Legal expert Hoang Quyen provides the following response:
On September 5, 2026, the Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam promulgated Circular No. 48/2026/TT-BCT providing guidelines for implementing the Law on Foreign Trade Management and Decree No. 292/2026/ND-CP providing guidelines for implementing the Law on Foreign Trade Management.
The Circular contains provisions on import tariff quotas, including the following methods of allocation:
(1) Auction
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam shall organize a public auction of import tariff quotas for each commodity within the allocated quota volume. A successful bidder shall be allocated the corresponding import tariff quota volume to carry out importation in accordance with regulations.
(2) Application appraisal
Based on the import tariff quota volume, allocation method, eligible recipients, and other provisions on the import tariff quota applicable to each commodity under the relevant international commitments specified in Clause 2 Article 9 of this Circular, as well as the trader’s application, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam shall consider allocating an import tariff quota to the trader based on its production capacity, previous implementation of import tariff quotas, and production demand.
(3) First-registered, first-served method
A trader that registers its customs declaration first shall be entitled to the import tariff quota first. The quantity declared in the registered customs declaration shall be deducted from the total import tariff quota volume. Where the customs declaration is no longer valid for completing customs procedures, or the quantity actually imported is lower than the quantity declared, the remaining quantity shall be added back to the total import tariff quota volume.
Where the import tariff quota volume registered by a trader exceeds the remaining quota volume, the trader shall be entitled only to the remaining import tariff quota volume.
Where multiple traders register simultaneously, and their total registered volume exceeds the remaining import tariff quota volume, the import tariff quota volume allocated to each trader shall be calculated according to the proportion of that trader’s registered volume in the remaining total import tariff quota volume.
(4) Designation of an importer
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam shall designate an importer to carry out importation under the tariff quota based on international commitments.
(5) Other methods of allocating import tariff quotas may be applied provided that they are consistent with international commitments and state management requirements.
See more details in Circular No. 48/2026/TT-BCT effective as of September 5, 2026.
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