Customs declaration accounts to be locked from 1 January 2027 unless data is cleaned up

From 1 January 2027, Vietnam's customs authorities will lock the customs declaration accounts of businesses that have not carried out or finished a review, update and clean-up of their registration data, Báo Chính phủ, the government's online newspaper, reported. A locked account will be reopened only after the business completes the process set out by the Customs Department. The deadline for finishing is 31 December 2026.

Who must act, and why

The requirement comes in Official Letter No. 23474/CHQ-CNTT, recently issued by the Customs Department. It tells regional customs branches to keep rolling out the plan to clean business data on the user registration and management system, inform the businesses they oversee, follow up on progress and make sure firms know the deadline.

It applies to every business that has registered an account on the VNACCS user registration system. According to the department, the clean-up protects the security of the customs information system and shields businesses from impersonation and from their accounts being used unlawfully. For companies and customs agents, this is more than a formality: a locked account cannot be used to file customs declarations until the update is complete.

Key dates

The six steps

According to the guidance published by Báo Chính phủ, the process has six steps:

1. Log in: go to dksd.customs.gov.vn/client/external and choose Đăng nhập (log in). Usernames and passwords are synced from the current VNACCS user registration system, and users can also sign in with their VNeID electronic identification account.
2. Open account management: use function CW_NKHQ_QLTKQT for administrator accounts or CW_NKHQ_QL for declarant accounts. On the account details screen, with the account active, select Sửa thông tin (edit) or Cập nhật (update).
3. Review and verify: check the tax code, company name, chapter code, address, business identification number, the representative's identification number, full name and date of birth, then click Xác thực thông tin (verify) and enter the Captcha so the system checks the data against the national population database. For customs agents, the system matches the tax code against the list of registered customs agents and returns an error if it is not there.
4. Verify the email address: check or update the contact email, select email verification and enter the Captcha. The system sends a six-digit OTP to the registered address, valid for 10 minutes.
5. Link a digital signature: three types are supported, a USB token, a SIM-based signature and SmartCA remote signing.
6. Sign and submit: click Gửi cập nhật (send update), choose a valid digital certificate and sign. A confirmation then tells the user the update request was sent successfully and to wait for approval, and the record moves to awaiting approval by an administrator.

How customs approves

On the customs side, administrators use the CW_NKHQ_TC module to find applications by tax code, personal identification number, name or approval status. Records with accurate data are approved and put into official operation. To reject one, an officer must digitally sign the reason; the system records the rejection and automatically emails the business the details.

What to do before 31 December 2026

The Customs Department has urged businesses to cooperate and finish the clean-up on schedule so that goods clearance continues smoothly and safely. Because each submission still has to be approved and can be rejected, firms are better off preparing a valid digital signature, a working contact email and representative details that match the population database, and acting early rather than close to the deadline.

For technical or procedural problems, businesses can contact the Customs Information Technology and Statistics Division on the hotline 19009299 (option 2) or by email at bophanhotro@customs.gov.vn.