Vietnam - Prohibited & Restricted ImportsVietnam - Prohibited Imports
According to government of Vietnam Decree No. 12/2006/ND-CP (2006), Vietnam prohibits the commercial importation of the following goods: military weapons, arms and ammunition, explosive materials (not including industrial explosives); firecrackers; second-hand consumer goods; reactionary, depraved or superstitious cultural products or those harmful to aesthetical or personality education; right-hand drive motor vehicles; used spare parts for vehicles, used internal combustion engines of less than 30 horsepower; discarded materials and waste; asbestos materials under the amphibole group; toxic chemicals of table 1 (under international treaties); narcotics; certain types of children’s toys; various encryption devices and encryption software; polluting waste and scrap; and refrigerating equipment using chlorofluorocarbons.
Restricted imports include imports subject to import licenses from MOIT, and are subject to special management and oversight by various ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Health; Ministry of Culture and Information; Ministry of Information and Communications; The State Bank; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and others. U.S. exporters should confer with their Vietnamese customers, agents or distributors to determine whether an MOIT import license is required for their restricted goods.