Customs authorities will permit the immediate clearance of terrestrial animal products and fresh or frozen seafood shipments intended for human consumption as soon as enterprises present their import quarantine certificates.

The Customs Department has just issued an urgent dispatch guiding the inspection of food safety for imported animal products.

According to new regulations by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, starting September 1, 2026, all routine and strict food safety inspection activities for imported foods under the Ministry's purview have been officially decentralized to agencies designated by the Chairpersons of provincial-level People's Committees.

However, this handover of oversight took place right at a time when detailed implementation guidelines were lacking, leaving many shipments of animal-derived foods in a passive state due to the inability to identify the designated specialized inspection unit.

Difficulties were further compounded as importing businesses dealing in terrestrial animal products and fresh, frozen, or unprocessed seafood for food use had previously run into major paperwork hurdles. Although these items are not subject to mandatory self-declaration under general food safety regulations, reduced inspection registration dossiers still required self-declaration documents, creating a prolonged administrative bottleneck.

To prevent the risk of supply chain disruptions, on September 9, 2026, the Department of Animal Health issued a dispatch requesting coordination with the Customs Department to untangle obstacles for the business community. Immediately afterward, customs authorities issued an urgent dispatch instructing regional customs branches on a unified temporary handling plan while awaiting the enactment of new legal normative documents.

Accordingly, pending the issuance of new legal normative documents, customs authorities will continue applying the handling mechanism outlined in previous guidelines under Official Dispatch 358/TY-KD (dated March 8, 2019) and Official Dispatch 3581/BNN-QLCL (dated May 23, 2019). Specifically, for shipments of terrestrial animal products and fresh or frozen seafood intended for food use, customs authorities will permit immediate clearance once enterprises present import quarantine certificates in Form 15b or Form 10TS issued by veterinary authorities.

This mechanism helps streamline administrative procedures and expedite cargo release while maintaining disease safety controls.

The Department of Animal Health affirmed that all commodities cleared through this fast-track solution have already undergone inspection and assessment, fully meeting import requirements.

Furthermore, processing facilities in exporting countries must apply advanced quality management systems such as GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000, IFS, BRC, FSSC 22000, or equivalents. The list of facilities eligible to export to Vietnam has also been publicly updated on the Department's website.

The timely intervention between the two agencies not only helps streamline administrative procedures and speed up cargo release, but also defuses the risk of disrupting the imported food supply chain during the policy transition period.

Source: Vnbusiness