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Updates: On April 16, 2024, Vietnam notified the Draft Chemical Law (amended) to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for a 60-day comment. The proposed law is scheduled to be adopted on May 1, 2025, and subsequently enter into force on May 1, 2026.
On March 12, 2024, Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) finalized the draft amendment to the Law on Chemicals (06/2007/QH12) and is currently seeking feedback from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals. The draft proposal is expected to be submitted to the Government in June 2024 and submitted for comments at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly in October, 2024.
In an earlier announcement made in October 2022, MOIT had proposed to revise the Law on Chemicals 2007, which outlines the main objective of further improving the practicality and feasibility of the law while harmonizing it with regulations in other countries and international framework Vietnam has committed in. (Click here for previous coverage.)
Products containing hazardous chemicals
In a groundbreaking development within Vietnam's chemical legal framework, the draft proposal introduces separate regulations for chemicals in products, distinct from standalone chemicals. Specifically, products that contain hazardous chemicals, as regulated under technical regulations, must comply with relevant laws and regulations. Additionally, an official list of hazardous chemicals in products without technical regulations will be issued.
As part of their obligations, producers are accountable for developing management procedures concerning hazardous chemicals during the production process. They must maintain management records and present them upon request by competent authorities. Producers and importers are required to disclose the content of hazardous chemicals in products by declaring them on the National Chemical Database system. Only products that adhere to the disclosure regulations are permitted to be circulated in the market.
Chemical management throughout the life cycle
The revision proposes to conduct a life cycle management on the lists of chemicals designated under Decree 113/2017/ND-CP, an implementation decree to the Law on Chemicals (Partially amended by Decree No.82/2022/ND-CP). It basically inherits the provisions under the Law on Chemicals, with several changes summarized as below:
| Regulated Chemicals | Major Changes | Corresponding Inventory under Decree 113/2017/ND-CP |
Conditional chemicals |
| Annex I |
Chemicals requiring special control* |
| Annex II |
| Banned chemicals |
| Annex III |
Hazardous chemicals requiring a chemical incident prevention and response plan |
| Annex IV |
Chemicals subject to declaration |
| Annex V |
For chemicals that not regulated on the list, the draft stipulates the requirement for production, trading, import, export, use, storage and preservation, treatment and disposal.
In addition, the draft also:
Introduces the concept of "chemical projects", "chemical industrial park", "chemical industrial cluster", "chemical works", "chemical complex", "green chemistry", "basic chemicals", "petrochemicals", "pharmaceuticals", "rubber products", "energy chemicals"
Creates a legal basis for implementing the international conventions on chemical management
Allows additional new chemical information announced by a country that has mutual recognition with Vietnam in the registration dossier
Adds additional regulations on technical facilities conditions and professional qualifications for activities such as sanitizing, extracting, storing, transporting, using and treating chemicals
Introduces provisions for chemical safety training
The draft revision can be accessed here.
