AsemconnectVietnam - The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just issued Circular No. 07/2026/TT-BCT amending and supplementing several articles of Circular 37/2013/TT-BCT on the import of cigarettes and cigars.

Circular No. 07/2026/TT-BCT takes effect from April 10, 2026, with stricter regulations on import conditions and procedures.
According to the amended regulations in Article 6, the Ministry of Industry and Trade designates traders with licenses to manufacture tobacco products and whose charter capital is 100% state-owned as traders to import cigarettes and cigars under the state-owned trading mechanism.
Notably, licensed traders must directly carry out import activities and are not allowed to authorize or delegate to other traders.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade issues Circular amending and supplementing several articles on the import of cigarettes and cigars. Illustrative image
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has issued a Circular amending and supplementing several provisions on the import of cigarettes and cigars. Illustrative image
The Circular also amends Clause 3, Article 7, stipulating that traders importing cigarettes must declare conformity with national standards; traders importing cigars must declare applicable standards in accordance with current regulations. At the same time, Clause 4, Article 7 of the old Circular is repealed.
Regarding procedures, the Circular also amends and supplements Clause 1, Article 8, stipulating that when carrying out import procedures, in addition to the documents required by the Customs authority, traders must present one original copy of the Automatic Import Registration Application for cigarettes and cigars that has been certified by the licensing authority or submitted through the customs electronic data processing system and are responsible for the legality and completeness of the documents.
Before carrying out import procedures, traders must submit a set of documents to the People's Committee of the province/city where their head office is located or submit them online, including: an automatic import registration application (according to the sample); an import contract; a commercial invoice; a bill of lading or transport document for the order (if any); and a tobacco product manufacturing license.
When carrying out customs procedures, traders must present the original automatic import registration application that has been confirmed by the licensing authority or submit it through the customs electronic data processing system.
The Circular also replaces the phrase "Import-Export Department - Ministry of Industry and Trade" with "Licensing Authority" in Clauses 2 and 3 of Article 9, and Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 10.
Circular 07/2026/TT-BCT also repeals Article 11 of Circular 37/2013/TT-BCT, and replaces Appendix I and Appendix II with the new appendices issued with this Circular. The new circular assigns responsibility to licensing authorities to inspect or coordinate inspections of cigarette and cigar import activities.
In cases where traders violate regulations at the level of administrative penalties, the licensing authority may not confirm the Automatic Import Registration Application until the enterprise rectifies the violation. For violations at the level of criminal prosecution, traders will not be allowed to act as import intermediaries under the state trade mechanism until they are exempted from punishment or have their criminal record expunged according to the law.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, if any difficulties arise during implementation, organizations and individuals can report them for consideration and appropriate amendments or additions.
Circular 07/2026/TT-BCT takes effect from April 10, 2026.
CK
Source: VITIC/congthuong.vn