What are the steps to register a food product in Vietnam?

6 stages: confirm product classification, appoint an in-market registration holder, compile the technical dossier, product self-declaration or registration filing, label artwork approval, customs clearance and first import. Each is set out on this page with the authority that handles it.

Which authority regulates imported food in Vietnam?

Vietnam Ministry of Health, Vietnam Food Administration, Vietnam Customs. Which one you deal with depends on the stage: classification, the product filing and customs clearance are not handled by the same body.

What are the food labelling requirements in Vietnam?

Plan artwork as a gating item, not a finishing touch. Secondary labelling in Vietnamese is expected on imported food, and the particulars that must appear, how they must be expressed, and whether the artwork is reviewed as part of the registration are decided by the destination regulator rather than by your printer.

Market · Vietnam

Exporting Canadian food to Vietnam

Agreement status and duty implication

In force: CPTPP. Global Affairs Canada lists the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership as in force between Canada and Vietnam. There is no separate bilateral Canada–Vietnam free trade agreement; Vietnam is also one of the ten ASEAN member states covered by the Canada–ASEAN FTA, which remains in negotiation and is not yet a source of preferential treatment.

Whether a preferential rate applies to your product on this route, and what it is: turns on two things: the agreement position for Vietnam, and where your specific tariff line sits within it. Both are published above and on every product page with the source they came from and the date we last checked. Where a figure reads "available on request", it means we have not confirmed that line yet. It does not mean the duty is zero, and you should not plan a landed cost as though it were.

Registration pathway

01 · Confirm product classification
Vietnam Ministry of Health
Determines whether the product self-declares or requires registration before import.
Typical duration: On request
02 · Appoint an in-market registration holder
Commercial arrangement
The filing is made by an entity established in-market. Settle who that will be, and what happens to the filing if the relationship ends, before the dossier is built.
Typical duration: On request
03 · Compile the technical dossier
Exporter and CFIA
Product specification, testing results, certificate of free sale and CFIA export certification.
Typical duration: On request
04 · Product self-declaration or registration filing
Vietnam Food Administration
Filing route depends on the classification determined at step 1.
Typical duration: On request
05 · Label artwork approval
Vietnam Food Administration
Vietnamese-language secondary labelling must be approved before first shipment.
Typical duration: On request
06 · Customs clearance and first import
Vietnam Customs
Preferential treatment, where it applies to your line, depends on the correct origin documentation accompanying the consignment.
Typical duration: On request

Available on request: send your specification and destination and we'll confirm within five working days.

Who holds the registration

Ask this before you sign a distribution agreement: in whose name will the product filing be made, and what happens to it if the relationship ends? Across these markets the filing is commonly held by a locally established entity, and the obvious candidate is the distributor you are about to appoint. Where that is how it is done, the registration becomes an asset the distributor controls, and changing distributor can mean refiling from the beginning, with a fresh dossier, a fresh queue, and a supply gap while somebody else holds your shelf space. The distributor understands this, which is why the clause is often not raised. We confirm the actual holding position for Vietnam and your product category against the source, and tell you whether you are looking at a legal requirement or a negotiating position.

Top Canadian categories

Logistics

Main ports: Cat Lai (Ho Chi Minh City), Hai Phong, Cai Mep

Transit from Vancouver: On request

Transit from Montreal: On request

In detail

Canadian suppliers registered for Vietnam

Federally registered establishments in the categories where Canada publishes establishment numbers, with whatever Vietnam has approved shown first.

Canadian beef & veal exporters for Vietnam (18 listed, 12 approved)
Canadian pork exporters for Vietnam (47 listed, 23 approved)
Canadian poultry exporters for Vietnam (32 listed, 32 approved)
Canadian seafood & fish exporters for Vietnam (1190 listed, 0 approved)

Common questions

Is there a free trade agreement between Canada and Vietnam?: In force: CPTPP. Global Affairs Canada lists the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership as in force between Canada and Vietnam. There is no separate bilateral Canada–Vietnam free trade agreement; Vietnam is also one of the ten ASEAN member states covered by the Canada–ASEAN FTA, which remains in negotiation and is not yet a source of preferential treatment. This was read from Global Affairs Canada on 2026-09-01.
What are the steps to register a food product in Vietnam?: 6 stages: confirm product classification, appoint an in-market registration holder, compile the technical dossier, product self-declaration or registration filing, label artwork approval, customs clearance and first import. Each is set out on this page with the authority that handles it.
Which authority regulates imported food in Vietnam?: Vietnam Ministry of Health, Vietnam Food Administration, Vietnam Customs. Which one you deal with depends on the stage: classification, the product filing and customs clearance are not handled by the same body.
Who holds the product registration in Vietnam?: Ask this before you sign a distribution agreement: in whose name will the product filing be made, and what happens to it if the relationship ends? Across these markets the filing is commonly held by a locally established entity, and the obvious candidate is the distributor you are about to appoint.
What are the food labelling requirements in Vietnam?: Plan artwork as a gating item, not a finishing touch. Secondary labelling in Vietnamese is expected on imported food, and the particulars that must appear, how they must be expressed, and whether the artwork is reviewed as part of the registration are decided by the destination regulator rather than by your printer.

From the library

Written about Vietnam

Funding and support
Which export funding programme you are eligible for, decided by what you make
CanExport and AgriMarketing are not two doors into one building. Which one is open to you is decided by your core business activity, and the programme documents themselves say where each kind of company should go. Getting it wrong costs an intake cycle.
Funding and support
What export funding will not pay for, and the dates that decide it
Most funding money is lost to two rules nobody reads: a cost incurred on the wrong date is ineligible however well it fits the program, and a cost that is not tied to a specific named market is ineligible however genuinely it advances the export plan.
Tariffs and origin
How Canadian seafood is classified, and why your buyer disputes it
Classification decides the duty, the preference claim and sometimes whether the consignment clears at all. For seafood the line usually turns on one of three things: frozen or not, whole or filleted, and which species is actually in the box.
Labelling for export
Two official languages at home, a third at the border: label language for exporters
Canada mandates English and French, permits other languages around them, and forbids them inside the Nutrition Facts table. Export destinations impose their own language on the same panel. Fitting all of it is a design constraint before it is a compliance one.
Labelling for export
Allergen labelling for export: the list is not the same list
Every market requires allergens to be declared and no two agree on which ones. A pack built to Canada’s priority allergen list is not thereby compliant anywhere else, and the differences are in the direction that matters: things declared elsewhere that Canada does not name.
Labelling for export
Honey is the exception: Canadian labelling rules that follow the export
Most Canadian consumer labelling stops at the border. Honey does not. The grade name is required on the label of all honey that is exported, and the origin marking rules are written in the regulations rather than left to the marketing department.
Tariffs and origin
Rules of origin for processed food: four tests, and yours is only one of them
A primary product is originating because of where it grew. A processed food has to pass a specific test written against its own tariff line, and the test for your product is not the test for the product beside it on the line.
Tariffs and origin
The certification of origin: what you are actually signing
Under CPTPP there is no official form and no chamber of commerce stamp. The exporter, producer or importer certifies, in their own words, and the signature carries an obligation that outlives the shipment by years.

The whole library →

Sources

CPTPP explained · Global Affairs Canada, retrieved September 1, 2026
About CPTPP · Global Affairs Canada, retrieved September 1, 2026
Canada’s international trade and investment agreements · Global Affairs Canada, retrieved September 1, 2026
Canada-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement: negotiations · Global Affairs Canada, retrieved September 1, 2026

Last reviewed: September 1, 2026