Vietnam — agent-bev Library

Market status

Licensed. Alcohol other than beer is channelled through a licensing system for production, import, distribution, wholesale, retail and on-premise sale. Beer is regulated under the alcohol-harm and food-safety framework; the currently sourced licence detail is for alcohol other than beer, not a separate beer-wholesale licence. Business-to-business (B2B) online sale is permitted only within the underlying authorised channel and with age-screening measures.

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Who can trade

Import: For alcohol other than beer, an enterprise holding a wine/alcohol distribution licence may import and is responsible for quality and food safety. An industrial alcohol producer may import or entrust the import of semi-finished alcohol for production of finished products. Imported alcohol must enter through international border gates and comply with labelling, alcohol-stamp and imported-food safety controls.

Wholesale and distribution: A distribution licence requires an enterprise and a distribution system in at least two provinces or centrally run cities, with at least one wholesale trader in each covered locality unless the enterprise uses its own branch or business location. A wholesale licence requires an enterprise, a wholesale system in the relevant province or centrally run city with at least one retail trader, unless the enterprise uses its own branch or business location, and supplier documentation from an authorised producer, distributor or wholesaler. The Ministry of Industry and Trade public-service portal identifies provincial-level handling for distribution licensing and the provincial Department of Industry and Trade route for wholesale licensing.

Beer trade: Beer and alcoholic beverages are listed in the food-safety management group of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. A beer-specific ordinary B2B wholesale licence or exemption rule separate from food-business and alcohol-harm controls: Not yet sourced.

Business-to-business (B2B) online sale: E-commerce sellers and e-commerce service providers handling alcohol or beer must use measures to prevent under-18 access, including age declaration before access, purchaser identity and cashless-payment information at transaction, restrictions on links or promotion to under-18 accounts or channels, and age checks on delivery where age is doubtful. Independent marketplace, broker, payment-intermediary and cross-border platform treatment for wholesale-only B2B transactions: Not yet sourced.

Foreign-invested distributor overlays and additional local premises permissions: Not yet sourced.

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Customs and duty

Tariff headings: Beer: 2203. Beer made from malt. Wine: 2204. Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wine, and certain grape must. Cider: 2206. Other fermented beverages, including cider, perry, mead and saké, and qualifying mixtures. Spirits: 2208. Undenatured ethyl alcohol below 80% alcohol by volume, spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages.

Import duty: Vietnam’s import duty is determined under the Law on Export Duty and Import Duty, the current preferential import tariff and any applicable special preferential tariff. The tariff is published in government tariff decrees, including Decree 26/2023 and later amending decrees. Treatment depends on the full tariff line, origin, product description and any preferential-origin proof. A four-digit heading alone does not establish the payable duty.

Excise: Special consumption tax applies to alcohol and beer. The structure is ad valorem, with separate categories for alcohol of 20 degrees or higher, alcohol under 20 degrees, and beer. Cider and other fermented beverages require classification against the legal definitions and the product’s alcoholic strength; a separate named cider excise category: Not yet sourced.

Territorial treatment: Goods imported across Vietnam’s border and goods brought from a non-tariff zone into the domestic market fall within the export-duty/import-duty framework, subject to the statutory exceptions and exemptions. Movements involving non-tariff zones and bonded or customs-supervised arrangements require separate customs treatment. Detailed duty, special-consumption-tax and value-added-tax treatment for a proposed non-tariff-zone or bonded movement: Not yet sourced.

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Labelling

Required language(s): Mandatory label content for goods circulated in Vietnam is in Vietnamese. Imported products may use a Vietnamese supplementary label translating mandatory original-label content and adding missing mandatory content, while keeping the original label.

Mandatory warnings: Food labels include warning information where required or where applicable. Advertising of alcohol under 15 degrees and beer must carry prescribed harm-prevention warnings, including traffic-accident, fetal-health or under-18 wording. A general physical-label alcohol-health or pregnancy warning for beverage alcohol: Not yet sourced.

Alcohol strength: Alcohol products under the “rượu” label group must state ethanol content. Drinks other than alcohol in that label group, including beer as a beverage, follow the food and beverage mandatory label particulars.

Allergen lines: Packaged processed foods must disclose specified ingredients when present, including gluten-containing cereals, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk including lactose, tree nuts and sulphites at or above the prescribed threshold.

Origin lines: Imported food labels state the country of origin. Where packing occurs in a country different from the producing country, the final packing country is also stated.

Wine particulars: Wine falls within the alcohol label group and wine labels also require storage instructions. Additional wine-specific particulars beyond the general alcohol and packaged-food rules: Not yet sourced.

Product self-declaration and label registration: Packaged processed foods are generally subject to product self-declaration with food-safety test evidence unless a registration category or exemption applies. Beer, wine, spirits and other alcoholic beverages fall under the Ministry of Industry and Trade food-safety management list. Separate pre-approval or registration of the commercial label itself: Not yet sourced.

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Age and sale limits

Legal purchase age: 18. Sale or supply of alcohol or beer to a person under 18 is prohibited, and e-commerce sellers must prevent under-18 access and ensure the receiver is at least 18 when there is doubt.

Sale-place limits: Alcohol and beer may not be sold at prohibited locations under the alcohol-harm law. Opening a new on-premise alcohol or beer outlet within 100 metres of the boundary of a healthcare facility, nursery, kindergarten, preschool or general education school is prohibited under the cited enforcement provisions.

Sale-hour and channel limits: Nationally fixed alcohol sale hours for B2B wholesale: Not yet sourced. Regional or municipal trading-hour restrictions and local dry-area rules: Not yet sourced.

Regional layers: Provincial, district and commune-level People’s Committees have implementation, communication, inspection and enforcement responsibilities for alcohol-harm prevention, including local management of craft alcohol and prevention of illicit, unsafe or unknown-origin products.

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Protected names

Protection framework: Geographical indications are protected through Vietnam’s intellectual-property system and recorded by the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam. The implementing rules treat use of a protected geographical indication on wine or spirits, including translation, transliteration or terms such as type, style or imitation for non-originating products, as an infringing element.

Verified examples: Cognac, Scotch Whisky and Tequila are protected for spirits or alcohol. Champagne, Bordeaux and Napa Valley are protected for wine. Bayerisches Bier, Münchener Bier and Českobudějovické pivo are protected for beer. These examples are not exhaustive.

Vietnamese beverage example: Na Hang is listed for rượu ngô men lá. Complete domestic wine, spirit, beer and cider protections: Not yet sourced.

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GTIN authority

Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) member organisation: GS1 Vietnam, operated by the National Numbering and Barcodes Center. GS1 Vietnam states that it is Vietnam’s sole representative at GS1 International and manages the national GS1 code bank 893.

Sources

Not yet sourced

Beer-specific ordinary B2B wholesale licence or exemption rule; independent online B2B marketplace, broker, payment-intermediary and cross-border platform treatment; foreign-invested distributor overlays and additional local premises permissions; separate named cider excise category; detailed non-tariff-zone or bonded tax treatment for a proposed movement; general physical-label alcohol-health or pregnancy warning; additional wine-specific particulars beyond general rules; separate commercial-label pre-approval or registration; nationally fixed B2B wholesale sale hours, regional or municipal trading-hour restrictions and local dry-area rules; complete domestic wine, spirit, beer and cider protections: Not yet sourced.