Article 5 of Decree No. 273/2026/ND-CP prescribes the persons eligible to purchase duty-free goods and the applicable conditions as follows:
(1) Persons exiting or transiting after completing exit or transit procedures, and persons awaiting exit, may purchase duty-free goods.
- Persons exiting or transiting through international land border checkpoints, international railway stations, seaports, or international civil airports may purchase duty-free goods from duty-free shops located in sterile areas;
- Persons awaiting exit may purchase duty-free goods from inland duty-free shops and collect them at goods collection counters in the sterile area of the international border checkpoint through which they exit;
- In addition to the goods collection locations prescribed in this Clause, the aforesaid customers may collect their goods abroad.
(2) Passengers on international flights departing from Vietnam may purchase duty-free goods aboard the departing aircraft. Passengers on international flights arriving in Vietnam may purchase duty-free goods aboard the aircraft operating the international flight to Vietnam.
(3) Persons entering Vietnam may purchase duty-free goods from duty-free shops located in the restricted area of an international civil airport immediately after completing entry procedures. They may not purchase duty-free goods after leaving the restricted area of the international civil airport.
(4) Persons entitled to privileges and immunities in Vietnam may purchase duty-free goods from inland duty-free shops. When purchasing duty-free goods for an organization, the purchaser must present the organization’s duty-free goods quota book. When purchasing duty-free goods for an individual, the purchaser must present the individual’s duty-free goods quota book together with the identity card issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam.
(5) Crew members working aboard ships operating on international routes, including foreign-flagged ships and Vietnamese-flagged ships operating on international routes, may purchase duty-free goods at seaports or inland duty-free shops to meet their personal needs or the crew’s common daily needs for use aboard the ship while it is berthed at a Vietnamese seaport, and for use aboard the ship outside Vietnam’s territorial waters after its departure.
- When purchasing duty-free goods for a crew member’s personal needs, the crew member’s passport or shore pass must be presented;
- When purchasing duty-free goods for the crew’s common daily needs while the ship is berthed at a Vietnamese seaport, the purchaser must provide the ship identification number, the ship’s date of entry, and the passport number of each crew member;
- Where duty-free goods are purchased to meet the crew’s needs during the ship’s subsequent voyage outside Vietnam’s territorial waters, the purchaser must provide the ship identification number, the ship’s date of entry, and the passport number of each crew member. The goods must be placed in the ship’s storage facility for sealing, certification, and supervision by the customs authority at the ship’s port of departure until the ship departs.
(6) During implementation, where the personal information of a purchaser of duty-free goods can be retrieved from the National Population Database, another national database, or a specialized database, the purchaser shall not be required to present paper copies of documents containing such information.
See more details in Decree No. 273/2026/ND-CP effective as of August 21, 2026.
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