Category: Việt Nam Law

Nghị định 399/2026/NĐ-CP, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà on 2 November 2026, raises the four regional minimum wages from 1 January 2027: Region I to 5,700,000 đồng a month (up 390,000), Region II to 5,080,000, Region III to 4,450,000 and Region IV to 4,040,000. Hourly minimums rise to 27,400 / 24,400 / 21,400 / 19,400 đồng. It replaces Nghị định 293/2025/NĐ-CP and extends the highest-region rule to special economic zones, free-trade zones and high-tech agricultural zones.

Continue reading “Vietnam’s Minimum Wage Rises 7–9% on 1 January 2027: What Nghị định 399/2026/NĐ-CP Changes for Employers” →

Nghị định 401/2026/NĐ-CP, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Hồ Quốc Dũng on 4 November 2026 and effective 22 December 2026, is the first sanctions decree for the Luật Công nghiệp công nghệ số. Fines run up to 200 million đồng for organisations and 100 million for individuals. Most of the 10 offence articles target false applications for incentives (key digital products, AI data centres, semiconductors, start-ups, public procurement, digital tech parks), plus sandbox breaches, missed database reporting and banned used-tech imports. It replaces Articles 74 and 76 of Nghị định 15/2020/NĐ-CP.

Continue reading “Up to 200 Million Đồng for Faked Chip and AI Data-Centre Incentive Claims: Nghị định 401/2026/NĐ-CP Gives the Digital Technology Industry Law Its Fines From 22 December” →

Thông tư 165/2026/TT-BTC, signed by the Ministry of Finance on 31 October 2026 and in force from 18 December 2026, is the disclosure and reporting rulebook for the pilot crypto-asset market created by Nghị quyết 05/2025/NQ-CP. Licensed exchanges must show live prices and the three best bids and offers, report each trading day to the State Securities Commission by 15:00, send wallet-level custody data every Monday, notify IT incidents within 24 hours and give seven days of public notice before listing or delisting a token. Compared with the September draft, the final text drops the 1% shareholder rule and the 9:00 publication deadline, converts the order-size bands from US dollars to đồng, and makes the semi-annual customer-asset audit optional.

Continue reading “Daily Reports by 15:00, Wallet Data Every Monday, Incidents Within 24 Hours: Thông tư 165/2026/TT-BTC Sets the Reporting Calendar for Licensed Crypto Exchanges in Việt Nam From 18 December 2026” →

Thông tư 63/2026/TT-BCT, signed on 30 September 2026 and in force from 15 November 2026, replaces Thông tư 11/2026/TT-BCT, the food-traceability circular that the Ministry of Industry and Trade suspended three times before it ever applied, after the Government froze the new food-safety decree. The ministry gives up its own traceability code, data carriers and mandatory connection timetable and instead builds a food database fed mainly by state agencies, with businesses only encouraged to connect. What survives is the record-keeping core: one step back, one step forward, records kept 12 months past expiry or 60 months from production, and produced within 24 hours of a request. High-risk goods still go through VeriGoods.

Continue reading “Frozen Three Times, Then Rewritten: From 15 November, Food Businesses Under the Trade Ministry Must Produce Traceability Records Within 24 Hours, and the Ministry Drops Its Own Tracing Code” →

Quyết định 49/2026/QĐ-TTg, signed on 30 October 2026 and in force from 15 December 2026, replaces the 2023 procedure that decides whether an investment project uses outdated, polluting or resource-intensive technology, the finding that blocks an extension of its operating term under the 2025 Investment Law. Filing moves to the National Public Service Portal, consulted agencies get five working days instead of fifteen, existing safety, energy and environmental inspection results are reused instead of redone, and the test now asks whether the technology sits on the banned-transfer list of Nghị định 101/2026. Inspection bodies are designated for up to five years instead of three, and the ministry must build a database of findings.

Continue reading “Five Working Days, Not Fifteen: Việt Nam Rewrites the Procedure for Flagging Investment Projects That Run on Outdated or Polluting Technology” →

Thông tư 64/2026/TT-BKHCN, signed on 31 October 2026 and in force from 1 April 2027, replaces the 2013 telecom service quality circular. Operators of fixed broadband, mobile voice, 4G and 5G must declare quality before offering a service to the public, publish a summary of their quarterly self-checks within 20 days of quarter end, keep a quality database for two years and send the regulator a first incident notice within 4 hours. Data centre, cloud and over-the-top communication services get a formal self-declaration duty. Annual inspection and measurement plans disappear in favour of checks triggered by signs of violation, and crowd-sourced speed tests from speedtest.vn will be published monthly but cannot ground a penalty.

Continue reading “Declare Before Launch, Publish Quarterly Checks, Inspect Only on Suspicion: Việt Nam Rewrites Its Telecom Service Quality Rules for April 2027” →

Nghị quyết 44/2026/NQ-CP, signed on 30 October 2026 and effective the same day, suspends the official launch of the national electronic labour contract platform because no eContract provider yet meets the conditions of Nghị định 337/2025/NĐ-CP. Providers already in business before 1 July 2026 may keep signing e-contracts until 31 December 2026, contracts signed in the meantime count as written contracts, and the platform must go live no later than 15 December 2026.

Continue reading “No Provider Made the Cut: Việt Nam Pauses Its E-Labour-Contract Platform and Resets the Deadline to 15 December 2026” →

Thông tư 69/2026/TT-BXD, signed on 15 September 2026 and in force from 1 November 2026, turns a two-year pilot into a regulated national database for clean water supply and urban drainage. Water plants, pump stations and treatment works get permanent sector identifiers, utilities must post monthly data within 10 working days, the database may not hold identity data on household customers, and provinces have 6, 12 and 24 months to standardise what they already have.

Continue reading “Every Water Plant Gets a Code, No Household Gets Profiled: The National Water Supply and Drainage Database Takes Effect” →

Thông tư 46/2026/TT-BNNMT, signed on 29 October 2026 and effective 15 December 2026, gives the national poor and near-poor household register a formal data architecture, a governance framework and a 66-table data dictionary. Every member must carry a personal identification number checked against the population database, recognition results must reach health insurance, schools and policy credit within one working day, and five aggregate datasets become open data.

Continue reading “One Household Code, One Verified ID: Việt Nam Puts Its Poverty Register Under the Data Law” →

Thông tư 63/2026/TT-BKHCN, signed on 27 October 2026 and effective 1 January 2027, replaces the 2018 list of used IT products that cannot be imported. The headings barely move. What changes is the legal basis, the tariff nomenclature, the rules for refurbished goods, and a new line confirming that used equipment for chip plants and digital R&D sits outside the ban.

Continue reading “Used Phones, Laptops and Chips Stay Banned: Việt Nam Re-Issues Its Second-Hand Tech Import List Under the Digital Technology Industry Law” →

Thông tư 55/2026/TT-NHNN, signed on 12 October 2026 and effective from 26 November 2026, amends Circular 18/2025 on the State Bank's supervisory information system for people's credit funds and microfinance institutions. Depositors will be able to look up their own deposits in the regulator's data and report mismatches to the regional SBV branch. Co-opBank gets a default data-sharing scope, and recipients of personal data must meet the Personal Data Protection Law.

Continue reading “Check Your Own Deposit Against the Regulator's Records: People's Credit Fund Savers Get a Lookup Tool” →

The Ministry of Home Affairs has set the rules for Việt Nam’s database on people with meritorious service to the revolution. It has three component databases, one of them for DNA identification of martyrs’ remains (results only, never gene sequences). It syncs with the national population database in real time and lets beneficiaries look up their own records on VNeID.

Continue reading “Veterans, Martyrs and DNA Results in One Database: Thông tư 26/2026/TT-BNV Takes Effect on 29 November” →

Thông tư 47/2026/TT-NHNN, issued on 24 September 2026, amends the State Bank's rules on supervising important payment systems and payment intermediaries. From 1 July 2027 every licensed switching and clearing operator, not only NAPAS, is on the supervised list, on-site inspections can follow a planned schedule, and e-wallet, gateway and collection providers report on new templates. Near-real-time monitoring indicators with at most five minutes of data delay apply from 1 October 2027.

Continue reading “Five-Minute Data, Planned Inspections: How the State Bank Will Watch Payment Rails and E-Wallets from July 2027” →

Thông tư 46/2026/TT-NHNN, signed on 9 September 2026 and effective from 1 November 2026, amends the State Bank's rules on the National Credit Information Centre (CIC). Before CIC passes a borrower's data to voluntary members, foreign credit bureaus or other organisations, the borrower must give clear, specific consent in a printable or verifiable form. Lenders outside the banking system must also secure consent under the personal data protection law before reporting to CIC.

Continue reading “Your Credit File Needs Your Say-So: New CIC Consent Rules Start on 1 November” →

Thông tư 62/2026/TT-BKHCN, signed on 20 October 2026, replaces last year’s guidance on which civil servants and public employees count as “dedicated” digital-transformation staff under Nghị định 179/2025/NĐ-CP. It rebuilds the list on the new job-position decrees, sets written-assignment tests for managers and commune officials, and puts heads of agencies on the hook for the payroll list.

Continue reading “Who Gets Việt Nam’s 5-Million-Đồng Digital Transformation Allowance? New Rules From 5 December” →

Nghị định 393/2026/NĐ-CP, signed on 20 October 2026, replaces Việt Nam’s foreign-worker decree from 2025 after only fourteen months. It adds work-permit exemptions for experts in strategic technologies and for hires under the national AI workforce programme, and loosens the definition of “expert”. Permit renewals will take five working days instead of ten.

Continue reading “Strategic-Tech Experts and AI Recruits Will Need No Work Permit in Việt Nam From 5 December” →

Thông tư 156/2026/TT-BTC, signed on 20 October 2026, sets the first fee for businesses and individuals who pull information from Việt Nam’s Cơ sở dữ liệu tổng hợp quốc gia, the central data store run by the National Data Center. The fee is 300 đồng per data field until the end of 2028 and 600 đồng per field from 2029, with a 50% reduction for six groups of individuals.

Continue reading “Querying the National Aggregated Database Will Cost 300 Đồng per Data Field From 1 November” →

Nghị định 392/2026/NĐ-CP, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Gia Túc on 20 October 2026, amends seven security-sector decrees at once. For technology businesses the key chapter rewrites the filing rules of Nghị định 356/2025 under the Personal Data Protection Law: impact-assessment dossiers can be routed to provincial police, reviews get working-day deadlines and a third "pass, needs supplementing" outcome, and the data-processing service licence gets a shorter file and faster turnaround.

Continue reading “Personal Data Impact Assessments Move Down to Provincial Police From 15 November” →

Quyết định 1969/QĐ-TTg, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà on 13 October 2026, approves a pilot in which Vietnam Post staff help people use online public services and VNeID, and in at least 10% of post offices also receive, scan and return administrative files. Postal staff may not decide cases, ask for passwords or OTPs, or keep their own copy of the data.

Continue reading “Post Offices in Hà Nội, Huế and Gia Lai Will Take In and Digitise Government Paperwork Under a New Pilot” →

Nghị định 390/2026/NĐ-CP, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng and effective on 16 October 2026, cuts the daily threshold above which gold trades must be paid without cash from 20 million to 5 million đồng per customer, removes jewellery and fine-art gold from the list of conditional businesses, and requires importers of raw gold to run information systems connected to the State Bank.

Continue reading “Buying Gold in Việt Nam Now Goes Cashless From 5 Million Đồng a Day, and Jewellers Lose Their Licence Requirement” →

Thông tư 60/2026/TT-BKHCN, signed by the Minister of Science and Technology on 13 October 2026 and effective 1 December 2026, sets the minimum features, performance, security and quality-scoring rules for every system that processes administrative procedures. It replaces Thông tư 21/2023/TT-BTTTT, moves processing to centralised ministry-level systems, and gives existing systems six months to upgrade.

Continue reading “One Login, No Re-Typing, 99.5% Uptime: The New Technical Rulebook for Việt Nam's Online Public Services” →

Thông tư 61/2026/TT-BKHCN, signed by the Minister of Science and Technology on 15 October 2026 and effective 1 December 2026, replaces Thông tư 22/2023/TT-BTTTT on the structure and technical requirements of state agency web portals. It adds a duty to make content readable by search engines and AI systems through Schema.org JSON-LD, firms up IPv6 and DNSSEC, adds uptime and error-rate targets, and widens the usage data a national monitoring platform collects.

Continue reading “Written for Chatbots Too: Việt Nam Tells Every Government Website to Speak JSON-LD” →

Thông tư 167/2026/TT-BCA, signed by the Minister of Public Security on 30 September 2026 and effective 1 June 2027, issues QCVN 14:2026/BCA, the national technical regulation on cybersecurity for surveillance camera systems in state agencies. It sets binding requirements for video recorders, networks, storage, video management software and edge devices, and gives existing systems 24 months to comply.

Continue reading “No Default Passwords, No Open Ports: Việt Nam Sets Cybersecurity Rules for State-Run Camera Networks” →

Thông tư 169/2026/TT-BCA and Thông tư 170/2026/TT-BCA, both signed by the Minister of Public Security on 1 October 2026 and effective 15 April 2027, issue two national technical regulations: QCVN 16:2026/BCA on voice biometrics and QCVN 17:2026/BCA on iris biometrics. They set out how voice and iris data for the Cơ sở dữ liệu căn cước must be captured, formatted, encrypted, logged and deleted. They also bind every company that makes, imports, sells or tests the capture devices and software.

Continue reading “Read a Passage, Look Into the Light: Việt Nam Sets Technical Rules for Voice and Iris Biometrics in the Citizen ID Database” →

Nghị định 386/2026/NĐ-CP, signed on 12 October 2026 and effective 1 December 2026, sets "breakthrough mechanisms" for using national data. Startups and researchers get up to 100% of data-access fees covered, requests are filed once and answered within 24 hours to 10 working days, a three-year data sandbox and a national data lab are created, and experts get personal income tax treatment modelled on the international financial centre.

Continue reading “Free Data for Startups, a 24-Hour Clock for Requests: Việt Nam Opens the National Data Center to Innovators” →

Thông tư 152/2026/TT-BTC, signed and in force on 9 October 2026, moves Việt Nam's cybersecurity licensing fees onto the new Luật An ninh mạng and replaces the 2016 information-security fee circular. The amounts barely move: 8 million đồng to appraise a vendor licence, 5 million for conformity certification, 200,000 for an import permit or an advertising sender name. What changes is the legal basis, the collector and the timing. Most fees are now owed when the file is submitted, not when the licence is granted.

Continue reading “Same Price, New Law, Pay Up Front: Thông tư 152/2026/TT-BTC Resets Việt Nam's Cybersecurity Licence Fees” →

Nghị định 384/2026/NĐ-CP, signed on 9 October 2026 and effective 1 January 2027, is the first binding rule on when goods produced and sold inside Việt Nam may claim Vietnamese origin. Goods qualify if wholly obtained in Việt Nam, or if they change HS heading at the 4-digit level or reach 30% Vietnamese value content. Simple assembly, relabelling and repacking do not count. For IT and digital goods, local R&D, design, programming and software testing go into the value calculation.

Continue reading “What Counts as "Made in Vietnam"? Nghị định 384/2026 Sets the First Test, and Code Written Here Now Counts” →

Nghị định 385/2026/NĐ-CP, signed on 9 October 2026 and in force from 10 October, replaces the 2010 decree on controlling administrative procedures. New procedures must be built around digitisation, data reuse, electronic identification and "provide information only once". Results are issued electronically by default. A procedure may only be created if data, post-inspection or self-declaration cannot do the job. Citizens may refuse any requirement that is not published in the National Database on Administrative Procedures.

Continue reading “Digital by Default, Paper on Request: Việt Nam Rewrites the Rules That Govern Every Administrative Procedure” →

Thông tư 142/2026/TT-BTC, signed on 29 September 2026 and effective 16 November 2026, amends the customs rules for goods sent through postal and international express services. Low-value parcels now require electronic identification and authentication of the declarant, carriers must bring senders and recipients into that check, tax is debited per declaration from prepaid deposit accounts, and transit and border-transfer shipments move onto the general customs rules.

Continue reading “Your Overseas Parcel Will Need a Verified Identity: Việt Nam Rewrites Customs Rules for Post and Express Shipments” →

Thông tư 53/2026/TT-NHNN, signed on 30 September 2026 and effective from 15 November 2026, is the State Bank's first rulebook for AI in banking. AI that pays on a customer's behalf needs a prior agreement and is capped at 100 million đồng a day for individuals. AI credit decisions on loans of 50 million đồng or more count as high-risk. Customers must be told when they are talking to a machine, and a human gets the last word on complaints.

Continue reading “Your Bank's AI Can Now Pay for You, Within Limits: Việt Nam Writes the Rulebook for AI in Banking” →

Thông tư 19/2026/TT-BNV, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 20 August 2026 and effective 16 October 2026, replaces the 2024 circular on the ministry’s sector databases. It requires multi-factor login, automatic alerts or lockouts on unusually large data pulls, digital-signature approval of new records, backups and tamper-proof logs kept for at least 12 months, real-time sync of master data to the national data centre, and a formal incident-response procedure.

Continue reading “MFA, Bulk-Download Alarms and Twelve-Month Logs: The New Rulebook for Việt Nam’s Home Affairs Databases” →

Nghị định 382/2026/NĐ-CP, signed and effective on 6 October 2026, amends the 2025 decree on the banking regulatory sandbox for credit scoring, Open API data sharing and P2P lending. Fintech chiefs now need a relevant degree or two years of management experience rather than both, the State Bank must pull documents from national databases itself, board resolutions are dropped from the file, and most review deadlines get shorter.

Continue reading “A Degree or Experience, Not Both: Việt Nam Loosens the Entry Rules for Its Banking Fintech Sandbox” →

Thông tư 128/2026/TT-BTC, signed on 27 August 2026 and effective 15 October 2026, is the first customs rulebook for smart border gates with China. Unmanned container vehicles skip exit and entry formalities but stay under customs control, gates open on automated camera checks, and the gate operator must run a system linked to Chinese and Vietnamese customs data.

Continue reading “Driverless Trucks, Camera-Opened Barriers: Việt Nam Writes Customs Rules for Its Smart Border Gates” →

Quyết định 1671/QĐ-TTg of 28 August 2026 replaces the 2021 AI strategy with 32 targets and 97 tasks: an AI economy worth about 6% of GDP, eight Vietnamese-language models, 560 EFLOPS of compute, and AI behind every online public service by 2030. Several of the 97 tasks fall due by the end of 2026.

Continue reading “From "Applying AI" to "Running on AI": Việt Nam's New National AI Strategy, Quyết định 1671/QĐ-TTg” →

In force since 1 October 2026, Nghị định 304/2026/NĐ-CP replaces a 2007 decree on mobilising science and technology for police work. Software, databases, trade secrets, labs and IT and cybersecurity staff can now be drawn into an annual plan approved by the Prime Minister. The forced "mandatory" route is gone, compensation must be settled within six months, and anything with a foreign element faces a security risk assessment first.

Continue reading “When the Police Borrow Your Code: Nghị định 304/2026/NĐ-CP Rewrites How Bộ Công an Mobilises Private Tech” →

Signed on 30 September 2026 and in force the same day, Quyết định 1875/QĐ-TTg sets out version 1.0 of Việt Nam's National Cybersecurity Architecture Framework: shared national platforms run under Bộ Công an, a four-layer reference model for ministries, provinces and state enterprises, provincial cybersecurity centres run by provincial police, rules for AI use, and cybersecurity scores feeding into the annual evaluation of agency heads.

Continue reading “One Blueprint for State Cyber Defence: Quyết định 1875/QĐ-TTg Issues Việt Nam's National Cybersecurity Architecture Framework” →

Nghị định 377/2026/NĐ-CP, signed and effective on 1 October 2026, amends four PPP decrees. For science, technology and digital-transformation projects it adds hybrid contracts, contract terms on data, software, models and algorithms, and new pricing rules for state data. For all PPP projects it moves full online investor selection to 1 September 2027 and creates a national investor database.

Continue reading “Nghị định 377/2026: Hybrid PPP Contracts for Tech Projects, and a Later Start for Online Investor Bidding” →

Thông tư 59/2026/TT-BKHCN, signed on 25 September 2026 and effective 15 November 2026, repeals Thông tư 37/2009, 08/2011 and 41/2017 of the former Ministry of Information and Communications. Licensing of signature providers and the rules for signing state documents now rest on Nghị định 23/2025/NĐ-CP and Thông tư 15/2025/TT-BKHCN.

Continue reading “Three Old Digital-Signature Circulars Expire on 15 November: Việt Nam Finishes Moving E-Signing Onto Nghị định 23/2025” →

Nghị định 336/2026/NĐ-CP, signed on 22 August 2026 and effective 15 October 2026, replaces Nghị định 85/2019/NĐ-CP. Traders can log in to the National Single Window with VNeID, accounts can be locked on the spot over security risks, airline PNR data now flows through the portal, and every ministry system must plug into the national data-sharing platform.

Continue reading “Customs Paperwork Gets a VNeID Login: Việt Nam Rewrites Its National Single Window Rules From 15 October” →

Nghị định 372/2026/NĐ-CP, signed on 29 September 2026 and effective 1 January 2027, sets up a national platform that issues a GS1-compatible UID "digital link" for every product or batch, ties it to decentralised IDs and digital certificates, and makes identification and traceability mandatory for high-risk goods.

Continue reading “One Code Per Product: Việt Nam Builds a National Platform to Identify, Authenticate and Trace Goods” →

Thông tư 70/2026/TT-BGDĐT, signed on 22 August 2026 and effective 8 October 2026, gives the digital học bạ the same legal value as the paper one: a single record per student tied to a lifelong learning ID, double digital signatures, VNeID access, and a ban on demanding paper copies once the digital version qualifies.

Continue reading “One Student, One Signed Record: Việt Nam Makes the Digital School Report Card Official From 8 October” →

In force since 26 September 2026, Nghị định 367/2026/NĐ-CP raises the maximum press fine to 500 million đồng for organisations and 250 million for individuals. It adds domain-name seizure, 24-hour takedowns for pay-TV and OTT services, and new duties for newsrooms' social-media channels.

Continue reading “Nghị định 367/2026: Vietnam's New Press Fines Reach Domains, Online Channels and OTT Apps” →

Thông tư 16/2026/TT-TANDTC, signed by Chief Justice Nguyễn Văn Quảng on 10 September 2026, applies the new Access to Information Law to the courts from 1 October 2026: online requests via email, portals and apps, a 12-day response deadline, and the right to photograph case documents on your own phone.

Continue reading “Việt Nam's Courts Get a Freedom-of-Information Rulebook: Thông tư 16/2026/TT-TANDTC Takes Effect on 1 October” →

Quyết định 1830/QĐ-TTg of 22 September 2026 sets a timetable to connect VNeID with the electronic identity systems of Singapore and Laos, with a one-month border-control pilot at Nội Bài and Tân Sơn Nhất airports from 15 November to 15 December 2026.

Continue reading “VNeID Goes Cross-Border: Quyết định 1830/QĐ-TTg Plans a Singpass and LAeID Link at Nội Bài and Tân Sơn Nhất” →

From 11 November 2026, breaches of the Data Law carry fines of up to 100 million đồng for individuals and 200 million đồng for organisations. Unlicensed data exchanges, API scraping and unapproved cross-border transfers of core data are all on the list, and foreigners can be expelled.

Continue reading “Việt Nam's Data Law Gets Its Price List: Nghị định 363/2026/NĐ-CP” →

Luật số 24/2026/QH16 replaces Phụ lục IV of the Investment Law wholesale, shrinking the list of conditional business lines from 198 to 137. Accountancy, liquor, mineral trading and public game arcades drop off. Data intermediation, data exchanges, crypto-asset services and personal-data processing all stay — and one of them gets broader. In force 1 March 2027.

Continue reading “Việt Nam Cuts 62 Licensed Business Lines — and Keeps Every Data One” →

Thông tư 57/2026/TT-BKHCN, signed and effective on 15 September 2026, turns Quyết định 777/QĐ-TTg into operating rules: how telecom operators pay 0.75% or 0.15% of revenue into the universal-service fund, how villages qualify for seven years of subsidy, how low-orbit satellite and school Wi-Fi points are funded, and how poor households move off the 2025 programme before its 30 September cut-off.

Continue reading “The Rulebook for Việt Nam's 2030 Rural Connectivity Push Arrives Two Weeks Before the Old Programme Expires” →

Thông tư 48/2026/TT-BKHCN and Thông tư 49/2026/TT-BKHCN, both signed and effective on 1 August 2026, set out how the state commissions and pays for strategic-technology research — up to 100 per cent funding for high-risk work, lump sums released against evaluation milestones, competing research tracks that can be cut mid-project, monthly pay ceilings by job position up to 300 million đồng, and no clawback when an accepted risk simply does not pay off.

Continue reading “Fail Honestly and Keep the Money: Việt Nam Writes the Payment Rules for Strategic-Technology R&D” →

Thông tư 56/2026/TT-BKHCN, signed and effective on 5 September 2026, restates the age and performance tests for importing used machinery and production lines almost word for word — and changes who writes them. The regime leaves a Thủ tướng Quyết định for a ministerial circular, adds strategic-technology firms to the fast lane, halves a consultation clock, and promises a national database of inspection certificates.

Continue reading “Ten Years Old, 85 Per Cent Alive: Việt Nam Moves the Second-Hand Machinery Rulebook From the Prime Minister to a Ministry” →

Quyết định 43/2026/QĐ-TTg, signed on 16 September 2026, replaces an ad-hoc 2018 arrangement with a full 23-article operating regulation for the Trục liên thông văn bản quốc gia (VDXP) — mandatory unique document IDs, digitally signed documents with the legal force of paper originals, level-3 cybersecurity for everyone who connects, and a first-ever open door for private organisations.

Continue reading “One Document, One ID: Việt Nam Rewrites the Rulebook for Its National Document Exchange Platform” →

Thông tư 51/2026/TT-BKHCN, signed and effective on 19 August 2026, stops treating a village as connected just because a signal reaches it. A thôn now qualifies for subsidised service if measured i-Speed results fall below what the operator itself advertises, and public-funded 4G, 5G, fibre and satellite connections must each clear a hard Mbit/s floor verified by five timestamped, geo-tagged samples.

Continue reading “Bars on the Screen Are Not Enough: Việt Nam Puts Measured Speed Floors Under Universal Telecom Service” →

Nghị định 328/2026/NĐ-CP, issued on 19 August 2026, gives Việt Nam its first end-to-end legal process for handling false information online — classification by harm, state verification, a literal "TIN GIẢ, TIN SAI SỰ THẬT" label applied within 24 hours, and a 24/7 contact point that every telecom, ISP, social network and cross-border platform serving Vietnamese users must staff.

Continue reading “Labelled "TIN GIẢ": Việt Nam's Fake-News Decree Takes Effect on 5 October” →

On 16 September 2026 the Prime Minister issued Quyết định 1790/QĐ-TTg, the plan for bringing Luật Phổ biến, giáo dục pháp luật số 12/2026/QH16 into force on 1 March 2027. The law makes digital platforms, social networks and AI applications statutory channels for legal dissemination — and attaches conditions: official identified and authenticated accounts, verification before publication, warning labels, and named responsibility for whoever operates the AI.

Continue reading “Verified Accounts and Answerable AI: Luật 12/2026/QH16 Gets Its Implementation Plan” →

From 15 September 2026, Việt Nam inspects radio-frequency users over email and digital signature rather than at their premises. Thông tư 44/2026/TT-BKHCN replaces a ten-year-old circular from the former Bộ Thông tin và Truyền thông, adds a remote inspection method, caps periodic inspections at one per entity per year, and — for the first time in this field — writes an exemption for compliant businesses into the rulebook.

Continue reading “Spectrum Inspections Go Remote: Thông tư 44/2026/TT-BKHCN Takes Effect Today” →

Signed and in force on 2 September 2026, Thông tư 126/2026/TT-BQP is the Ministry of National Defence list of civil cryptography products classified as high risk under the new product-quality regime. Three product groups — IPsec/TLS VPNs, encrypted storage, and banking cryptography — now require conformity certification by a designated body, with HS codes attached and a 24-month deadline for products already on the market.

Continue reading “The Encryption Products Việt Nam Now Calls High Risk: Thông tư 126/2026/TT-BQP” →

Passed on 23 August 2026 and announced by presidential order at the 10 September press conference, Luật số 11/2026/QH16 amends the Luật Hải quan in 32 clauses. It adds a new Điều 16a requiring customs procedures for goods traded through e-commerce platforms, makes Vietnamese buyers and sellers perform electronic identification, obliges platform operators to connect to the customs data system, names them as customs declarants, and authorises big data and AI in risk and compliance management. In force from 1 March 2027.

Continue reading “Every Parcel Gets a Declaration: Luật số 11/2026/QH16 Puts E-Commerce Platforms Inside the Customs System” →

Passed on 24 August 2026 and announced by presidential order at the 10 September press conference, Luật số 17/2026/QH16 amends 31 articles of the Luật Xuất bản and renames its electronic-publishing chapter. It defines publishing as an economic-technology industry, writes the first statutory rule on applying artificial intelligence in publishing, extends regulation to publication-like content posted online, and requires foreign intermediary service providers serving Vietnamese users to retain data and appoint a local representative. In force from 1 March 2027.

Continue reading “Publishing Becomes a Technology Industry: Luật số 17/2026/QH16 Rewrites Việt Nam's Rules for E-Books, AI and Cross-Border Platforms” →

Passed on 24 August 2026 and announced by presidential order at the 10 September press conference, Luật số 23/2026/QH16 amends three banking laws at once. Its centrepiece adds crypto-asset service providers to the list of anti-money-laundering reporting entities, writes 15 crypto-specific suspicious-transaction indicators into law, gives the Bộ Tài chính supervisory duty over the sector, and redefines "beneficial owner" — all driven by Việt Nam's effort to leave the FATF grey list. In force from 1 December 2026.

Continue reading “Crypto Exchanges Become Reporting Entities: Luật số 23/2026/QH16 Pulls Tài Sản Mã Hóa Into Việt Nam's Anti-Money-Laundering Regime” →

Announced by presidential order on 10 September 2026, Luật số 20/2026/QH16 amends the Luật Tần số vô tuyến điện, Luật Viễn thông, Luật Giao dịch điện tử and Luật Chuyển giao công nghệ in a single instrument. It scraps 47 business conditions and two administrative procedures, makes the network-services telecom licence the single gate for spectrum rights, removes the operating-condition regime for .vn domain registration services, and takes effect on 1 March 2027 — except for two blocks that start on 1 October 2026.

Continue reading “One Law, Four Rewrites: Luật số 20/2026/QH16 Cuts 47 Business Conditions Across Spectrum, Telecom, E-Transactions and Technology Transfer” →

Signed on 8 September 2026 and in force from 15 September, Nghị định 347/2026/NĐ-CP amends four decrees at once. The one that matters for the technology sector rewrites khoản 5 Điều 31 of Nghị định 169/2025/NĐ-CP: providers of data analysis and synthesis products — including generative AI assistants and automated content analysers — must now notify the Trung tâm dữ liệu quốc gia before they begin operating, with a 20-working-day grace period for services already running.

Continue reading “Tell the National Data Centre Before You Switch It On: Nghị định 347/2026/NĐ-CP Adds a Pre-Launch Notice for Data Analytics and AI Services” →

Nghị định 332/2026/NĐ-CP, signed and in force on 19 August 2026, replaces the decade-old Nghị định 108/2016/NĐ-CP regime for cybersecurity vendors — Bộ Công an now issues a 10-year licence within 28 working days, assessment and consulting firms need at least five qualified staff and monitoring providers twelve, IP-masking services and vulnerability-reporting platforms join the licensed list, and covert-collection, jamming and forensics tools are reserved for Bộ Công an and Bộ Quốc phòng.

Continue reading “Who May Sell Cybersecurity in Việt Nam: Nghị định 332/2026/NĐ-CP Puts Vendors, SOCs and Bug-Bounty Platforms Under a Bộ Công an Licence” →

Nghị định 342/2026/NĐ-CP, signed 3 September 2026 and in force from 18 October, replaces the 2018 decree on goods trading by foreign investors — provincial People's Committees take over licensing, Bộ Công an and Bộ Quốc phòng must clear foreign-controlled large e-commerce platforms, and the economic needs test for retail outlets shrinks to investors whose countries have no FTA commitment to scrap it.

Continue reading “Foreign-Controlled E-Commerce Platforms Get a Security Check: Nghị định 342/2026/NĐ-CP Rewrites Việt Nam's FDI Trading Rules” →

Nghị định 331/2026/NĐ-CP, in force since 19 August 2026, rewrites Việt Nam's five-level classification of information systems under the new Luật An ninh mạng — a 100,000-data-subject line between Level 2 and Level 3, Bộ Công an taking over assessment of Levels 4 and 5, 24-hour incident notices, and a 1 January 2027 deadline to get existing systems classified.

Continue reading “Every Information System in Việt Nam Gets a Security Level: Nghị định 331/2026/NĐ-CP Replaces the 2016 Rules” →

Nghị định 287/2026/NĐ-CP, effective 1 September 2026, replaces decade-old royalty decrees for film, arts, journalism and publishing — introducing a 20% minimum royalty for re-using press articles, profit-sharing on state-owned copyrights, and rules built for digital exploitation.

Continue reading “Reusing a News Article Now Has a Price Floor: Nghị định 287/2026/NĐ-CP Rewrites Việt Nam's Royalty Rules” →

Nghị định 341/2026/NĐ-CP, issued and effective on 1 September 2026, is the first civil-cryptography decree under the new Luật An ninh mạng — 10-year business licences decided in 12 days instead of 30, 3-year import/export permits, mandatory conformity certification, and a declaration duty for anyone using encryption products bought outside the licensed channel.

Continue reading “Selling Encryption in Việt Nam Has a New Rulebook: Nghị định 341/2026/NĐ-CP on Civil Cryptography” →

Nghị định 320/2026/NĐ-CP, effective 28 September 2026, rewrites Việt Nam's electronic identification rules — banning agencies from re-requesting documents already on VNeID, adding a social welfare account for pensions, and requiring accounts in 11 sectors to link with VNeID by the end of 2026.

Continue reading “One App to Log In to Everything: Nghị định 320/2026/NĐ-CP Makes VNeID the Master Key” →

Luật Tiếp cận thông tin số 01/2026/QH16 — the first law passed by the new 16th National Assembly — took effect on 1 September 2026, replacing the 2016 law with digital-first disclosure, duties for public hospitals and schools, and a 12-day deadline for answering information requests.

Continue reading “Việt Nam Reboots Its Freedom of Information Law: Luật Tiếp cận thông tin 2026 Is Now in Force” →

From 1 September 2026, land parcels, buildings, and 71 categories of physical objects receive a permanent 12-digit location ID in a new national database run under the Bộ Công an — visible on VNeID, and designed to outlive the next round of address changes.

Continue reading “Every Place in Việt Nam Gets a Number: Nghị định 326/2026/NĐ-CP Takes Effect” →

Quyết định 33/2026/QĐ-TTg, in force since 15 August 2026, lists the 46 AI systems Việt Nam treats as high-risk — from surgical robots to autonomous credit approval — and starts the compliance countdown under the new Luật Trí tuệ nhân tạo.

Continue reading “Việt Nam Names Its High-Risk AI: 46 Systems Now Under the Strictest Rules” →

From 1 September 2026, the new sanctions decree for the crypto-asset pilot market takes effect — fines up to 200 million đồng for unlicensed exchanges, and 30–50 million đồng for investors who keep trading on unauthorised platforms.

Continue reading “Việt Nam's Crypto Market Gets Its Rulebook of Fines: Nghị định 284/2026/NĐ-CP” →

From 25 September 2026, data exchanges become a regulated industry — a National Data Exchange run by the Ministry of Public Security's data center, VNeID-verified trading accounts, and a hard ban on selling personal data.

Continue reading “Việt Nam Opens a Legal Marketplace for Data: Nghị định 314/2026/NĐ-CP” →

The Government's new sanctions decree, effective 19 August 2026, sets concrete fines for cybersecurity and personal data violations — up to 3 billion đồng, 5% of annual revenue for illegal cross-border transfers, and 10× the proceeds of data trading.

Continue reading “Việt Nam Puts a Price on Privacy Violations: Nghị định 330/2026/NĐ-CP” →

Two implementing decrees under the new Luật An ninh mạng took effect on 19 August 2026 — bringing Vietnamese phone-number authentication for accounts, 24-hour takedown clocks, and 12-month log retention for platforms.

Continue reading “Việt Nam's New Cybersecurity Decrees: Nghị định 333 and 327 Take Effect” →

Why every official Vietnamese document looks the same — and what the rules behind the Quốc hiệu, the numbering, and the Times New Roman actually say.

Continue reading “Nghị định 30/2020/NĐ-CP: The Anatomy of a Vietnamese Administrative Document” →