Decree No. 293/2026/NĐ-CP of the Government of Vietnam officially entered into force on September 11, 2026. It was developed to support implementation of the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (the Apostille Convention).
This decree creates Vietnam’s legal framework for applying the Convention. It specifies that Apostille certificates can replace previous consular legalization. It also defines detailed rules for Apostille issuance, verification, and the acceptance and use of documents with Apostille certificates.
Background
The Apostille Convention aims to replace the cumbersome chain of consular legalization with a single Apostille certificate, thereby simplifying the cross-border circulation of public documents; it now has more than 120 contracting parties, covering major markets such as China, the EU, the US, Japan, South Korea, and many ASEAN countries;
Before joining the Convention, Vietnam was not a contracting party, so foreign public documents entering Vietnam and Vietnamese public documents intended for use abroad both had to go through multi-step consular legalization, which involved numerous procedures, long processing times, and high costs;
To implement the Convention, the Vietnamese Government issued Decree No. 293/2026/NĐ-CP as the supporting legislation for the Convention's application in Vietnam, which took effect on September 11, 2026 in tandem with the Convention; the signed full text of the Decree has been published on the Vietnamese Government's official portal.
Key Content of the Decree
Scope of regulation:
- issuing authority and procedures for Apostille certification of Vietnamese public documents;
- acceptance and use in Vietnam of foreign public documents already certified by an Apostille member state;
- verification of Apostille certifications;
- and issuance of Apostille duplicates, revocation, and management of Apostille electronic data.
Competent authority: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam serves as the competent authority and, in accordance with the criteria, conditions, and roadmap set by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, will gradually delegate the issuing authority to provincial-level People's Committees;
Scope of application: public documents within the scope of the Convention issued by Vietnamese competent authorities (such as administrative instruments; administrative papers including diplomas and certificates; documents certifying legal facts such as household registration and permanent residence; and certifications of signatures and copies) may be apostilled, while public documents falling outside the Convention's scope will still follow the original consular legalization procedures;
Application channel: Applicants may submit applications in-person at the one-stop service counter of the Apostille-issuing authority, send applications via postal service, or submit applications entirely online through Vietnam’s National Public Service Portal or the National Identification Application (VNeID).
Implications
1. Certification reduced from multiple steps to one: from September 11, 2026, public documents exchanged between contracting states only need to be accompanied by a single Apostille certificate, significantly reducing the steps, processing time, and costs involved, directly benefiting document certification in Vietnam's cosmetics import and export business;
2. Direct benefits for core cosmetic documents: Vietnam applies a notification system to imported cosmetics, generally requiring certified Certificates of Free Sale (CFS) and Letters of Authorization (LOA) issued by overseas competent authorities; following Vietnam's implementation of the Convention, such documents from China and other contracting states can be used in Vietnam simply by bearing an Apostille; likewise, CFSs, LOAs, and other documents issued by Vietnamese competent authorities can, once an Apostille has been issued by Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, be used directly for import registration, filing, and other purposes in China and other contracting states;
CIRS Reminder
Enterprises engaged in cosmetics exports to Vietnam, contract manufacturing, or sourcing and exporting from Vietnam should promptly review the certification arrangements for documents such as CFSs and LOAs involved in current and future orders, and prioritize Apostille certification from September 11, 2026 onward to shorten processing times; before applying, they should confirm that the documents fall within the scope of the Convention and are issued by competent authorities, and follow the acceptance arrangements of Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and provincial-level People's Committees as well as the material requirements for online applications via VNeID, so as to avoid delays in product notification or customs clearance caused by improper certification methods.
If you need any assistance or have any questions, please get in touch with us via service@cirs-group.com.
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