Vietnam supplier due diligence checklist

The short answer. To vet a Vietnamese supplier, check five things: that the company is registered and is the one making your product, that it is not on a sanctions or forced-labour list, that its certificates are real, that its stated capacity adds up, and, for wood products, where the timber comes from. You can do all five from your desk, for free. Four things will still be open afterwards. A site visit closes them.

1. Is the company real, and is it the one making your product?

Start with Vietnam's public business registry, the National Business Registration Portal. Search by company name or by enterprise code. In Vietnam the enterprise code is also the company's tax code. Write down the legal name, the registered address, the legal representative and the registered business lines.

Then compare what you found with what the supplier told you.

• Business lines. A company that calls itself a factory but is registered only for wholesale or import-export may still make goods through a sister company. Ask which legal entity runs the production site.
• Names. The quotation, the contract, the certificates, the invoices and the bank account should all name the same company. If the money is meant to go to a different company, get the reason in writing before you pay.
• Address. Look at the registered address on satellite and street-level images. A yard with loading bays looks very different from an apartment block or an office floor. The images may be a year or two old, so treat them as a first look.
• Owners. Note the owners, the parent company and any other firms registered at the same address. You will need those names in step 2.

2. Is it on a sanctions or forced-labour list?

Search the company, its legal representative and any parent or affiliate on three lists: the UFLPA Entity List from the US Department of Homeland Security, the US OFAC sanctions lists, and the EU consolidated sanctions list. The UFLPA list grew to 187 entities on 3 August 2026, so a search from last year is out of date. Our guide shows how to screen a supplier against the UFLPA Entity List.

Save the date and the list version with your result. A screening without a date proves nothing later.

Also ask who supplies the main materials and parts for your product. A clean supplier can still buy from a listed company, and you cannot search for a name you do not have.

3. Are the certificates real?

Do not take a certificate as a PDF. Look it up where it was issued.

• FSC and PEFC. Search the public databases by certificate code. Check the holder's name, the dates and the scope. Know which type you are looking at: a forest management certificate belongs to a forest owner, while a chain-of-custody certificate belongs to a company that processes the wood. A furniture factory needs the second one.
• ISO. Ask for the certification body and the certificate number, then confirm with the body. IAF CertSearch lists certificates from many accredited bodies. Read the scope and the site address, not only the standard number.
• BSCI and SMETA. These are audits, not certificates. Ask for the audit date, the audited address and the auditing body. Ask the supplier to share the result on the amfori or Sedex platform.

For every document check the same five fields: name, site, scope, dates and status. If one of them does not match, you have found something worth asking about.

4. Does the stated capacity add up?

Ask for the number of workers in each department, the number of production lines, the main machines, the shifts and the monthly capacity for your type of product. Then see whether the figures fit together. Compare capacity with headcount, the number of lines with the floor area you saw on the images, and the machines with the steps your product needs.

Ask which steps are done in the factory and which are sent out. For furniture these include cutting, edge banding, lamination, finishing or painting, and assembly. A supplier who runs its own process can name the machine, the room and the person. Vague answers are a reason to ask again.

Finally, ask for a live video tour. You choose the route: raw material intake, each stage in order, then the loading area. Record it with the time stamp.

5. For wood and furniture: where does the timber come from?

EUDR and the Lacey Act both expect the importer to know the wood. Ask the supplier for:

• the scientific name of each species, not just "oak" or "pine"
• the country where the wood was harvested
• whether it buys logs or sawn timber, and from whom
• the plot locations (geolocation) of the wood. EUDR Article 9 requires them, and a supplier who has never been asked may need weeks to collect them
• whether it has given origin or declaration data to a US or EU customer before. If yes, ask to see the form with the customer's name removed

Do not forget the middleman. If a trader sells timber to the factory, that trader is part of your supply chain, even if the supplier never mentions it.

What a desk check cannot tell you

• Whether the factory exists at the stated address and is run by the company on your contract.
• Whether the equipment, the workforce and the activity match the capacity claimed.
• Whether the origin and harvest documents exist as real records, or only as summaries someone prepared for you.
• Whether part of the work is done elsewhere, asked on site of people who would know.

A video call shows what the supplier decides to show. These four points need someone standing in the factory.

Common questions

How do I check whether a Vietnamese company is real? Look it up on the National Business Registration Portal, then match the legal name, address and business lines against the quotation, the contract and the bank account. Step 1 above gives the full list.

Can I do supplier due diligence in Vietnam without visiting? Partly. Registry, list screening, certificate lookups and capacity cross-checks can all be done remotely. Whether the factory exists, what it can really produce and what documents it holds can only be confirmed on site.

What is the difference between a trading company and a manufacturer? A manufacturer carries out the main production steps itself, on its own premises. A trading company buys finished or part-finished goods and resells them. Our guide on trading company vs manufacturer in Vietnam shows how to tell them apart.

Related

• Vietnam factory verification checklist
• Trading company vs manufacturer in Vietnam
• How to verify a Vietnamese manufacturer before your first order

When the desk checks are done. If a supplier passes, the four open points above are what we check on site. A Field Diligence Compliance Verification costs a fixed USD 2,200, is paid by you and never by the supplier, and ends in a written report. See the sample report or book a free scoping call.