Inter-agency coordination key to effective traceability

In recent years, Viet Nam has gradually established a legal framework and implemented programmes to promote traceability in association with digital transformation and the development of the digital economy.

These include Decision No. 100/QD-TTg approving the scheme on the deployment, application and management of the traceability system; Law No. 78/2025/QH15 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Product and Goods Quality; and Decree No. 37/2026/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures for organising and guiding the implementation of the Law on Product and Goods Quality.

In addition, ministries and sectors have proactively developed and implemented traceability systems to serve specialised management requirements and meet export market demands.

However, during implementation, one of the major challenges has been fragmentation in management and the lack of interoperability among systems. Traceability activities are currently being carried out by various ministries, sectors and localities according to their respective management functions, resulting in differences in data standards, operating methods and usage objectives.

Meanwhile, the very nature of traceability is inter-sectoral, cross-disciplinary and integrated throughout the value chain. An export product may simultaneously involve the management of raw materials, production, trade, customs, quality standards and origin.

For example, in the agricultural sector, traceability systems mainly serve the management of growing areas, packing facilities and compliance with the requirements of importing markets. Meanwhile, in the industry and trade sector, traceability is associated with goods circulation management and e-commerce.

In the healthcare sector, traceability is applied to medicines and functional foods under separate specialised regulations. The independent development of these systems, without mechanisms for connectivity and data sharing, has significantly reduced the overall effectiveness of traceability.

According to experts, these shortcomings have become increasingly evident in practice. For exported goods, there have been numerous cases in which enterprises are required to simultaneously comply with different traceability requirements from domestic management agencies and foreign partners, while the data remain disconnected, resulting in additional costs and compliance time.

In several cases involving origin fraud or the circumvention of trade defence measures, the absence of a synchronised traceability system has made it difficult for authorities to verify the origin of raw materials and production processes. Similarly, in food safety management, when incidents occur, tracing activities are often disrupted because information is scattered across multiple systems, slowing down handling procedures and risk control efforts.

International experience shows that countries which have effectively implemented traceability systems have all established inter-agency coordination mechanisms capable of unifying orientations, standardising criteria and organising synchronised implementation nationwide. Such mechanisms not only support domestic management but also facilitate connections with international traceability systems, thereby meeting the requirements of export markets.

Current realities indicate the need to move beyond isolated sector-specific solutions and promptly establish a national inter-agency steering committee on traceability, tasked with directing, coordinating and organising unified implementation across the entire economy.

This steering committee should include the participation of ministries and sectors responsible for key areas such as agriculture, industry and trade, finance, science and technology, and healthcare, while also ensuring close coordination mechanisms from the central to local levels in order to unify orientations, standards and traceability data infrastructure.

The establishment of a sufficiently empowered inter-agency steering committee would help address the current fragmentation and lack of interoperability in implementation, while also serving as an important solution to improve the effectiveness of state management, combat origin fraud, support exports and build a modern, transparent national traceability system capable of meeting international integration requirements.

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