On September 5, 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam released three draft decrees for public comment. These drafts were developed based on the Law on Chemicals (No. 69/2025/QH15) passed on June 14, 2025, which will officially take effect on January 1, 2026.
Draft 1: Decree Detailing and Guiding the Law on Chemicals Regarding Management of Chemical Activities and Hazardous Chemicals in Products
This draft, comprising 5 Chapters and 32 Articles, stipulates the allocation of state management responsibilities for chemicals, management of chemical production, trading, storage, and transportation activities, chemical information management, and risk control of hazardous chemicals, among other contents.
Key Contents Include:
- Chemical Import Declaration
Importing chemicals listed in Chapters 28 and 29 of the Vietnam Import-Export Tariff must be declared via the National Single Window system before customs clearance.
- Exemptions from declaration include:
a) Import of chemicals subject to special control;
b) Import of prohibited chemicals;
c) Import of new chemicals for testing or evaluation of physicochemical properties, with a single invoice quantity of less than 10 kg;
d) Chemical component content in mixtures below 0.1%;
e) Hazardous chemicals announced according to this Decree.
- Hazardous Chemicals:
Relevant line ministries shall issue lists of products and hazardous chemicals in products requiring information disclosure, pursuant to Clause 2, Article 31 of the Law on Chemicals.
- Control procedures for hazardous chemicals during production must ensure the following objectives:
a) Monitor the composition and content of hazardous chemicals in raw materials;
b) Monitor the composition and content of hazardous chemicals emitted during the production process;
c) Monitor the composition and content of hazardous chemicals in the final product;
d) Prevent the loss of hazardous chemicals.
- Information Disclosure on Hazardous Chemical Content:
Organizations and individuals producing or importing products and goods containing hazardous chemicals must declare the following information in the specialized chemical database:
a) Name of the product/good containing hazardous chemicals;
b) Name of the hazardous chemical;
c) Hazardous properties of the chemical;
d) Concentration;
e) Field of use of the product.
Simultaneously, information on the composition and content of hazardous chemicals must be disclosed on labels or electronic information pages, along with recommendations for use restrictions.
- Transitional Provisions
- Chemicals that obtained production, business, export, or import licenses before this Decree's effective date can continue operating under those licenses until expiration.
- Chemicals listed in the Law on Chemicals' list of specially controlled chemicals, but not included in the list of restricted production/business chemicals under Decree 113/2017/ND-CP (as amended by Decree 82/2022/ND-CP), must comply with this Law's regulations by December 31, 2026.
- Conditionally permitted industrial chemicals that obtained Certificates of Eligibility for production/business before this Decree's effective date can continue operating under those certificates until December 31, 2027.
- Chemicals listed in the Law on Chemicals' list of conditionally permitted production/business chemicals, but not included in the corresponding list under Decree 113/2017/ND-CP (as amended by Decree 82/2022/ND-CP), must comply with this Law's regulations by December 31, 2026.
- For industrial precursor chemicals listed as specially controlled chemicals, already issued Certificates of Eligibility can be used instead of production/business licenses, valid until December 31, 2027.
Draft 2: Decree Stipulating Measures for Organizing and Implementing the Law on Chemicals Regarding Chemical Industry Development and Chemical Safety
This draft, comprising 8 Chapters and 43 Articles, covers state management responsibilities, the formulation, appraisal, approval, and implementation process of chemical industry development strategies, technical requirements for chemical projects, specific measures for chemical activity safety, specialized chemical safety training, and chemical accident prevention, etc.
Draft 3: Decree Promulgating Lists of Chemicals under the Scope of Management of the Law on Chemicals
This draft promulgates 5 management lists of chemicals falling under the regulatory scope of the Law on Chemicals.
- (Annex I) List of Essential Chemicals in Key Chemical Industry Sectors:
Lists 91 essential chemicals.
- (Annex II) List of Chemicals Subject to Conditional Production and Trading:
Includes 914 chemicals and specific mixtures. The mixtures are those containing at least one component listed in this Decree's Annex II or Annex III, and meeting at least one of the specified hazard classification criteria:
- Physical hazards of Categories 1, 2, 3 or Types A, B, C, and D;
- Acute toxicity (via different exposure routes) of Categories 2, 3;
- Serious eye damage/eye irritation of Categories 1, 2/2A;
- Corrosivity to skin/skin irritation of Categories 1, 2;
- Carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, germ cell mutagenicity of Category 2;
- Hazardous to the aquatic environment of Category 1.
- (Annex III) List of Chemicals Subject to Specially Controlled Production and Trading:
Table 1: Includes 21 industrial precursors (Group 1 (IVA)), 14 chemicals subject to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), and 6 other chemicals.
Table 2: Includes 18 industrial precursors (Group 2 (IVB)), 17 CWC-related chemicals, 50 chemicals related to international conventions.
Mixtures: Includes mixtures containing at least one component from this Decree's Annex III, meeting at least one of the specified severe hazard criteria:
- Acute toxicity (via different exposure routes) of Category 1;
- Carcinogenicity of Categories 1A, 1B;
- Reproductive toxicity of Categories 1A, 1B;
- Germ cell mutagenicity of Categories 1A, 1B.
- (Annex IV) List of Chemicals Requiring Accident Prevention and Response Plans:
Includes 271 individual chemicals and 20 groups of chemicals.
- (Annex V) List of Industries Requiring Training in Chemical Safety Activities.
The effective date for Draft 1 is yet to be determined, while Drafts 2 and 3 are expected to take effect on January 1, 2026. The public can submit comments to the Vietnam Chemicals Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade until September 14, 2025, for further refinement of the draft decrees.
