No longer just an 'export procedure'
According to Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, by May 2026, Vietnam had 9,546 planting area codes and 1,525 packaging facility codes serving exports to many major markets. Chinese market alone has 4,323 approved planting area codes and 1,332 approved packaging facilities.
However, along with rapid expansion comes increasing pressure for control. Since 2025 alone, China has issued non-compliance warnings to 403 planting area codes and 240 packaging facilities in Vietnam; Of these, 167 planting area codes and 99 packing facility codes were suspended or revoked.
For many years, planting area and packing facility codes were considered a mandatory "passport" for exported agricultural products. But as importing markets continuously tighten requirements on plant quarantine, food safety and traceability, management thinking must also change.
At Conference on Implementation of Protocol on Plant Quarantine Requirements for Fresh Pomelo and Fresh Lemon Exports from Vietnam to China, Mr. Hoang Trung, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment, said: While previously many places considered codes mainly as a means to "meet export requirements," now markets such as China, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia all require continuous maintenance of technical conditions related to pests, pesticide residues, packing conditions and monitoring records. “Even just a few violations can affect entire industry, impacting national prestige and ability to maintain export markets”, Mr. Hoang Trung emphasized.
In reality, along with expansion of list of agricultural products exported through official channels to China, management requirements are becoming increasingly stricter. To date, Vietnam and China have signed more than 20 agreements and protocols related to export of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products; about 10 types of fruit alone are officially exported.
From 2024 to present, many new products such as frozen durian, fresh coconut, chili peppers, jackfruit, fresh pomelo and fresh lemon have continuously been opened to the market. This is a positive sign for Vietnamese agricultural products, but it also means increasingly higher requirements for standardizing raw material areas and packaging systems.
For fresh pomelos and lemons, all growing regions and packing facilities wishing to export to Chinese market must register with Ministry of Agriculture and Environment through Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection and be approved by General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) before export.
Furthermore, growing regions must apply Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and pest monitoring as required by China; and maintain complete records. For pomelos specifically, bagging the fruit at least 60 days before harvest is a mandatory requirement.
Shifting from “issuing multiple codes” to “sustainable maintenance”
In this context, the Government's issuance of Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP on management of planting area codes and packaging facility codes is considered an important institutional step to standardize and improve management efficiency. According to Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, core of the Decree is not “transferring” authority from the central government to local governments, but rather legalizing and standardizing decentralization mechanism that has been implemented for many years.
For the first time, responsibilities of each level are clearly defined, from receiving applications, conducting field inspections, issuing codes to monitoring, suspending, restoring or revoking codes. Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee is responsible for organizing implementation of issuing and managing planting area and packaging facility codes in its area; and simultaneously allocating resources, personnel and funding for post-inspection, monitoring and handling violations.
This reflects a new management perspective: local authorities must be direct force "closely monitoring growing areas and packaging facilities," regularly overseeing maintenance of technical conditions instead of just focusing on initial code issuance. This also requires a strong shift from mindset of "issuing many codes" to "sustainably maintaining codes".
In reality, in some localities, there has been a tendency to prioritize quantity over quality, while post-issuance inspection and supervision have not been given due attention. Production logs, traceability and pesticide residue control are often merely superficial in many places. This is the reason why many codes are flagged or temporarily suspended.
Another noteworthy point in Decree 38/2026/ND-CP is promotion of digital transformation and establishment of a national database on codes for growing areas and packaging facilities. According to Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, in the coming time, entire process from receiving applications, conducting field inspections, issuing codes, monitoring, to warning and handling violations will be digitized; at the same time, data will be linked between central and local levels to improve management efficiency and traceability.
This is not only a requirement for domestic management but also an inevitable trend of global agricultural trade, as importing markets increasingly value information transparency and supply chain responsibility.
In an interview with a reporter from Industry and Trade Newspaper, agricultural expert Hoang Trong Thuy commented that Decree 38/2026/ND-CP is not simply an administrative document on codes for growing areas or packaging facilities. More importantly, it is a step towards perfecting institutional framework to build a more professional, transparent and responsible agricultural production system for the international market. During this process, localities are the "front line" determining the actual quality of code system, thereby contributing to protecting reputation of Vietnamese agricultural products in the global market.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn