CIRCULAR

DETAILED REGULATIONS ON DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF STANDARDS

Pursuant to the Law on Technical Regulations and Standards dates June 29, 2006 and the Law on Amendments to some Articles of 37 planning-related Laws dated November 20, 2018;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 95/2017/ND-CP dated August 16, 2017 on functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP dated August 01, 2007 elaborating the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Technical Regulations and Standards and the Government’s Decree No. 78/2018/ND-CP dated May 16, 2018 on amendments to the Government's Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP dated August 01, 2007 elaborating the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Technical Regulations and Standards;

At the request of the Director of the Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality and the Director of Legal Department;

The Minister of Science and Technology promulgates a Circular on detailed regulations on development and application of standards.

Chapter I

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Article 1. Scope

This Circular provides for the planning, development, appraisal, publishing of national standards; application of national standards, international standards, regional standards and foreign standards; development and announcement of internal standards.

Article 2. Regulated entities

This Circular applies to state agencies, organizations and individuals involved in the planning, development, appraisal, publishing of national standards; application of national standards, international standards, regional standards and foreign standards; development and publishing of internal standards in Vietnam.

Article 3. Definitions

For the purposes of this Circular, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. National standards are standards whose development is organized by a Ministry or head of a ministerial-level agency, appraised and published by the Ministry of Science and Technology following established procedures;

2. National standard fields are two or more groups of national standard subjects that are related within an industry or sector under state management specified in Clause 1 Article 23 of the Government's Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP dated August 01, 2007 elaborating some Articles of the Law on Technical Regulations and Standards dated August 01, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as “Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP"), which is amended by Clause 7 Article 1 of the Government’s Decree No. 78/2018/ND-CP dated May 16, 2018 (hereinafter referred to as “Decree No. 78/2018/ND-CP").

National standard fields shall be determined according to the International Classification for Standards (ICS) of International Standardization Organization (ISO).

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4. An international standard is a standard announced by an international standardization organization or an international organization operating in the field regulated by the standard;

5. A regional standard is a standard announced by a regional standardization organization or a regional organization operating in the field regulated by the standard;

6. A foreign standard is a standard announced by a foreign standardization organization or a foreign organization operating in the field regulated by the standard (professional associations, research institutes, etc.);

7. An internal standard is a standard announced by a business organization, social-professional organization, state agency, public service provider for application within such organization;

8. Application of a standard means the use of such standard for management, production, sale of goods, services, processes, environment and other socio-economic activities.

Chapter II

DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL STANDARDS

Article 4. Preparing and approving 5-year and annual plans for development of national standards

1. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall preside over and cooperate with relevant Ministries, central authorities and organizations in preparing and approving 5-year and annual plans for development of national standards.

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b) 5-year plans for development of national standards shall be appropriate for approved national programs and strategies and industry development strategies; meet the demands for development of production, business, state management requirements, and international integration; be appropriate for the level of national scientific and technological development.

c) Annual plans for development of national standards shall be appropriate for 5-year plans. Annual plans include contents about development of new national standards, revision, replacement, annulment of existing national standards.

2. 5-year plans for development of national standards

The contents of a 5-year plan for development of national standards include: fields, standard developers; types of standards; quantity of national standards to be developed; funding sources and cost estimates.

A 5-year plan for development of national standards shall be drafted, approved, revised and supplemented in the following order:

a) Drafting the 5-year plan

a1) In the second quarter of the last year of the 5-yer plan, Ministries and central authorities shall organize the development process and send their own plans for development of national standards in their fields for the next 5 years and descriptions to the Ministry of Science and Technology (via Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality) for consideration and consolidation.

The field-specific 5-year plans for development of national standards and descriptions shall be prepared in accordance with Appendix I hereof.

a2) Pursuant to the approved overall planning and national industry planning Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall draft 5-year plans for development of national standards on the basis of field-specific plans for development of national standards of Ministries and central authorities;

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Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall perform the following tasks:

b1) Send the draft 5-year plan to relevant Ministries, central authorities and organizations for feedbacks; publish it on the websites of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality to obtain public feedback for at least 30 days from the publishing date;

b2) Gather and process comments on the draft;

b3) Take charge and cooperate with relevant Ministries, central authorities and organizations in completing the draft and submit it to the Minister of Science and Technology;

c) Approving the 5-year plan

The Minister of Science and Technology shall organize assessment and approval for the 5-year plan. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall notify the approved plan to relevant Ministries, central authorities and organizations and publish it on the websites of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for 30 days from the day on which the plan is approved;

d) Revising the plan

d1) The 5-year plan for development of national standards shall be revised according to proposals of managing Ministries.

d2) The 5-year plan for development of national standards shall be revised in the order specified in Points a, b, c Clause 2 of this Article.

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The contents of an annual plan for development of national standards include: names of national standards sorted by fields; names of drafting organizations; implementation time; drafting method (adoption of international standards, drafting new standards; modification; specific names and numbers of standards, documents as the basis for standard development); estimated costs and funding sources; proposing organizations and individuals; technical committees to be consulted with.

An annual plan for development of national standards shall be drafted, approved, implemented, revised and supplemented in the following order:

a) Drafting the annual plan

a1) Every year during the second quarter, on the basis of the 5-year plan for development of national standards, the need for development, revision, supplementation, replacement of national standards, the results of periodic review of national standards, managing Ministries and central authorities shall send their next year’s field-specific plans for development of national standards and the national standard development projects for each subjects or group of subjects of standards to the Ministry of Science and Technology (via Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality).

The field-specific plan for development of national standards for the next year shall be prepared in accordance with Section 1 Appendix II hereof.

National standard development projects shall be prepared in accordance with Appendix III hereof.

a2) Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall organize assessment of national standard development projects with the participation of representatives of relevant Ministries, central authorities and organizations and draft the next year’s plan for development of national standards in accordance with Section 2 Appendix II and the description of the annual plan for development of national standards in accordance with Section 3 Appendix II hereof.

b) Gathering feedbacks and completing the annual plan draft.

Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall perform the following tasks:

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b2) Gather and process comments on the draft;

b3) Take charge and cooperate with relevant Ministries, central authorities and organizations in completing the draft and submit it to the Minister of Science and Technology;

c) Approving the annual plan

The Minister of Science and Technology shall consider approving the annual plan in the beginning of the fourth quarter of the year preceding the planning year. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall notify the approved plan to relevant Ministries, central authorities and organizations and publish it on the websites of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for 15 days from the day on which the plan is approved;

d) Implementing annual plans

d1) On the basis of the approved annual plans, Ministers and heads of ministerial agencies shall organize their implementation.

d2) Every six months and whenever requested by the Ministry of Science and Technology, other ministries and ministerial agencies shall notify the Ministry of Science and Technology of the status and results of plan implementation. Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall gather these notifications and submit them to the Minister of Science and Technology.

d3) Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall supervise the implementation of annual plans for development of national standards and submit reports to the Ministry of Science and Technology on the status and results of implementation; provide professional instructions for standard development; participate in the national standard drafting process presided over by ministries and ministerial agencies.

dd) Revising annual plans

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dd2) The Ministry of Science and Technology shall decide revisions in terms of schedule, method for development, withdrawal, addition and extension in annual plans for development of national standards.

dd3) Plans for development of national standards shall be revised in the following order:

- Relevant Ministries, ministerial agencies and organizations shall send written proposals for revision to annual plans for development of national standards to the Ministry of Science and Technology before every October 01 via Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality;

- Revisions to annual plans shall be considered on the basis of the official annual plans for development of national standards;

- Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall organize consideration of the proposed revisions on the basis of the official annual plans for development of national standards; submit reports to the Minister of Science and Technology for decision, notify the revisions to relevant Ministries, ministerial agencies and organizations, and publish them on the websites of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality.

dd4) In special cases where it is necessary for state management or operation of enterprises, the procedures for revising national standard development plans shall be decided by the Minister of Science and Technology.

Article 5. Procedures for development, appraisal and publishing of national standards

1. Procedures for development, appraisal and publishing of national standards developed by ministries and ministerial agencies (except the Ministry of Science and Technology):

a) Step 1: establish a drafting board or team

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b) Step 2: Draft the national standard

b1) The drafting board shall carry out assessment; collect researches on international standards, regional standards, foreign standards, relevant scientific research findings and documents; collect samples, carry out testing, experiments, operation, test run (if any) to determine technical characteristics, indicators and management requirements for the draft standard.

b2) The drafting board shall prepare the draft national standard and its description;

c) Step 3: Carry out survey and complete the draft

c1) The Ministry or ministerial agency shall carry out a survey by sending the draft national standard to relevant organizations, individuals and the corresponding national standard technical committee (hereinafter referred to as “technical committee”) via the head or secretary of the technical committee; announce the survey on the website of the Ministry or ministerial agency and the agency assigned to develop national standards. The survey duration shall be 60 days from the day on which the draft is published on these websites. In case of urgency related to health, safety or environment, the survey duration may be shorter but not shorter than 30 days.

c2) The drafting Ministry or ministerial agency shall organize a symposium participated by relevant parties in order to discuss and comment on the draft.

c3) The drafting board shall gather and process comments in order to complete the draft national standard, compile a draft national standard dossier according to Clause 1 Article 5 of the Government's Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP, which is amended by Clause 4 Article 1 of Decree No. 78/2018/ND-CP, and send it to the drafting Ministry or ministerial agency for review before sending it to the Ministry of Science and Technology for appraisal.

c4) The Ministry or ministerial agency shall send an Official Dispatch enclosed with the draft national standard dossier to the Ministry of Science and Technology for appraisal;

d) Step 4: Appraise the draft national standard dossier

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In case a draft national standard dossier is not satisfactory as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 5 of Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP, which is amended by Clause 4 Article 1 of Decree No. 78/2018/ND-CP, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall send an Official Dispatch requesting the Ministry or ministerial agency to supplement the dossier.

d2) Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall issue a decision to establish a draft national standard appraisal council on the basis of member proposal by Vietnam Standards and Quality Institute (VSQI) and relevant regulations.

- The appraisal council consists of the president, secretary and members who are representatives of management agencies, science and technology organizations, business organizations, national standard technical committees and experts in corresponding fields. The council shall have at least 07 members, 02 of them must have professional expertise to act as critics. One of the two critics must be an independent expert.

- A working session of the appraisal council must be attended by at least two thirds of the members, including the president and critics. Comments and assessments on the draft national standard must be fully provided. Representatives of relevant organizations may be invited to participate in the meeting.

- The council shall work on principle of democratic centralism. Verdicts of the council shall be ratified when it is voted for by at least 75% of the council members (if a member is absent, his/her previously sent comment and assessment of the draft national standard shall be considered).

d3) The appraisal council shall prepare an appraisal record according to Appendix IV hereof and send it to Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for consideration and notification of the appraisal result.

d4) The developing Ministry or ministerial agency shall gather, process comments and complete the draft national standard and relevant documents on the basis of the appraisal result, and send them to the Ministry of Science and Technology via Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality within 120 days from the day on which the appraisal result is notified.

If the aforementioned deadline is not met, the appraisal process must be carried out again. Documentation for re-appraisal shall be prepared according to Point c (Step 3) Clause 1 of this Article;

dd) Step 5: Publish the national standard

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dd1) If the draft national standard dossier is satisfactory, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall submit it to the Minister of Science and Technology for consideration and publishing.

dd2) If the draft national standard dossier is not satisfactory, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall send it to the developing Ministry or ministerial agency for supplementation.

2. Procedures for development, appraisal and publishing of national standards proposed by organizations and individuals

The proposing organization or individual shall send a written request enclosed with the draft national standard dossier to the Ministry of Science and Technology via Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality. On the basis of the draft standard and the written request, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall consider assigning a corresponding technical committee to organize the standard development following these steps:

a) Step 1: draft the national standard (by technical committee)

a1) Establish a working group to draft the national standard on the basis of the draft provided by the proposing organization or individual.

a2) Organize survey and discussion about the draft in the technical committee.

a3) Complete and write a description of the draft national standard.

a4) Prepare the draft national standard dossier and submit it to Directorate for Standards, Metrology for deciding whether to send out the draft national standard for feedback;

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b1) The technical committee shall send out the draft national standard for feedback.

b2) Publish the draft national standard and the survey notification on the website of Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for 60 days. In case of urgency related to health, safety or environment, the survey duration may be shorter but not shorter than 30 days.

b3) Organize a symposium to discuss and comment on the draft national standard.

b4) Organize processing and completion of the draft national standard and compile the draft national standard dossier according to Clause 2 Article 5 of the Government's Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP, which is amended by Clause 4 Article 1 of Decree No. 78/2018/ND-CP, then submit it to Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for appraisal;

c) Step 3: Appraise the draft standard dossier

c1) Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall establish an appraisal council. The appraisal shall be carried out following the procedures specified in Point d (Step 4) Clause 1 of this Article.

c2) The appraisal council shall prepare an appraisal record which contains specific verdict and comments; The technical committee shall receive and process the comments, then send them to Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for consideration and decision;

d) Step 4: Publish the national standard

Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall compile the draft national standard dossier and submit it for approval.

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d2) If the draft national standard dossier is not satisfactory, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall send it to the technical committee for supplementation before submitting it to the Minister of Science and Technology for consideration and publishing.

3. Procedures for development, appraisal and publishing of national standards developed by the Ministry of Science and Technology

Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall assign the corresponding technical committee to draft the national standard. Procedures for development, appraisal and publishing of a national standard:

a) Step 1: draft the national standard (by technical committee)

a1) Establish a working group to draft the national standard.

a2) Research international standards, regional standards, foreign standards, relevant scientific research findings and documents; carry out assessment; collect samples, carry out testing, experiments (if any) to determine technical characteristics and indicators of the draft standard.

a3) Organize survey and discussion about the draft in the technical committee.

b) Step 2: Carry out survey and complete the draft national standard

b1) Carry out the survey by sending the draft national standard to relevant organizations and individuals; announce the survey on the website of Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for 60 days. In case of urgency related to health, safety or environment, the survey duration may be shorter but not shorter than 30 days.

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b3) Gather and process comments to complete the draft national standard; compile the draft national standard dossier according to Clause 3 Article 5 of the Government's Decree No. 127/2007/ND-CP, which is amended by Clause 4 Article 1 of Decree No. 78/2018/ND-CP, then send it to Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for appraisal;

c) Step 3: Appraise the draft standard dossier

Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall establish an appraisal council. The appraisal shall be carried out following the procedures specified in Point d (Step 4) Clause 1 of this Article.

d) Step 4: Publish the national standard

Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall compile the draft national standard dossier and submit it for approval.

d1) If the draft national standard dossier is satisfactory, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall submit it to the Minister of Science and Technology for consideration and publishing.

d2) If the draft national standard dossier is not satisfactory, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall send it to the technical committee for supplementation before submitting it to the Minister of Science and Technology for consideration and publishing.

Article 6. Presentation of national standard contents and archiving of draft national standard dossiers

1. The presentation of national standard contents shall comply with TCVN 1-2:2008 Development of standards - Part 2: Rules for the structure and drafting of National Standards and guidelines of the Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality.

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Article 7. Periodic review, revision, supplementation, replacement and annulment of national standards

1. Periodic review of national standards

a) Every year, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall compile a list of national standards that have to undergo review after 3 years and include them in the annual plan for development of national standards.

b) Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall take charge and cooperate with Ministries and central authorities in carrying out periodic review of the national standards on the list mentioned in Point a of this Clause.

c) Procedures for periodic review of national standards

c1) Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall organize and provide guidelines on performance of the following tasks:

- Send the list of national standards that need reviewing to relevant Ministries and central authorities for review;

- Organize the review of national standards outside of the fields of management of these Ministries and central authorities.

c2) Results of periodic national standard review enclosed with descriptions shall be sent by Ministries and central authorities to the Ministry of Science and Technology via Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for consolidation and processing. To be specific:

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- Consolidate, process comments; prepare a national standard review dossier as the basis for development of the annual national standard development plan, and report to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

d) The periodic national standard review dossier includes:

d1) A document prepared by Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality about the review results and proposals;

d2) Response to comments and written comments from relevant organizations and individuals;

d3) Other relevant documents (if any).

2. Revision, supplementation, replacement of national standards

a) Revision, supplementation, replacement of national standards shall be included in annual national standard development plans according to Clause 3 Article 4 of this Circular.

b) Revision, supplementation, replacement of national standards shall be carried out following the procedures specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3 Article 5 of this Circular.

c) Results of revision, supplementation, replacement of national standards are decisions on publishing of revisions to national standards or replacement of national standards.

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a) Annulment of national standards on the basis of periodic national standard review

On the basis of approved results of periodic review, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall prepare an application for annulment of national standards, submit it to the Minister of Science and Technology for consideration and decision. An application includes:

a1) The national standards proposed for annulment;

a2) Comments of relevant Ministries, central authorities, organizations and individuals about annulment of the national standards during the review;

a3) Other relevant documents (if any);

a4) An Official Dispatch of Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality proposing annulment of the national standards enclosed with descriptions.

b) Annulment of national standards on request of Ministries, central authorities, technical committees, organizations and individuals

Ministries, central authorities, technical committees, organizations and individuals shall prepare applications for annulment of national standards; submit it to Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality for consideration and appraisal. Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall appraise the applications for annulment of national standards; submit the appraisal results to the Minister of Science and Technology and draft a decision on annulment of national standards. An application includes:

b1) The national standards proposed for annulment;

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b3) Comments of organizations and individuals;

b4) Other relevant documents (if any).

4. Dossiers on periodic review, revision, supplementation, replacement, annulment of national standards shall be archived at Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality in accordance with regulations of law on archiving documents.

Article 8. National standard symbols

1. The symbol of a national standard includes a number, publishing year after the abbreviation “TCVN”, separated by a colon (:).

Example: TCVN 1234:2019 is the symbol of National Standard No. 1234, published in 2019.

2. If a national standard is an identical adoption of an international standard, its symbol shall include “TCVN” and the symbol of the international standard in parentheses, separated by an auto space.

Example: TCVN 1234:2018 (ISO 1035:2012)

The symbol of a national standard shall be displayed on the cover as follows:

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b) Part 2 of the symbol shall be displayed underneath, including the full symbol of the identically adopted international standard.

Example: TCVN 6666:2019
               ISO/IEC 8888:2010

Where: National Standard No. 6666 is an identical adoption of ISO/IEC 8888:2010 and is published in 2019;

c) In special cases where a national standard is an identical adoption of an international standard for management system, smart city, sharing economy, etc, its symbol shall be written in the following format:

TCVN, auto space, abbreviation of the adopted international standard, auto space, number of the adopted international standard, colon (:), publishing year, space, and full symbol of the adopted international standard in parentheses.

Example: TCVN ISO 22301:2018 (ISO 22301:2012) is an identical adoption of international standard ISO 22301:2012 about Societal Security - Business Continuity Management Systems – Requirements, and published in 2018.

On the cover, they will be displayed as follows:

TCVN ISO 22301:2018

ISO 22301:2012

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Example: TCVN 1234:2019 is the symbol of the national standard which is published in 2019 and replaces TCVN 1234:2010

If a national standard replaces multiple national standards or part of a national standard, it shall be designated a new number.

4. The symbol of the revision of a national standard includes the phrase “SỬA DỔI” (“REVISION”), a number, and publishing year separated by a colon (:) before the symbol of the revised national standard.

Example: SỬA DỔI 1:2018 TCVN 1111:2010 is the symbol of the first revision to TCVN 1111:2010, published in 2018.

5. The symbol and full name of a national standard shall be specified in the Decision on publishing of the national standard.

Article 9. Notification, publishing, release and dissemination of national standards

1. Notification of national standards

Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall notify the publishing, revision, replacement or annulment of national standards on its website and appropriate media for 30 days from the day on which the decision is signed by the Minister of Science and Technology.

2. Publishing and release of national standards

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b) Revisions to national standards shall be published separately until the standards are re-published.

In case a national standard has multiple parts, each part can be bound separately or together as a multiple-part standard for the sake of convenience.

c) Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality shall publish and release a national within 60 days from the day on which the decision on publishing is signed by the Minister of Science and Technology.

d) Ministries and central authorities may publish and release national standards they draft after reaching a consensus with Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality on the form of publishing and release, ensure accuracy of contents and standard symbols, and take responsibility for protection of copyright of international standards, regional standards, foreign standards and relevant regulations of law.

dd) Organizations and individuals may only publish or release their national standards after Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality issues written consensus.

3. Dissemination of national standards

a) Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality, on behalf of the Ministry of Science and Technology, shall cooperate with relevant Ministries and central authorities in preparing the plan for dissemination of published national standards.

b) Ministries and central authorities shall take charge and cooperate with relevant organizations in disseminating national standards in their fields.

c) Dissemination of national standards can be carried out in various manners: conferences, seminars, training, and other forms.

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GUIDELINES FOR APPLICATION OF NATIONAL STANDARDS, INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS, REGIONAL STANDARDS AND FOREIGN STANDARDS IN VIETNAM

Article 10. Methods and measures for application of national standards

1. Methods for application of national standards

a) Direct application

The national standard is directly applied without any intermediate document.

b) Indirect application

The national standard is applied through intermediate documents (legislative documents, technical regulations, etc.) that contain reference to such national standard.

2. Measures for application of national standards

a) Propaganda, dissemination, provision of guidelines and training in application of national standards for relevant entities.

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c) Promotion of testing, calibration, assessment, certification of conformity, declaration of conformity, recognition according to published national standards.

Article 11. Rules, methods and measures for application of international standards, regional standards and foreign standards

1. Rules for application

a) Application of international standards, regional standards and foreign standards by agencies, organizations and individuals are voluntary.

b) Application of international standards, regional standards and foreign standards must not contradict regulations of law or threaten national defense, security, socio-economic interests, and other national interests.

c) It is recommended to apply the latest versions of international standards, regional standards and foreign standards.

d) Application of relevant international standards, regional standards and foreign standards prescribed in International Agreements to which Vietnam is a signatory or in bilateral and multilateral agreements between Vietnamese organizations and foreign organizations must comply with law.

2. Methods for application

a) Direct application

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b) Indirect application

International standards, regional standards and foreign standards can be indirectly applied by agencies organizations and individuals by implementing regulations of technical documents, regulations of law (legislative documents, technical regulations, etc.) that contain reference to part or all of these standards.

3. Measures for application

a) Increase adoption and harmonization international standards, regional standards and foreign standards as national standards or internal standards.

c) Use international standards, regional standards and foreign standards for conformity assessment via activities such as certification, recognition, assessment, testing, calibration.

c) Research to apply international standards, regional standards and foreign standards in Vietnam’s context; actively participate in the operation of international or regional standard technical committees.

d) Have specific plans and roadmaps for investment in technology, management according to requirements of international standards, regional standards and foreign standards to be adopted.

e) Organize dissemination and training in application of international standards, regional standards and foreign standards.

Chapter IV

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Article 12. Requirements and basis for development of internal standards

1. Requirements for internal standards:

a) Internal standards must not contradict corresponding technical regulations and regulations of law;

b) Development of internal standards shall be appropriate for science and technology development, meet requirements for management and business operation of business organizations, social-professional organizations, state agencies, public service providers and other organizations (hereinafter referred to as “establishments”)

c) An internal standard shall be applied to management and business operation of the organization, agency or unit that develops and publishes it.

2. Basis for development of internal standards

a) Internal standards shall be developed on the basis of science and technology research findings; technological advancements; demands and reality of management and business operation of establishments.

b) It is recommended to develop internal standards by studying to or adopting national standards, international standards, regional standards and foreign standards.

Article 13. Types and methods for development of internal standards

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Types of internal standards include:

a) Technical requirement standards;

b) Standards for testing, measurement, calibration methods;

c) Standards for recording, packaging, transport, storage;

d) Process standards;

dd) Service standards;

e) Environmental standards.

Depending on the form and scale of business, purposes and requirements of management, establishments shall apply or add appropriate types of internal standards.

2. Methods for development of internal standards

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a) Adoption of corresponding national standards, international standards, regional standards and foreign standards;

b) Development of new internal standards on the basis of science and technology research findings; results of testing, assessment, analysis and experiments;

c) Revision, supplementation of internal standards.

Article 14. Procedures for development and publishing of internal standards

1. Depending on the form and scale of business of the establishment, an internal standard shall be developed by following these steps:

a) Step 1: Prepare the internal standard development plan;

b) Step 2: Draft the internal standard;

c) Step 3: Organize a survey on the draft internal standard;

d) Step 4: Organize a symposium on the draft internal standard;

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e) Step 6: Prepare the draft internal standard dossier;

g) Step 7: Appraise the draft internal standard;

h) Step 8: Publish the internal standard;

i) Step 9: Print the internal standard.

2. Publishing internal standards

The head of the establishment shall consider issuing a written decision to publish the internal standard.

The internal standard publishing dossier shall be archived at the establishment.

3. Presentation of internal standards

a) Symbols of internal standards

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a2) The abbreviation of the publishing establishment is placed after the publishing year, separated by a slash (/).

Example: TCCS 26:2017/XXX is the symbol of internal standard No. 26, developed and published in 2017 by a company abbreviated as XXX.

b) The contents of an internal standard shall have the following main parts:

b1) Table of contents;

b2) Foreword;

b3) General (overall part, technical part);

b4) Additional information.

Framework, presentation and sample contents can be found in TCVN 1-2:2008 Development of standards - Part 2: Rules for the structure and drafting of National Standards.

c) Internal standards should be concise, clear, accurate, unequivocal and correct; should not have contents that are general, confusing and ambiguous.

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d) Internal standards can be bound separately or as a collection by topic or regulated entities.

The pages of the internal standard shall be numbered and printed as separate sheets for convenient addition, removal or replacement of contents. Every internal standard shall have covers.

4. Pursuant to these general guidelines, establishments shall establish their own procedures and guidelines for development, revision, supplementation and publishing of their internal standards according to their capacity and scale.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

Article 15. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Science and Technology

1. Take charge and cooperate with Ministries and ministerial agencies in preparing and approving national standard development plans; review for revision, supplementation, replacement, annulment of national standards.

2. Organize development, appraisal and publishing of national standards under its management as assigned by the Government.

3. Organize appraisal and publishing of national standards developed by other Ministries and ministerial agencies.

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Article 16. Responsibilities of the other Ministries and ministerial agencies

1. Annually compile and notify the list of national standards they developed to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

2. Carry out activities including communication, propaganda, training, dissemination, provision of guidelines, and relevant activities in order to promote application of national standards.

3. Ministries and ministerial agencies shall, within their jurisdiction assigned by the Government, organize development of national standards and send them to the Ministry of Science and Technology for appraisal and publishing in accordance with regulations of this Circular and relevant regulations.

In case the entities regulated by certain standards have special requirements for management or conformity with international practice, the Ministry of Science and Technology shall take charge and cooperate with relevant Ministries and central authorities in providing guidelines for procedures, development, publishing, presentation of these national standards in accordance with this Circular.

Article 17. Responsibilities of organizations and individuals presiding and participating in development of national standards

1. Grasp the contents and requirements of the published standards in order to implement them properly.

2. Promptly report issues discovered during application to publishing agencies for revision or supplementation.

Chapter VI

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Article 18. Effect

1. This Circular comes into force from January 06, 2022.

2. The following Circulars are annulled from the effective date of this Circular:

a) Circular No. 21/2007/TT-BKHCN dated August 29, 2007 of the Minister of Science and Technology on development and application of standards;

b) Circular No. 29/2011/TT-BKHCN dated November 15, 2011 of the Minister of Science and Technology on amendments to Circular No. 21/2007/TT-BKHCN of the Minister of Science and Technology on development and application of standards.

Article 19. Transition clauses

The national standard development projects that are under development plans approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology and ended in 2020 shall continue to be executed in accordance with Circular No. 21/2007/TT-BKHCN, and Circular No. 29/2011/TT-BKHCN.

Article 20. Responsibility for implementation

1. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Science and Technology for instructions or revision.

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PP MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER




Le Xuan Dinh

Thông tư 11/2021/TT-BKHCN hướng dẫn xây dựng và áp dụng tiêu chuẩn do Bộ trưởng Bộ Khoa học và Công nghệ ban hành