On May 19, 2026, the Vietnam Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality （STAMEQ） officially issued the implementation rules for VR-MARK certification, marking that Vietnam's market access regulation for imported industrial sensors has entered the operational stage. This policy will be mandatorily implemented from June 1, 2026, directly affecting China's industrial sensor export chain to Vietnam. The core change is shifting compliance responsibilities forward to localized entities and using Vietnamese national standards （TCVN） as the sole technical basis, highlighting a regulatory shift from formal filing to substantive conformity review.

Event Overview

On May 19, 2026, the Vietnam Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality （STAMEQ） officially issued the VR-MARK implementation rules, clarifying that from June 1, 2026, all industrial pressure, temperature, and flow sensors imported into Vietnam must have type test reports submitted by a Vietnam-licensed Local Authorized Representative （LAR） （based on Vietnamese national standards such as TCVN 8225:2025）, together with technical documents and a declaration of conformity. If Chinese exporters do not have LAR cooperation resources, they will be unable to complete customs clearance.

Which Sub-sectors Will Be Affected

Direct trading enterprises：As the customs declarant and responsible party, they must ensure that the LAR qualifications are authentic and valid, and that the type test report is issued by a Vietnam-recognized laboratory and covers all declared models. The impact is reflected in longer customs clearance times （an average increase of 7–12 working days）, higher compliance costs per shipment （estimated combined LAR service fees + testing fees of RMB 3,800–6,500）, and the inability to simplify procedures through “one certificate for multiple models”——each difference in sensor structure/range/output signal requires separate verification.

Raw material procurement enterprises：If the sensors they procure are used for assembly into end equipment （such as smart transmitters, PLC modules）, they must clearly require suppliers in the procurement contract to simultaneously provide type test reports compliant with TCVN 8225:2025 and a Vietnam LAR authorization letter. Otherwise, subsequent export of the complete equipment may be returned by Vietnamese customs due to the lack of VR-MARK prerequisite documents for key components, resulting in a break in BOM compliance for the whole machine.

Processing and manufacturing enterprises：This mainly refers to enterprises that manufacture sensors under contract and export them under private labels. Their existing OEM model is facing restructuring: customers no longer only review ISO 9001 or IECEx certificates, but require factories to directly cooperate with LARs to complete local sampling in Vietnam, affix VR-MARK labels, and sign Vietnamese-language technical documents. Some enterprises have already encountered rework and relabeling because their production lines did not reserve space for the VR-MARK nameplate.

Supply chain service enterprises：Including freight forwarders, testing institutions, certification consulting companies, etc. At present, the number of Vietnam-licensed LARs is less than 40, and most do not handle small- and medium-batch business; meanwhile, there are only 7 local laboratories in Vietnam with full TCVN 8225:2025 testing capabilities, of which 3 are already booked until after September 2026. Service capacity bottlenecks are rapidly translating into price premiums and delayed response times.

Key Points and Response Measures for Relevant Enterprises or Practitioners

Confirm the authenticity of LAR qualifications and service boundaries

It is necessary to verify the validity of the LAR license through the public directory on the STAMEQ official website （number format: LAR-VN-XXXXX）, and clearly stipulate in writing whether its scope of responsibility includes extended matters such as Vietnamese translation of technical documents, response to customs inquiries, and coordination of annual supervisory sampling inspections, so as to avoid “nominal agency, actual disclaimer of responsibility.”

Start type testing in advance and distinguish the applicability of old and new standards

Compared with the old version, TCVN 8225:2025 adds requirements such as electromagnetic compatibility immunity levels （equivalent to EN 61000-6-2:2019） and damp heat cycle life testing. Products that obtained TCVN 8225:2018 reports before June 1, 2026, cannot be automatically extended; key items must be supplemented and retested according to the new version, otherwise they will be deemed invalid.

Establish a three-way mapping ledger of product model—test report—LAR authorization letter

If the same sensor has different housing materials （such as 304 stainless steel/Hastelloy）, or different output protocols （4–20mA/HART/Modbus RTU）, they are all considered independent models and must separately obtain corresponding reports and authorization letters. It is recommended to adopt a unique model coding rule （such as SENS-PRE-SS304-HART-01） to eliminate customs classification disputes.

Assess the feasibility of alternative compliance pathways

For enterprises with low shipping frequency and small batch volumes, the “local assembly in Vietnam + import of key components” model may be evaluated: export non-sensor-body components such as circuit boards first, and then have the Vietnamese partner complete final assembly and VR-MARK labeling, thereby avoiding the LAR binding requirement for complete machine imports——but attention must be paid to how Vietnam's rules of origin determine substantial transformation.

Editorial Viewpoint / Industry Observation

Observably, VR-MARK is not an isolated technical barrier, but a key move in Vietnam's effort to build an independent technical regulatory system: its mandatory binding of the LAR mechanism essentially extends regulatory reach into the day-to-day operations of overseas manufacturers; and designating TCVN rather than IEC/ISO as the sole basis is intended to promote the development of local testing capabilities and enhance the discourse power of standards. Analysis shows that Chinese sensor enterprises will find it difficult in the short term to circumvent this by “switching standards”; it is more appropriate to understand it as a structural adaptation process shifting from export orientation to localized coordination. Current more critical concern is not compliance cost increase per se, but the magnifying effect of supply chain uncertainty caused by the opacity in LAR service quality assessment and fluctuations in testing cycles at Vietnamese laboratories.

Conclusion

The implementation of VR-MARK marks that market access for industrial products in Vietnam is shifting from “easy entry, strict supervision” to “supervision upon entry.” For China's sensor industry, this is not only a single certification task, but also a comprehensive stress test of enterprises' localized response capabilities, the maturity of their technical documentation systems, and the efficiency of cross-border compliance coordination. Rational observation indicates that enterprises that take the lead in establishing long-term cooperative relationships with Vietnam LARs, achieve one-time generation and multilingual reuse of technical documentation, and embed Vietnamese local testing nodes will gain a certainty advantage in the new round of regional compliance competition.

Information Source Notes

Official sources: official announcement on the STAMEQ website, “Thông tư 12/2026/TT-STAMEQ hướng dẫn áp dụng dấu hợp quy VR-MARK đối với cảm biến công nghiệp” （issued on May 19, 2026）; full text of TCVN 8225:2025 “Cảm biến công nghiệp – Yêu cầu chung về an toàn và phương pháp thử” （issued by the Vietnam Institute of Standards, December 2025）.
To be continuously observed: whether STAMEQ will issue an LAR grading management system in the third quarter of 2026; whether the General Department of Vietnam Customs （GDT) will introduce detailed rules for mandatory declaration of VR-MARK electronic customs clearance data fields.