Previously, when circular regulating list of products under group 2 (the list of products subject to Type Approval certification and Declaration of Conformity under MIC management scope) was released, the Ministry of Information and Communications issued together a formal letter guiding the application and implementation which contains contents aimed at solving problems faced by manufacturers and importers due to practice conditions of domestic and foreign MRA laboratories (recognized by MIC under mutual recognition agreement). For Circular 02/2022/TT-BTTTT (which has expired since 15/07/2023), the corresponding guiding document is document No. 2361/BTTTT-KHCN. From 15/07/2023, Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BTTTT takes effect and replaces Circular 02/2022/TT-BTTTT, but up to now, the MIC has not issued documents guiding the implementation of Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BTTTT. So will the Vietnam MIC issue a document guiding the implementation of Circular 04/2023/TT-BTTTT? What do enterprises need to do to comply with regulations on regulation conformity certification and announcement for products and goods according to Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BTTTT? Let's explore the following contents from ExtendMax's point of view and perspective.
1) Is there a document guiding the implementation of Circular 04/2023/TT-BTTTT?
Based on the current system of legal documents in Vietnam, it is very likely that the Vietnam MIC will stop issuing documents guiding the implementation of Circular 04/2023/TT-BTTTT. Instead, the provisions on test results and accepted laboratories will be integrated into the content of National Technical Regulations and/or circulars amending and supplementing Circular 04/2023/TT- BTTTT (legal document at the same level). Normally, the process of promulgating legal documents such as Circulars and National Technical Regulations (QCVN) will take about 6 months to publish the draft for commenting, officially promulgate, and take effect. Therefore, in the coming period, there are many cases where manufacturer and importer need to pay special attention to meet the requirements for obtaining certificatet of conformity (MIC type approval certificate) and Declaration of Conformity as required by Circular 04/2023/TT-BTTTT. There could be disruption in the import of goods, especially for new products that are expected to be announced on the market or imported into Vietnam in the period from July 15, 2023 until the end of 2023.
2) What do you need to do to obtain MIC Type Approval and import products to Vietnam?
Because there are currently many national technical regulations of the MIC that domestic testing laboratories (designated lab) or foreign testing laboratories (recognized under MRA) are not able to test or can only partially test, the certification of conformity may be is not favorable at this time until there are changes in the laboratory's capability or an additional, revised or new version of the respective regulatory documents. Let's take a look at the most important contents about the impact on the market as below:
a) Procedures to obtain type approval and DoC for importing 5G phone, LTE Cat M, NB-IoT, LP WAN
Previously, according to document 2361/BTTTT-KHCN (now expired), manufacturer and importer could use test reports issued by foreign testing laboratories with ISO/IEC 17025 certificate for certification and announcement of regulation conformity according to QCVN 127:2021/BTTTT, QCVN 129:2021/BTTTT, QCVN 18:2022/BTTTT. In case the MIC will not issued a similar guiding document to implement Circular 04/2023/TT-BTTTT, enterprises will have to wait until the testing capability of domestic laboratories meets the standards or wait for the MIC to expand the list of MRA laboratories for testing. This means that enterprises manufacturing and importing imported 5G phone products in the period after July 15, 2023 will face difficulties in completing procedures for regulation conformity certification and announcement to ensure compliance with regulations. So what should you do? We can consider some solutions to temporarily solve short-term problems as follows:
→ Temporarily suspending the introduction of 5G phones and terminals into Vietnam until there are new instructions. Or disable the 5G function and apply for the product without 5G.
→ Wait for the authorities to expand the list of MRA laboratories or domestic laboratories to strengthen their testing capability.
Same as 5G NR, local labs are not ablet to fully test applicable QCVN for LTE Cat M, NB-IoT, LP WAN products also.
b) Product testing under extreme conditions (extreme conditions of temperature and humidity)
Previously, the MIC allowed manufacturers to declare conformity for testing under extreme conditions (also known as critical test conditions). Now, because the former guiding letter No. 2361/BTTTT-KHCN has expired, manufacturer and importer need to have product tested more under extreme test conditions to meet requirements of regulation conformity certification and DoC. For commodity products group 2 of the MIC, testing of transceivers under extreme conditions needs to be carried out in temperature chamber to adjust the temperature limits. Therefore, testing of transceiver performance is almost not possible with a normal test sample (commercial product) but must be performed with a conducted sample. Therefore, for each type of product (model), applicant need to prepare at least 2 samples (01 normal sample + 01 conducted sample).
Learn more: What is extreme test conditions
In the case of per-lot certification, where the test sample will be randomly picked by certification body from the import lot, it is not clear to us how the testing under extreme conditions will be handled when the test sample is randomly selected and sealed (for the purpose of preventing modification, alteration, or manipulation of the sample for better test results). When converting normal sample in to a conducted sample type, you may have to open the outer case of the test sample to connect it to the antenna port on the circuit board, which may lead to the loss of the seal and inadvertently not complied with method and true nature of regulation conformity certification according to method 7 (batch certification). This is a difficult question to answer because the test method under extreme conditions and the nature of the method 7 are not compatible with each other. This is also the reason why certification method 7 are not used in other countries.
c) Procedures for importing laptop, phone, and computer batteries in small quantities
When importing small quantities of less than 20 phones, computers, or tablets, the importer will not have enough samples (removable lithium batteries and battery cells) for testing according to QCVN 101:2020/BTTTT. Previously, the MIC temporarily accepted the test results of IEC 62133-2:2017 of the ISO/IEC 17025 testing laboratory, now it may not be accepted anymore. Here are some solutions we can consider:
→ Wait for the MIC to issue specific regulations on management measures in case there are not enough test samples (based on Article 8 of Circular No. 06/2020/TT-BKHCN)
→ Buy products available in the domestic market or buy separate batteries to perform testing to meet standards and regulations.
d) Procedures for conformity certification for with short-range device uses frequency of above 40GHz
Pursuant to current regulations, SRD such as radars used on vehicles or radars for measuring liquid levels use operating frequencies above 40GHz will have to declare conformity according to national technical regulations of Vietnam (QCVN 123:2021/BTTTT, QCVN 124:2021/BTTTT; QCVN 18:2022/BTTTT, QCVN 47:2015/BTTTT...). Previously, enterprises could use foreign test results of ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratories, now they must use test results of designated Vietnam laboratories or foreign laboratories recognized by MIC (MRA labs). So what is the solution to continue importing these products?
→ For QCVN 18:2022/BTTTT for radar, applicant can apply for testing at Vietnam designated lab now
→ For QCVN 123:2021/BTTTT, can have product tested at MRA labs
→ For QCVN 124:2021/BTTTT, there is currently no MRA lab and local lab either. Applicant need to wait for a domestic or foreign laboratory to be designated or recognized.
e) Procedures for conformity with regulations on marine equipment on the list of group 2 goods of the MIC
For maritime equipment, domestic testing laboratories are only partially capable of testing most of the applicable technical regulations, or facing difficulties in some special cases such as:
→ Personal emergency position indicating radio beacon or emergency locator transmitter (ELT): the test sample is deemed unusable after the test.
→ Satellite equipment (commercial products) is only capable of receiving and transmitting radio waves in outdoor good weather conditions.
→ Many standards have requirements for environmental criteria such as vibration test, temperature test, corrosion test, rain test...
→ Marine equipment testing labs often follow a separate system, not in the same industry group as consumer product testing labs, so there is almost no MRA lab yet.
Because of the above reasons, meeting the requirements for certification, declaration of conformity and import procedures for marine equipment is a difficult problem that we have not found a solution yet.
f) Procedures for conformity with equipment within the scope of application of QCVN 132:2022/TT-BTTTT
The application of QCVN 132:2022/TT-BTTTT has not been changed, enterprises are allowed to use test results according to IEC 62368-1:2018 issued by ISO/IEC 17025 testing laboratory to carry out certification of conformity, announce the regulation conformity according to QCVN 132:2022/TT-BTTTT until the MIC has other legal documents guiding this content.
3) What more do you need to pay attention to about the conformity certification procedure?
Recently, the Telecom Metrology and Quality Center (TQC) (under the VNTA) has changed a number of contents in the procedure and required documents for Type Approval certification. Accordingly, many cases that were previously certified for conformity with method 1 (the certificate is valid for 3 years) can no longer apply method 1 certification. Please find out this important information through the article below:
https://extendmax.vn/critical-updates-on-requirements-for-mic-type-approval
Update: As we predicted, instead of issuing a guidance document as before, on September 5, 2023, the Ministry of Information and Communications issued a document at the same level, Circular No. 10/2023/TT-BTTTT temporarily suspending the implementation enforcement of a number of QCVN technical regulations to remove difficulties and obstacles for manufacturer and importer
Contact information for ICT Type Approval services and consulting
EXTENDMAX VIETNAM COMPANY LIMITED
Hotline: +84 915 836 555 | Hanoi: +84 24 6666 3066
Email: consultant@extendmax.vn | phuong.tran@extendmax.vn
HO: ExtendMax Villa, C01-L18 An Vuong, Duong Noi urban area, Duong Noi ward, Ha Dong district, Hanoi City, Vietnam
Test laboratory: BT02-21, An Hung urban area, To Huu street, La Khe ward, Ha Dong district, Hanoi City, Vietnam
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