The Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP deals with information on good labels, presentation thereof, and state management of labels of goods circulated in Vietnam and imported goods.
Accoring to the Decree, the label shall be put on the good or commercial container in such a place that is easily visible, containing required information without being disassembled. If it is inadmissible or impossible to open the primary container, it must have a label containing mandatory information.
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;
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. 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. If the good 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.
The name and address of the entity on the label shall not be abbreviated. For domestically manufactured goods, their labels must show the name of the entity and the address of the manufacturer. 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. In case of goods with same brand name to be manufactured in multiple manufacturers, the entity responsible for the good 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.
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.
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. For a good 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.
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”).