In recent years, customs authorities have actively combated smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods and infringements of intellectual property rights (“IPRs”) at Vietnam’s borders. Despite the relentless effort of the customs authorities, the enforcement practice practice has revealed that certain existing provisions do not meet practical needs, including shortcomings in the centralized dossier-receipt mechanism and a legal gap in applying control and preventive measures to IPRs infringements involving goods in transit.
As a result, on 27 August 2026, the Law No. 11/2026/QH16 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Customs Law (the “2026 Amended Customs Law”) was adopted by the Vietnam National Assembly, which will come to effect after 01 March 2027.
1. Changes in the decentralization of customs dossier receipt
Currently, according to Circular 06/2026/TT-BTC effective from 01 March 2026, IPRs holders and their authorized representative must submit application dossiers for customs inspection and supervision to the Department of Customs via:
- The customs electronic data processing system; and
- A paper dossier submitted directly to the single-window unit of the Department of Customs or sent by post to the Department of Customs.
It is notable that electronic filing has significantly reduced administrative procedures where all received and processed dossiers remains essentially centralized at the Department of Customs. However, in case the electronic system fails or direct handling is required, this mechanism may cause additional delay and difficulty for IPR holders in localities whom are far from the Department of Customs since the paper application dossier have to be transferred from the central level to the relevant customs unit.
In light of the above, from 01 March 2027 onward, the process will become much simpler and more convenient, as the 2026 Amended Customs Law provides that “IPR holders, directly or through their lawfully authorized representatives, may submit application dossiers for inspection and supervision of goods related to IPRs to a convenient Regional Customs Sub-Department.” Accordingly, IPR holders may directly select a “convenient Regional Customs Sub-Department” to file dossiers and pursue requests for rights protection; at the same time, the dossier-processing time limit is reduced from 20 working days to 10 working days.
This amended and supplanted facilitates IPR holders and expedites direct submission to the most convenient Regional Customs Sub-Department rather than through the Department of Customs, as a result it is also significantly reduce the dossier-processing time.
It can be said that this change is particularly necessary where the risk of counterfeit goods is concentrated along certain transport routes, seaports or border gates where the responsible local customs can take action immediately upon the request since the shorten the processing chain.
2. “Good in transit” is regulated in Customs Law
Under the current Customs Law, Section 8 of Chapter III and Articles 73 and 74 primarily govern “exports” and “imports”, without addressing a special category: “goods in transit”. Meanwhile, the Intellectual Property Law already contains provisions on the transportation of goods counterfeiting IPRs. This gap leaves transit goods outside the mechanism for suspension of customs procedures, creating opportunities for IPR infringements domestically and internationally.
Accordingly, the 2026 Amended Customs Law adds goods in transit to the relevant provisions and to the scope of customs inspection, supervision and suspension of customs procedures in relation to IPRs, alongside exported and imported goods. With such amendment, finally, customs authorities now have a legal basis to suspend customs procedures and take enforcement action against goods in transit that infringe IPRs.
At the same time, Law No. 11/2026/QH16 also amends Articles 199, 200 and 216 of the Intellectual Property Law to consistently include goods in transit within border control measures and adds the following mechanism: “If, within 10 working days from the date of notification, the IPR holder does not initiate a civil action and the customs authority does not decide to accept the case for handling under administrative violation procedures, the customs authority shall continue customs procedures for the shipment.” This mechanism enables customs authorities to handle cases swiftly and efficiently in accordance with law.
3. Assessment
Based on the above-mentioned updates, from 01 March 2027, customs supervision and IPR enforcement at Vietnam’s borders will become more effective and practical, faster, and broader in scope. Therefore, IPRs holder need to be more proactive in developing databases for identifying genuine and counterfeit goods, providing information on transport routes, border gates, import-export enterprises or entities at risk of infringement, and maintaining regular coordination with customs authorities. By that, once the Law takes effect and relevant implementing instruments are issued, selecting the appropriate Regional Customs Sub-Department and providing targeted information may become important to improving the effectiveness of border inspection and supervision measures.
INVESTIP is always ready to assist our Valued Clients in enforcing and protecting IPRs at the border.
By Phan Ba Dat
Enforcement Department
