Are information on the label of exported goods are not sold in Vietnam required to be written in Vietnamese?

1. Are information on the label of exported goods are not sold in Vietnam required to be written in Vietnamese?

Pursuant to Article 7 of Decree 43/2017/ND-CP as amended by Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree 111/2021/ND-CP stipulating the language as follows:

1. Mandatory information on the label must be written in Vietnamese, except for the cases exports are not sold in Vietnam and 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.

Thus, for the contents written on the labels of exported goods not for domestic consumption, it is not required to write in Vietnamese. Your business may or may not write the content of the product label in Vietnamese, but must comply with the legal provisions on goods labels in Vietnam.

2. Can supplementary labels on the goods obscure original labels in Vietnam?

According to Article 8 of Decree 43/2017/ND-CP as amended by Article 2 of Decree 111/2021/ND-CP, labeling of supplementary label is as follows:

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

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.

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.

According to this Article, the supplementary label shall be attached to the commodity or commercial container without obscuring mandatory information of the original label. Therefore, a supplementary label may obscure the original label, but must not obscure the required content of the original label in Vietnam.

Best Regards!