CIRCULAR

AMENDMENTS TO CIRCULAR NO. 30/2011/TT-BTTTT DATED OCTOBER 31, 2011 OF THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS ON CERTIFICATION AND SUBMISSION OF DECLARATIONS OF CONFORMITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMODITIES

Pursuant to the Law on Telecommunications dated November 23, 2009;

Pursuant to the Law on Radio Frequency dated November 23, 2009;

Pursuant to the Law on Technical Regulations and Standards dated June 29, 2006;

Pursuant to the Law on Quality of Products and Goods dated November 21, 2007;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP dated August 01, 2007 on guidelines for some Articles of the Law on Technical Regulations and Standards; Government’s Decree No. 78/2018/ND-CP dated May 16, 2018 on amendments to some Articles of the Government’s Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP dated August 01, 2008 on guidelines for some Articles of the Law on Technical Regulations and Standards;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP dated August 01, 2007 on guidelines for some Articles of the Law on Quality of Products and Goods; Government’s Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018 on amendments to some Articles of the Government’s Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP dated December 31, 2008 on guidelines for some Articles of the Law on Quality of Products and Goods;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 25/2011/ND-CP dated April 06, 2011 on guidelines for some Articles of the Law on Telecommunications;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 17/2017/ND-CP dated February 17, 2017 defining functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of the Ministry of Information and Communications;

At the request of the General Director of the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority,

The Minister of Information and Communications hereby promulgates a Circular on amendments to the Circular No. 30/2011/TT-BTTTT dated October 31, 2011 of the Minister of Information and Communications on certification and submission of declarations of conformity of information technology and communications commodities.

Article 1. Amendments to the Circular No. 30/2011/TT-BTTTT dated October 31, 2011 of the Minister of Information and Communications on certification and submission of declarations of conformity of information technology and communications commodities

1. Clause 4 of Article 2 is amended and Clause 9 is added to Article 2 as follows:

“4. “certification body” means a body which is appointed by the Ministry of Information and Communications to certify commodities on the List of potentially unsafe information technology and communications commodities under management of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

9. “shipment” means a predetermined quantity of goods which are of the same type, have the same name, uses, brand, category and technical specifications, are supplied by a manufacturer and supported by the same import dossier.”

2. Article 11 is amended as follows:

“Article 11. Methods for conformity certification

1. Conformity shall be certified using one of the following methods mentioned in Article 5 of the Circular No. 28/2012/TT-BKHCN dated December 12, 2012 of the Ministry of Science and Technology:

- Method 1: Testing a representative sample.

- Method 5: Testing a representative sample and assessment of the manufacturing process; carrying out supervision by testing samples collected from the place of manufacturing or on the market in association with assessment of the manufacturing process.

- Method 7: Testing and assessment of a shipment of products/goods.

2. Principles of application:

a) Method 1: applied to issue the certificate of conformity to commodities manufactured on the line that has been granted the certificate of quality management system (ISO 9001 or equivalent).

b) Method 5: applied to issue the certificate of conformity to commodities manufactured on the line that has not yet been granted the certificate of quality management system (ISO 9001 or equivalent) but a product manufacturing and product quality assurance and monitoring process is available for assessment purpose.

c) Method 7: applied to issue the certificate of conformity to commodities to which Method 1 or Method 5 fails to be applied.

3. The certification method shall be written on the certificate of conformity and serve as the basis for determining scope of the certificate of conformity and method for monitoring and assurance of commodity quality after certification.”

3. Article 16 is amended as follows:

“Article 16. Procedures for submission of declarations of conformity

1. Regarding a domestically manufactured commodity:

a) The declarant shall prepare 01 set of documents for registration of declaration of conformity as specified in Clause 1 Article 17 and submit it to the receiving authority specified in Clause 3 Article 17 of this Circular.

b) Document processing

b.1. If the documents for registration of declaration of conformity are not adequate as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 17 of this Article, within two (02) working days from the date on which such documents are received, the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority shall request the declarant in writing to provide additional documents. Within fifteen (15) working days from the date on which the additional documents are requested in writing by the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority, if additional documents are not provided as prescribed, the documents for registration of declaration of conformity shall be rejected.

b.2. If the documents for registration of declaration of conformity are adequate as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 17 of this Article, within five (05) working days from the date on which such documents are received, the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority shall verify its validity. To be specific.

b.2.1. If the documents are satisfactory, the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority shall give a notification of receipt of documents for registration of declaration of conformity to the declarant (using the Form in the Appendix 3 hereof).

b.2.2. If the documents are unsatisfactory, the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority shall provide written explanation for rejection of documents to the declarant.

c) The effective period of the notification of receipt of the declaration of conformity is:

c.1. within three (03) years from the date of signature (if the declaration of conformity is submitted according to Point a Clause 2 Article 4 of the Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP dated December 31, 2008 amended by Clause 2 Article 1 of the Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018).

c.2. the same as that of the certificate of conformity or within three (03) years from the date of signature (if the declaration of conformity is submitted according to Point b Clause 2 Article 4 of the Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP dated December 31, 2008 amended by Clause 2 Article 1 of the Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018).”

d) Regarding commodities that are exempt from having their declarations of conformity submitted as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 8 of this Circular, the organization or individual shall send a document about purposes of such commodities and is not required to submit documents for registration of declarations of conformity.

2. Regarding imports

a) The importer shall prepare an application for registration of inspection of quality of imports as prescribed in Point a Clause 2a Article 7 of the Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP dated December 31, 2008 added by Clause 3 Article 1 of the Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018 and Clause 2 Article 4 of the Decree No. 154/2018/ND-CP dated November 09, 2018 and submit it to the receiving authority specified in Clause 3 Article 17 of this Circular or through the National Single Window Portal.

b) Within fifteen (15) working days, the importer shall complete the application as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 17 hereof and submit 01 set of application to the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 17 hereof.

c) Regarding commodities that are exempt from having their declarations of conformity submitted as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 8 of this Circular, the importer shall send a document about purposes of such commodities and is not required to perform the task specified in Point b of this Clause.”

4. Article 17 is amended as follows:

“Article 17. Documents for registration of declarations of conformity and receiving authorities

1. Documents for registration of declaration of conformity of a domestically manufactured commodity include:

a) A declaration of conformity, which is made using the Appendix III hereof.

b) If the organization has not had an enterprise ID number or the individual has not had a PIN, the organization or individual shall submit copies of one of the following documents together the documents for registration of declarations of conformity:

b.1. Business registration certificate; Establishment decision/license, Investment certificate/license (if the organization has not had an enterprise ID number);

b.2. ID card/passport (if the individual has not had a PIN number).

The organization or individual shall only submit such documents when registering declaration of conformity for the first time or when making any change to the abovementioned documents.

c) Specimen of the conformity mark in case of registering declaration of conformity for the first time or making any change to the specimen of the conformity mark.

d) If the commodity is included in the list specified in Point a Clause 1 Article 6 of this Circular: a copy of the certificate of conformity issued to the manufacturer.

dd) If the commodity is included in the list specified in Point b Clause 1 Article 6 of this Circular:

dd.1. A self-assessment report, containing:

- Name of the organization/individual; address; telephone; fax;

- Name of the commodity.

- Manufacturer.

- Technical regulation code.

- Number and date of issue of the test report. This test report shall be provided by the testing unit that serves submission of declarations of conformity specified in Clause 2 Article 5 of this Circular to the organization or individual that prepares the self-assessment report.

- A conclusion that the commodity has complied with the technical regulation.

- A commitment that quality of the commodity has complied with an applicable technical regulation/standard and the organization/individual takes legal responsibility for commodity quality and self-assessment result.

The self-assessment report shall be prepared according to the conformity self-declaration result or conformity assessment result.

dd.2. Vietnamese or English technical documentation, which sufficiently specifies name, code, specifications and photographs of the commodity, and manufacturer.

2. Documents for registration of declarations of conformity of imports include:

a) Specimen of the conformity mark in case of registering declaration of conformity for the first time or making any change to the specimen of the conformity mark.

b) If the imports are included in the list specified in Point a Clause 1 Article 6 of this Circular: A copy of the certificate of conformity issued to the importer or copy of the certificate of conformity issued to the manufacturer, enclosed with a document about the use of certificate of conformity submitted by the manufacturer/manufacturer’s representative in Vietnam to the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority, containing name, address and enterprise ID number of the importer; commodity code (this document is only submitted once or when any change thereto is made).

c) If the commodity is included in the list specified in Point b Clause 1 Article 6 of this Circular:

c.1. A self-assessment report prepared by the importer or a copy of the self-assessment report prepared by the manufacturer, enclosed with a document about the use of the self-assessment report submitted by the manufacturer/manufacturer’s representative in Vietnam to the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority, containing name, address and enterprise ID number of the importer; commodity code (this document is only submitted once or when any change thereto is made). A self-assessment report contains:

- Name of the organization/individual; address; telephone; fax;

- Name of the commodity.

- Manufacturer.

- Technical regulation code.

- Number and date of issue of the test report. This test report shall be provided by the testing unit that serves submission of declarations of conformity specified in Clause 2 Article 5 of this Circular to the organization or individual that prepares the self-assessment report.

- A conclusion that the commodity has complied with a technical regulation.

- A commitment that quality of the commodity has complied with an applicable technical regulation/standard and the organization/individual takes legal responsibility for commodity quality and self-assessment result.

The self-assessment report shall be prepared according to the conformity self-declaration result or conformity assessment result.

c.2. Vietnamese or English technical documentation, which sufficiently specifies name, code, specifications and photographs of the commodity, and manufacturer.

3. Receiving authorities:

Organizations and individuals shall submit documents:

a) through the online public service portal of a regulatory authority (Vietnam Telecommunications Authority or Ministry of Information and Communications).

b) in person or by post to the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority (Address: 68 Duong Dinh Nghe, Yen Hoa Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi City).”

5. Clause 3 Article 18 is amended as follows:

“3. The organization or individual is only allowed to use the conformity mark after registering it at the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority. In case the conformity mark is invalid, within three (03) working days, the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority shall request the organization or individual in writing to make necessary rectifications.”

6. Clause 1 of Article 24 is amended as follows:

“1. The organization or individual shall re-submit a declaration of conformity in the following cases:

a) The technical design or the commodity that has its declaration of conformity submitted changes specifications of the commodity.

b) There are changes to contents of the documents for registration of declarations of conformity.

c) The certificate of conformity expires.”

7. The “Form of the certificate of conformity” in the Appendix I is replaced with the Form No. 01 in the Appendix hereof.

8. The “Report on conformity certification” in the Appendix VI is replaced with the Form No. 02 in the Appendix hereof.

9. Article 3, Article 9, Article 13, Article 14, Article 22, Article 26, Points c and e Clause 1 Article 27 and the “Application form for conformity certification” in the Appendix II are repealed.

Article 2. Implementation

The Director of the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority, heads of affiliates of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Directors of information and communications authorities in provinces and central-affiliated cities and relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for the implementation of this Circular.

Article 3. Effect

1. This Circular comes into force from July 01, 2020.

2. Clause 5, Clause 7, Clause 9, Clause 10 and Clause 12 Article 1 of the Circular No. 15/2018/TT-BTTTT dated November 15, 2018 of the Minister of Information and Communications are repealed.

3. Any unexpired certificate of conformity or Notification of receipt of declaration of conformity issued before the effective date of this Circular shall remain effective until its expiry.

Article 4. Responsibility for implementation

Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority affiliated to the Ministry of Information and Communications for consideration.