On July 31, the Government issued Resolution No. 36/2026/NQ-CP stipulating the simplification of administrative procedures on planting area codes, packaging facility codes, and increasing decentralization to commune levels.
According to the Resolution, the issuance and management of planting area codes and packaging facility codes is carried out in a complete network environment according to the principle of self-declaration and self-responsibility of organizations and individuals.
Procedures are simplified, no new administrative procedures arise, and at the same time ensure publicity and transparency.
A noteworthy new point is the strong shift from pre-inspection to post-inspection. State agencies only conduct pre-inspection in cases where the import market requires it; the remaining cases will be issued pre-numbers and post-inspection will be organized within a maximum of 3 months.
The Resolution assigns commune-level People's Committees to directly receive dossiers, issue, reissue, temporarily suspend, restore and revoke planting area codes and packaging facility codes. Dossiers are submitted through the National Public Service Portal.
The processing time is shortened to no more than 3 working days for cases that are not exported to markets requiring codes; no more than 10 working days for cases that are exported to markets with requirements and must have actual inspection.
In case of change of information about the representative or due to adjustment of administrative boundaries, the time to reissue the code is no more than 2 working days.
The Resolution also encourages businesses, cooperatives, cooperative groups and people to link production, form concentrated and large-scale raw material areas to be granted planting area codes.
The planting area codes and packaging facility codes that were issued before the Resolution took effect continue to be used in the current format, without re-issuance.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is assigned to develop a Decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP in a streamlined order, and submit it to the Government for promulgation in September 2026.
According to regulations, data on planting area codes and packaging facilities will be centrally managed on the system of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, publicly available on the Electronic Information Portal and connected to the agricultural product traceability system.
Organizations and individuals registering for codes must be responsible before the law for the completeness and accuracy of the declared information.
This is expected to improve transparency, meet the traceability requirements of import markets and create more favorable conditions for agricultural export activities.
In Lam Dong, according to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the whole province currently has 961 planting area codes with a total area of more than 39,360ha and 362 packaging facility codes for export.
Durian alone has 346 planting area codes approved by China, with an area of about 13,297ha, along with 70 packaging facility codes that meet the conditions for official export.
