means the goods to be packaged without witness of consumers but easily be opened for physical inspection purpose;

7. Circulation of goods means displaying, promoting, transporting or storing goods in the process of goods sale and purchase, except the transport of goods by importers from a checkpoint to a storehouse.

8. Transshipped goods means the goods to be transshipped from an exporting country to an importing country through a customs checkpoint and to be entered into transshipment ports in Vietnam;

9. Quantity means determining the quantity of goods by a unit of measurement or numerical count.

10. Date of manufacture means the point of time by which the final phase of goods or batch is completed;

11. “Expiry date” means the date which signifies the end of the estimated period, after which the goods or the batch of goods probably will not have the quality attributes normally expected.

The expiry date shall be expressed by a period beginning from the date of manufacture to the expiry date or expressed by day, month, and year of expiry. If the expiry date is expressed by month and year, the expiry date shall end at the last date of the expiry month;

12. Ingredient means any substance, including an additive, used in the manufacture and present in the final product although possibly in a modified form.

13. Ingredient quantity means the quantity of any substance, including an additive, used in the manufacture of the goods;

14. Instructions for use, instructions for storage mean information relating to the usage, necessary conditions for goods use or storage; hazardous warning; responses to hazardous incidents;

15. Warning means such information provided to assure the safety for health, assets, and environment during the process of transport, storage, preservation, and use.

16. Specifications include technical standards for value or identifying whether the commodity affects to the consumer's safety, health, the environment, process as established in standards or as established in technical standards or regulations of such product/commodity.

Article 4. Location

1. The label shall be put on the goods or commercial container in such a place that is easily visible, containing required information without being disassembled.

2. If it is inadmissible or impossible to open the primary container, it must have a label containing mandatory information.

Article 5. Size of labels, words and numbers on labels

An entity responsible for labeling shall self-identify the size of labels or words and numbers on labels providing that the following requirements are satisfied:

1. Sufficient mandatory information is available as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 10 hereof;

2. The size of words and numbers in the size that are considered easily visible to the naked eye and meet the following requirements:

a) The size of words and number expressing quantity shall comply with regulations of law on measurement;

b) If the goods is prepackaged food, food additive, or food processing aid, the height of words expressing mandatory label content shall not be lower than 1.2 mm. If one surface area of the container reserved for labeling (excluding the lap at the margin) is less than 80cm², the height of words shall not be lower than 0.9mm.

Article 6. Colors of words, symbols, and pictures on labels

Color of any word, number, drawing, picture, sign, or symbol on a label must be clear. In case of mandatory information, the color of words or numbers and color of background shall ensure the adequate contrast.

Article 7. Language

1. Mandatory information on the label must be written in Vietnamese, except for the cases prescribed in Clause 4 hereof.

2. In case of goods to be produced and circulated domestically, apart from the required language in Clause of this Article, another language is also allowed on their labels. The translations must convey the same meanings in Vietnamese. The font size of words in the other language may not be bigger than that font of words in Vietnamese.

3. If the goods imported into Vietnam of which the label has not represented or represented insufficiently mandatory information in Vietnamese, a supplementary label containing mandatory information in Vietnamese is required and the original label shall remain unchanged. The Vietnamese content shall be consistent with the original label text.

4. The following information is allowed to be written in other languages with Latin letter root:

a) International or botanical name of a drug for human use in case of absence from Vietnamese name;

b) International or botanical name enclosed with formula, structural formula of the chemical, active ingredients, excipients, ingredient of the drug;

c) International or botanical name of ingredient or ingredient quantity of goods if such name is impossible to be translated or possible to be translated but it does not make sense;

d) Name and address of the foreign enterprise relating to the manufacture of the commodity.

Article 8. Labeling of supplementary label

1. The supplementary label shall be used for imported goods as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 7 hereof.

2. The supplementary label shall used for goods not eligible for import or to be returned and circulated in the domestic market.

3. The supplementary label shall be attached to the commodity or commercial container without obscuring mandatory information of the original label.

4. The content of the supplementary label shall contain the Vietnamese translation from the mandatory information of the original label and additional other mandatory information according to the nature of the commodity as prescribed in this Decree. The entity responsible for labeling shall take responsibility for the content’s accuracy and truthfulness. The content displayed on the supplementary label shall also contain additionals without misleading the information of original label and correctly reflect the nature and origin of the goods.

In case of goods not eligible for import or to be returned and circulated in the domestic market, a bold phrase of “Được sản xuất tại Việt Nam” (“Made in Vietnam”) shall be required.

5. The following goods are not subject to labeling of supplementary labels:

a) Spare parts to be imported to replace defective spare parts in warranty of the service provider without being sold in the market;

b) Materials, food additives, food processing aids, spare parts to be imported for manufacture without being sold in the market.

Article 9. Responsibility for labeling

1. The entity responsible for labeling shall, including supplementary label, shall ensure that the labeling is made truthful, clear, precise and correctly reflect the substance of the goods.

2. For goods manufactured for domestic circulation, the manufacturer shall be responsible for labeling.

The entity responsible for labeling shall keep assuming responsibility without regard to an authorization of labeling to another entity.

3. In case goods are not eligible for export and are returned for circulation in the country, organizations and individuals shall, before putting such goods into circulation, label them in accordance with the provisions of this Decree.

4. For goods imported into Vietnam with original labels unconformable with the provisions of this Decree, the importer shall make supplementary labels in accordance with the provisions of Clause 3 Article 7 and Clauses 3,4 Article 8 of this Decree before putting such goods into circulation together with their original labels.

Chapter II

LABEL CONTENTS AND PRESENTATION THEREOF

Article 10. Mandatory information to be shown on label

1. Mandatory information to be shown on a label:

a) Name of goods;

b) Name and address of entity responsible for the goods;

c) Origin of goods;

d) Other details in conformity with the nature of the goods prescribed in Appendix I of this Decree and relevant legislative documents.

2. If the goods acquiring any part of nature appropriate to multiple groups in the Appendix I or not governed by any regulation in legislative documents, the entity responsible for the goods shall, according to the primary use of the goods, self-identify the suitable group for the goods for inserting the information prescribed in Point d Clause 1 of this Article.

3. If the surface area of the goods is insufficient enough for all mandatory information on the label, the information prescribed in Points a, b, and c Clause 1 of this Article shall be given priority, the information prescribed in Point d Clause 1 of this Article shall be shown in the booklet of the goods to which the label shall clearly indicate.

In case of the goods being medical equipment, the representation of the information prescribed in Point d Clause 1 of this Article shall be consistent with Appendix I of this Decree.

Article 11. Name of good

The name of the goods shall be put in the noticeable and legible place on the label.

The name of goods shall be shown in the biggest size in comparison with other mandatory information on the label.

The name presented shall be named by the manufacturer. The name may not mislead the nature, use, and ingredients of the goods.

If the goods is wholly or partly named after an ingredient therein, the ingredient’s quantity shall be presented, except for the case prescribed in Clause 4 Article 13 of this Decree.

Article 12. Name and address of entity responsible for the good

1. The name and address of the entity on the label shall not be abbreviated.

2. For domestically manufactured goods, their labels must show the name of the entity and the address of the manufacturer.

a) The manufacturer being a member of a company, general company, group, union, and another organization shall be entitled to bear name or name and address, and other information of such organization on the label with its consent.

b) In case of goods with same brand name to be manufactured in multiple manufacturers, the entity responsible for the goods is entitled to label its name and address provided that the quality of goods is considered conformable with quality standards which has been declared or registered for circulation and the traceability is guaranteed.

3. For goods imported for circulation in Vietnam, their labels must show the name and address of the manufacturer and the name and address of the importer.

In case of goods being medical equipment imported for circulation in Vietnam, their labels must show the name and address of the manufacturer together with its origin and the name and address of the owner of registration number.

4. For goods imported into Vietnam by organizations or individuals acting as sale agents directly for foreign traders, their labels must show the name and address of the manufacturer and the name and address of the organization or individual acting as agents to sell such goods.

5. For goods of which the label has been franchised out, apart from the information prescribed in Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of this Article, the name and address of the franchisor are also required.

6. With regard to entity engaging in assembly, packing, or bottling, the name and address of such entity shall be presented, and the name or name and address and other information of the manufacturer shall also be presented before the assembly, packing, or bottling with the consent of the manufacturer.

Article 13. Quantities

1. If quantity of the goods is expressed as a unit of measurement, the quantity shall be presented as prescribed in Vietnam’s law on measurement.

2. If quantity of the goods is expressed as a numerical count, the quantity shall be presented according to natural numbers.

3. In case there are different units of goods contained in a commercial container, the quantity of each unit of goods and the aggregate quantity of all units of goods must be shown.

4. If an additive is used for giving color, fragrance, flavor which are enclosed with the name of the goods, its quantity is not required to be presented.

5. If the name of an extract/essence from natural materials is enclosed with the name of the goods, the ingredient quantity of the extract, essence; or the equivalent material quantity to be used for obtaining such an amount of the extract/essence shall be presented.

6. The presentation of quantities on goods labels shall comply with Appendix II of this Decree.

Article 14. Date of manufacture, expiry date

1. Date of manufacture, expiry date shall be written in the "dd-mm-yy(yy)" format (according to solar calendar). If it is presented in another order, such date must be noted in Vietnamese.

Each number indicating the date, month, and year shall be written in two digits, the number indicating the year may particularly be written in four digits. The number indicating date, month, and year of a point of time shall be presented in the same line.

Month of manufacture, if required, shall be written in the “mm-yy(yy)” format (according to solar calendar).

Year of manufacture, if required, shall be written in the “yyyy” format (according to solar calendar).

“date of manufacture", “expiry date” shall be fully presented or abbreviated in capital letters as follows: ”NSX", “HSD” or “HD" (“MFG” or “EXP”).

2. If the date of manufacture and expiry date must be presented as prescribed in Appendix I of this Decree while the date of manufacture has been printed on the label as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the permitted expiry date is the period of time beginning from the date of manufacture and otherwise the expiry date has been printed on the label, the permitted date of manufacture is the period of time before the expiry date.

3. If the goods has been portioned, extracted, refilled, or repacked, the respective date must be presented and the expiry date shall begin from the date of manufacture and be shown on the original label.

4. The presentation of date of manufacture and expiry date shall be specified in Section 1 Appendix III of this Decree.

The goods that are presented in the manners other than those prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article shall be consistent with Section 2 Appendix III of this Decree.

Article 15. Origin

1. Manufacturers and importers shall self-identify and label the origin of goods truthfully, accurately, and consistently with law on origin of goods or agreements to which Vietnam has acceded or signed.

2. Labeling of origin of goods: Labeling the goods with “produced in” or “manufactured in”, “made in”, “origin” or produced by” and the country’s name or region from which the goods is produced.

The country’s name or region from which the goods is produced shall not be abbreviated forms.

Article 16. Ingredients, ingredient quantities

1. Ingredients to be presented shall include names of materials, including additives which are used in the manufacture and present in the final product although possibly in a modified form.

If the names of ingredients are shown on labels of goods for the purpose of attracting attention to the goods, the quantities of such ingredients must be shown, except for the case prescribed in Clause 4 Article 13 of this Decree.

2. Ingredient quantities to be presented shall include ingredients together with the quantity of each ingredient. Depending on the nature and state of goods, ingredient quantity shown may be the weight of such ingredient per unit of product or one of these ratios: weight to weight; weight to volume; volume to volume, percentage of weight; or percentage of volume.

If quantities of the goods' ingredients are expressed as units of measurement, the quantities shall be presented in accordance with Vietnam's law.

3. For certain kinds of goods, ingredients and ingredient quantities shall be presented as follows:

a) For foodstuffs, their ingredients must be listed in descending order predominance by weight.

For additives, the name of the category of additives and the name of the additive and International Numbering System - INS (if any) must be presented; for additives which are flavorings, sweeteners or colorings, apart from the above-mentioned contents, whether such additives are “natural”, “nature-identical”, “synthetic”, or “artificial” must be listed;

b) For drugs for human use, vaccines, medical bio-products, biologicals, veterinary drugs and plant protection drugs, the ingredients and content of active elements must be shown;

c) For cosmetics, their ingredients, including additives, must be shown;

d) For domestic metal appliances and articles created from a principal material which determines their usage value, the names of ingredients of the principal material shall be shown together with the name of the goods but the goods’ ingredients or ingredient quantities are not required to be shown.

4. Ingredients or ingredient quantities of goods which are presented in ways different from those stipulated in Clause 3 of this Article are included in Appendix IV to this Decree.

Article 17. Specifications, warnings

1. Specifications and tolerance thereof (if any), warnings must be consistent with relevant law provisions. In case of unavailability of specific law provisions, the entity responsible for labeling shall self-identify the specifications, tolerance thereof and warnings of the goods. The warnings shall be presented in forms of letters, pictures, or symbols in conformity with international practice and relevant regulations.

The tolerance range to be presented shall be consistent with relevant law provisions and applied standards. If tolerance is presented with a specific value, it may not be shown in such a manner that gives advantages to the goods.

2. Electrical or electronic appliances, machinery and equipment must be presented with essential specifications.

3. Drugs for human use, vaccines, medical bio-products, biologicals must be presented with:

a) Indications, uses and contraindications (if any) of medicines;

b) Registration number, import permit, manufacture lot batch, preparation form and packing specifications;

c) Signs which should be taken into account for each kind of drug according to current regulations.

4. Veterinary drugs, plant protection products shall be presented with:

a) Indications, uses and contraindications (if any) of medicines;

b) Registration number, manufacture lot batch, preparation form and packing specifications;

c) Signs which should be taken into account for each kind of drug according to current regulations.

5. For foodstuff to be presented with nutritional value, the entity responsible for the goods shall label the range of nutritional value in accordance with relevant law provisions and applied standards. If a specific value is required, the mean value of nutritional value shall be presented.

6. For ingredients or substances in compound ingredients of goods of special categories which contain preservatives with prescribed dosage and included on the list of those which may be allergic or harmful to humans, animals and the environment, the names of preservatives accompanying these ingredients must be shown.

7. For goods or goods ingredients which have been irradiated or genetically modified, their labels shall be presented in accordance with regulations of law and treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party.

8. Specifications; warnings of the goods to be presented in a manner other than those prescribed in this Article shall be presented in accordance with Appendix V of this Decree and relevant law provisions.

Article 18. Other information to be presented

1. The entity responsible for the goods may label codes, bar codes, standard marks, regulation marks and other information (if any). Such additional information must not contravene the laws and must be truthful, precise and true to the substance of goods, not conceal or mislead the mandatory information on the label.

2. A label may not represent any picture or information relating to sovereignty dispute and other sensitive information which may affect security, politics, economy, society, diplomatic relations, and find tradition of Vietnam.

Article 19. Mandatory information regarding goods to be packaged simply, goods in bulk without commercial containers

For goods to be packaged simply, goods in bulk which are food additives, chemicals, without commercial containers to be sold directly to consumers, sellers shall make public the following information:

1. Name of goods;

2. Expiry date;

3. Safety warning (if any);

4. Name and address of entity responsible for the goods;

5. Instructions for use.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 20. Ministry of Science and Technology

1. Formulate and request competent authorities to promulgate or promulgate within its competence legislative documents on labels.

2. Take charge and cooperate with Ministries and agencies in inspecting and taking actions against violations in terms of labels.

3. Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality affiliated to the Ministry of Science and Technology shall assist the Minister of Science and Technology to carry out the centralized management of labels.

Article 21. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Governmental agencies

1. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Governmental agencies shall, within their functions, tasks, powers cooperate with the Ministry of Science and Technology in managing labels.

2. According to the reality of management in the areas as assigned, Ministries, ministerial-level agencies shall provide guidelines for presentation of goods labels with the prior consent of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Article 22. People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities

The People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall, within their tasks and entitlements manage and inspect the labels in the provinces.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 23. Entry in force

1. This Decree comes into force from June 1, 2017.

2. The Government's Decree No. 89/2006/ND-CP dated August 30, 2006 on labels shall be annulled from the date on which this Decree is annulled.

Article 24. Transitional provision

1. Those goods that were labeled in accordance with the Government's Decree No. 89/2006/ND-CP dated August 30, 2006 on labels and produced, imported, circulated, or used before the effective date of this Decree shall keep being circulated or used until its expiry date.

2. Those labels and commercial containers attached to labels in accordance with the Government's Decree No. 89/2006/ND-CP that have been produced or printed before the effective date of this Decree shall keep being used not exceeding 2 years from the effective date of this Decree.

Article 25. Implementation

1. The Minister of Science and Technology shall provide guidelines for this Decree.

2. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of Governmental agencies, Presidents of People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall implement this Decree./.

APPENDIX I

MANDATORY INFORMATION TO BE PRESENTED BY NATURE
(Issued together with the Government's Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP dated April 14, 2017)

APPENDIX II

PRESENTATION OF QUANTITIES ON GOODS LABELS
(Issued together with the Government's Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP dated April 14, 2017)

1. A number of units of measurement to be presented as quantities

The units of quantity shall be presented in full name or symbol of the units of measurement.

2. Presentation of quantities

APPENDIX III

PRESENTATION OF DATE OF MANUFACTURE, EXPIRY DATE AND OTHER POINTS OF TIME FOR GOODS
(Issued together with the Government's Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP dated April 14, 2017)

1. Presentation of date of manufacture, expiry date

2. Presentation of other points of time

APPENDIX IV

PRESENTATION OF INGREDIENTS, INGREDIENT QUANTITIES OF GOODS
(Issued together with the Government's Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP dated April 14, 2017)

1. Presentation of ingredients, ingredient quantities prescribed in Article 16 of this Decree.

2. Other presentation ways of ingredients, ingredient quantities

APPENDIX V

OTHER PRESENTATION WAYS IN TERMS OF SPECIFICATIONS, WARNINGS OF HYGIENE AND SAFETY OF GOODS
(Issued together with the Government's Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP dated April 14, 2017)