Although the phrase “Made in Vietnam” appears widely on product packaging, Vietnam has yet to establish an official set of criteria to determine the origin of goods circulated within the domestic market. This reality not only causes confusion for businesses and regulatory agencies but also poses risks of trade fraud, affecting consumer rights and the reputation of Vietnamese goods. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is currently working to develop a set of criteria to resolve this issue. Confusion over “Made in Vietnam” According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam has issued several regulations on the origin of goods, but these mainly apply to exports and imports to fulfill tariff preferences under free trade agreements (FTAs) or for foreign trade management purposes. Meanwhile, for goods produced for domestic consumption—whether made from local or imported materials—there is still no official set of criteria for determining origin. As a result, seemingly simple phrases such as “Made in Vietnam,” “Vietnamese products,” or “products of Vietnamese origin” are in fact causing headaches for many businesses and regulatory bodies. At a recent workshop on the criteria for determining the Vietnamese origin of domestically circulated goods, Trinh Thi Thu Hien, deputy director of the […]