New regulations of Vietnam’s Government on trade in alcohol

Decree No. 105/2017/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government applies to alcohol traders and organizations and individuals involved in alcohol business.

According to rules for management of alcohol of this Decree, trade in alcohol shall be subject to the list of conditional business lines. Any organization or individual producing mass of alcohol or home alcohol for the purposes of trade, distribution, wholesaling, retailing or sale of on-site consumption of alcohol shall obtain a license mentioned herein. Organizations and individuals producing home alcohol to sell to an enterprise having the license for mass production of alcohol for re-preparation shall register with the People's Committee of commune.

Types of alcohol regulated by technical regulations shall have a declaration of conformity which is registered with a competent authority before being sold on the market.

Types of alcohol that are not regulated by technical regulations shall have a declaration of food safety which is registered with a competent state authority before being sold on the market until corresponding technical regulations are issued and come into force.

Procedures for submitting the declaration of conformity and declaration of food safety shall comply with regulations of the Law on Food safety, the Government’s Decree specifying certain articles of the Law on Food safety and other relevant legislative documents.

Alcohol produced for domestic consumption and imported alcohol shall be labeled, except for home alcohol production for selling to the enterprise having the license for mass production of alcohol for re-preparation; it is not required that semi-finished alcohol imported be labeled.

Violations against regulations of law on trade in alcohol are specified in Decree No. 105/2017/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, including:

One, trade in alcohol without a license or not suitable for contents stated in the license specified herein.

Two, use of ethanol that fails to comply with regulations, industrial alcohol or other banned materials for production or preparation of alcohol.

Three, leasing out or lending the certificate of eligibility for trade in alcohol.

Four, display, purchase, sale or consumption of alcohol without label; alcohol that fails to meet standards, quality or regulations on food safety; or alcohol without origin.

Five, selling alcohol to people under the age of 18, sale of alcohol whose concentration is 15 degrees or over on the Internet, or sale of alcohol by an automatic selling machine.

Six, commercial or promotion against regulations of law.

Moreover, activities of export, temporary import for re-export, temporary export for re-import, border-gate transfer, and transit of wine; alcohol import activities for business at duty-free shops; importing alcohol from abroad into non-tariff zones, buying and selling alcohol between non-tariff zones, trading alcohol in non-tariff areas, bonded warehouse activities; imported wine as luggage, movable property, gifts, gifts, samples within the tax-exempt quota, considered tax-free are not within the scope of regulation of Decree No. 105/2017/NĐ-CP.

Source: Finance Magazine

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