How to Import from China to Vietnam: 7 Steps, Duty & Documents

An import from China to Vietnam is decided on the Vietnamese side, not the Chinese one. The supplier process is familiar; the stall points are local — who may legally declare, which certificate sets your duty rate, and what must be filed before the vessel berths. Each of those has a deadline attached.

Why Vietnam is a different calculation

Every first-time importer in Vietnam runs into the same three walls. Plan an import from China to Vietnam without understanding them, and the walls arrive all at once. Understand them before you place a deposit is the difference between a two-week clearance and a two-month dispute.

A foreign exporter cannot be the importer of record. To lodge a customs declaration in Vietnam you need a Vietnamese entity — either your own company with a Business Registration Certificate, or a licensed local partner acting as importer of record. Registration automatically activates an import-export code, and you also need a digital signature token, because declarations are transmitted electronically through the VNACCS/VCIS system rather than filed on paper. If you are testing the market, this is the first thing to arrange — not the last.

Duty is assessed on CIF value. On an import from China to Vietnam, Vietnamese customs values your consignment as goods plus freight plus insurance, not the supplier’s invoice alone. That means a cheap FOB price carried by an expensive forwarder still produces a large duty bill, and declaring the FOB figure and leaving freight out is one of the most queried filing errors in the system.

Your certificate of origin decides the rate. For an import from China to Vietnam, China and Vietnam sit inside the ASEAN–China free trade area, and a valid C/O Form E unlocks the preferential tariff. On the same product the gap between the MFN rate and the ACFTA rate is routinely 10–20 percentage points — and on some categories it is the difference between paying duty and paying nothing. Check the rate for your own HS code on the ITC Market Access Map, and confirm the valuation rules in the WCO guidance on customs valuation.

Indonesia sits inside the same ASEAN–China framework, and Form E matters there too — but the tariff is not what stops most first shipments. The importer-of-record licence and the pre-shipment certificates are. That sequence is worked through in the SourceEyes guide to importing from China to Indonesia.

Pakistan starts from the same place Thailand and Vietnam do — an import record that has to sit with a local entity — but the paperwork runs heavier. A preferential rate there turns on a certificate of origin issued before departure, and payment has to be routed through a bank instrument inside the single window first. Our Pakistan guide follows that order.

Thailand works the same way on the duty side — a valid Form E buys the ACFTA rate on an import from China to Thailand — but the hold-up moves to certification. TISI keeps 20 categories and 153 products on a compulsory list, and the Form E has to be issued before loading and lodged within 45 days.

The document set

The customs dossier for an import from China to Vietnam is standardised, and inconsistencies between documents are the single most common trigger for a red-channel inspection:

• Sales contract, commercial invoice and packing list — unit value, quantity, net and gross weight must agree with each other
• Bill of lading or air waybill — the title and transport document for the consignment
• Certificate of Origin (Form E for China) — the document that buys your duty rate
• Technical catalogue and quality test sheet — expected for machinery, electrical goods and anything with a safety claim
• Conformity certificates (CE, ISO or market equivalents) where the product is regulated
• Declaration form HQ/2015/NK — generated electronically in VNACCS
• Permits or inspection registrations for regulated categories, registered through the National Single Window

Two rules matter more than the list itself. Form E must be issued before the goods leave China — it cannot be arranged after arrival — and from 2026 electronic copies of the C/O have to be uploaded at the moment of declaration, with no after-the-fact supplementation except in force majeure cases. If your supplier cannot produce a Form E, you are paying the MFN rate on every shipment until they can.

How to import from China to Vietnam: 7 steps

1. Fix the HS code in the Vietnamese tariff. The first six digits are international; the last two are Vietnam-specific and do not always mirror the Chinese code. Classify on the actual product, not the supplier’s description — a wrong code means back-taxed duty and a penalty.
2. Confirm your importing entity and codes — the first hard requirement of any import from China to Vietnam. You need a Business Registration Certificate, import-export code, and the digital signature token for electronic filing.
3. Arrange the C/O Form E before shipping. This is the highest-value document in an import from China to Vietnam: ask your supplier to apply for it with the shipment details, and check that the seal, signature, HS code and value match your invoice.
4. Register permits or quality inspection where the product requires it. Do this on the National Single Window as soon as you have the B/L — the acceptance number is needed before you can declare.
5. Lodge the declaration through VNACCS/VCIS. Filing is permitted before arrival or within 30 days of the goods reaching the border gate. The Vietnam Customs Administration publishes the current procedure and forms for importers. The system then routes your declaration into a channel: green (released on payment), yellow (document review), or red (full document review plus physical inspection).
6. Pay import duty and VAT. Payment is electronic through the linked banking system. Note the exchange rate convention: the rate published by Vietcombank each Thursday is used for declarations in the following week, so confirm your figures against it.
7. Apply the Vietnamese supplementary label and take delivery — the last mile of an import from China to Vietnam. Imported goods must carry an original label in English or the language of origin, and a Vietnamese supplementary label before they reach the market — product name, responsible party, country of origin, year of manufacture and key specifications, per Decree 43/2017/ND-CP.

What changed in 2026

Vietnam’s customs administration shifted its model in early 2026, and two changes affect importers directly:

• Release before valuation. Goods are no longer held at the port because the declared price is queried. The shipment is released by risk class, and if customs questions the value it opens a price consultation within 30 days after release. Strong compliance records can earn a single consultation covering six months of comparable shipments.
• Electronic documents as legal evidence, and document consistency checks. Core data across contract, invoice, packing list and C/O must agree within a 10% tolerance; the system compares them automatically, and discrepancies can mean return of the declaration or a penalty.
• Post-clearance audit. The audit window now runs up to five years, with records expected to be retrievable. Keep the dossier — not just the B/L.

What a first order actually costs

An illustration for a first import from China to Vietnam: 5,000 units at $2.50 FOB, sea freight to Cat Lai, with a duty code carrying a 20% MFN rate and a 0% ACFTA rate:

Line	With C/O Form E	Without Form E
Goods (FOB)	$12,500	$12,500
Freight + insurance	$1,657	$1,657
CIF value (duty base)	$14,157	$14,157
Import duty	$0 (0%)	$2,831 (20%)
VAT 10% on CIF + duty	$1,416	$1,699
Total taxes	$1,416	$4,530
Landed cost per unit	$3.11	$3.74

The difference — $3,114 on one container — is bought by a single document that costs nothing to obtain, and it is the most frequently skipped step among first-time buyers. Model your own numbers with the SourceEyes import cost calculator, and check current freight levels in the SourceEyes guide to what it costs to ship from China.

Five mistakes that cost money on an import from China to Vietnam

1. Copying the Chinese HS code instead of classifying against Vietnam’s own tariff.
2. Shipping without a Form E because it was never written into the purchase order.
3. Declaring FOB value and leaving freight out of the CIF duty base.
4. Skipping the permit or quality-inspection registration and discovering it while the container sits at the port.
5. Forgetting the Vietnamese supplementary label, which has to be applied before distribution, not after.

Import from China to Vietnam: questions buyers ask

Who is allowed to be the importer of record in Vietnam?

The first hard requirement of an import from China to Vietnam is a Vietnamese entity — either your own company holding a Business Registration Certificate, or a licensed local partner acting as importer of record. Registration automatically activates an import-export code, and you also need a digital signature token, because declarations are transmitted electronically through VNACCS/VCIS rather than filed on paper. A foreign exporter cannot declare.

How is import duty calculated?

On CIF value: goods plus freight plus insurance, not the supplier’s FOB invoice alone. That is why a cheap FOB price carried by an expensive forwarder still produces a large duty bill — and declaring the FOB figure and leaving freight out is one of the most frequently queried filing errors in the system.

What is Form E, and why does it matter so much?

For an import from China to Vietnam, Form E is the highest-value document in the file. China and Vietnam sit inside the ASEAN–China free trade area, and a valid C/O Form E unlocks the preferential ACFTA tariff. The gap against the MFN rate is routinely 10–20 percentage points, and zero on some categories.

In the worked example above, the same container carries $1,416 in taxes with a Form E against $4,530 without one — a difference of $3,114 bought by a document that costs nothing to obtain. One condition: it must be issued before the goods leave China.

How long do I have to lodge the declaration?

Filing through VNACCS/VCIS is permitted before arrival or within 30 days of the goods reaching the border gate. The system then routes the declaration into a channel — green (released on payment), yellow (document review), or red (full document review plus physical inspection).

What changed in Vietnam customs in 2026?

Three changes affect anyone planning an import from China to Vietnam today: release before valuation (goods are no longer held at the port when a price is queried; a consultation opens within 30 days after release), document consistency checks (contract, invoice, packing list and C/O data must agree within a 10% tolerance, compared automatically), and a five-year post-clearance audit window with records expected to be retrievable. Electronic C/O copies must also be uploaded at the moment of declaration.

Where a local team in China changes the picture

SourceEyes is a sourcing and QC team based in Suzhou, China. From the enquiry to the container arriving at Cat Lai, an import from China to Vietnam is a two-sided exercise. The Vietnamese half belongs to your local partner or your own entity. The China half — verifying that the factory exists and can hold the specification, approving a physical sample, following production, and inspecting the goods before they are loaded — is the half SourceEyes handles for importers every week.

That includes the document side that Vietnamese customs cares about most: correct commercial invoice and packing list data before the container is sealed. The SourceEyes pre-shipment inspection checklist is the same list worked to on every order, and the vetting process from SourceEyes is what stands behind the Form E and the invoice your declaration is built on.

SourceEyes covers 4 China-side steps on an import from China to Vietnam: verifying the exporter exists and can hold the specification, approving a physical sample, following production, and inspecting before the container is loaded.

If you are planning your first import from China to Vietnam, send us the product and the quantity — or look at what a sourcing project with us includes. SourceEyes will tell you what the China side looks like, and what your landed cost is likely to be before you commit.

Key Takeaways: how to import from China to Vietnam

• A Vietnamese entity (or a licensed local importer of record) is a precondition — foreign exporters cannot declare.
• Duty is calculated on CIF: goods plus freight plus insurance.
• C/O Form E is the cheapest lever you have, and it must be arranged before the goods ship.
• Declare through VNACCS within 30 days of arrival; expect green, yellow or red channel routing.
• From 2026: release before valuation, electronic C/O uploaded at declaration, document data within 10%, and a five-year audit window.

Rates, tolerances and filing rules change. Confirm the current tariff and procedure for your HS code with a licensed Vietnamese customs broker before your first shipment.