EM – At a meeting organized by the Vietnam Elevator Association on July 2nd, 2025, a representative from the Department of Employment under the Ministry of Home Affairs provided direct responses to issues related to the recognition of conformity assessment results for elevators and safety components.
On the morning of July 2nd, 2025, the Vietnam Elevator Association (VNEA) convened a hybrid meeting (both in-person and online), attended by nearly 170 enterprises and individuals from across the elevator sector nationwide, to promptly address business challenges related to the testing of elevators and elevator equipment in Vietnam.
The meeting was attended by Mr. Vu Tien Thanh, Representative of the Department of Employment under the Ministry of Home Affairs; Mr. Nguyen Hai Đuc, Chairman of the Vietnam Elevator Association; along with representatives from conformity assessment and inspection bodies.
The Vietnam Elevator Association also received Official Dispatch No. 4620/BNV-CVL from the Ministry of Home Affairs, in response to proposals and petitions regarding elevator equipment testing regulations.
Based on the content of Official Dispatch No. 4620/BNV-CVL, Mr. Nguyen Huy Tien, Secretary General of the Vietnam Elevator Association, presented and provided guidance on the legal foundations for the recognition of conformity assessment results used for certification and declaration of conformity of Group-2 products, specifically elevators and associated safety components. These legal bases include the Law on Product and Goods Quality, Circular No. 28/2012/TT-BKHCN, and Circular No. 06/2020/TT-BKHCN.
Further elaborating on Circular No. 13/2024/TT-BLDTBXH, Mr. Vu Tien Thanh affirmed that the repeal of Article 6 of Circular No. 26/2018/TT-BLDTBXH concerning the “Recognition of conformity assessment results” was intended to ensure consistency and prevent overlapping regulations among legal normative documents.
The recognition of conformity assessment results issued by international conformity assessment bodies or foreign conformity assessment organizations for the purpose of certifying and declaring conformity of Group-2 products, including elevators, shall be implemented uniformly in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Product and Goods Quality, Circular No. 28/2012/TT-BKHCN, and Circular No. 06/2020/TT-BKHCN.
The representative of the Department of Employment also noted that, under current regulations, complete elevators and elevator safety components as specified in Circular No. 01/2021/TT-BLĐTBXH are considered finished products subject to quality inspection upon importation. If such complete elevators or components have already been certified for conformity with applicable standards and tested at recognized or designated laboratories, repeat testing shall not be required.
However, Mr. Vu Tien Thanh emphasized that conformity assessment organizations and experts must conduct thorough and transparent evaluations. Currently, QCVN 02:2019/BLDTBXH is developed based on TCVN 6396, which is fully aligned with European Standard EN 81. Accordingly, the products must be certified for compatibility with either EN 81 or TCVN 6396.
“For other standards such as those of Japan or the United States, which are not yet aligned with EN 81 or TCVN 6396, specialists must carefully study the equivalence and compatibility of those standards with the requirements set forth in TCVN 6396 and EN 81, in order to determine whether the foreign test results can be accepted”, the representative of the Department of Employment clarified.
Several elevator enterprises, including Otis Vietnam, Mitsubishi Vietnam, etc., participated in the meeting held at the headquarters of the Vietnam Elevator Association.
The representative of the Department of Employment also informed that the National Assembly had recently passed the amended Law on Product and Goods Quality and the amended Law on Standards and Technical Regulations. These legislative drafts have consolidated the provisions on conformity assessment, whereby such provisions will be removed from the Law on Product and Goods Quality and unified under the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations. All related legal documents are scheduled to take effect from January 1st 2026, and will be harmonized accordingly under the new legislative framework.
Whereas previously the recognition of conformity assessment results was based on bilateral agreements between organizations, the draft amendment to the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations will now allow for unilateral recognition of conformity assessment results issued by international or foreign conformity assessment bodies, for the purpose of serving State management activities.
Therefore, in the next phase, once the Government issues specific regulations, the Department of Employment will collaborate with the Vietnam Elevator Association to consult on the list of international and foreign conformity assessment bodies that meet the conditions necessary for unilateral recognition. Based on that, a clear policy will be developed covering: (1) the standards upon which recognition is based, and (2) the recognized conformity assessment bodies.
All of these efforts will be undertaken based on the revision of standards, technical regulations, and guiding documents, such as Circular No. 26/2018/TT-BLDTBXH, which regulates the quality management of products and goods potentially hazardous to safety under the State management of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (now under the responsibility of the Ministry of Home Affairs); and Circular No. 01/2021/TT-BLĐTBXH, which stipulates the list of products and goods potentially hazardous to safety under the State management of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The timely engagement, feedback, and intervention of the Department of Employment and the Ministry of Home Affairs have played a crucial role in addressing the difficulties and regulatory challenges currently faced by enterprises in the elevator industry and conformity assessment organizations.
