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On June 29, 2024, the 15th National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam adopted the Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosive Materials and Support Instruments (Law No.42/2024/QH15). This Law comes into force on January 1, 2025 and supersedes the current Law No.14/2017/QH14.
As defined in the new Law, explosive precursors refer to dangerous chemicals directly used for producing explosives on the list of explosive precursors permitted for production, trading and use in Vietnam promulgated by the Minister of Industry and Trade (MOIT). Circular No.13/2018/TT-BCT has provided the list of authorized explosive precursors in Appendix III.
In general, all explosive precursors must undergo inspection, stocktaking and quality assessment on a periodic basis. Any person assigned to manage a warehouse or place for keeping explosive precusors shall be trained in and provided with a certificate of training in safe use. Decree 71/2018/ND-CP has elaborated on the issuance of training and certificate of training in explosive precursor safety.
Licensing
Businesses are required to apply for certificate of eligibility or license to produce, trade, import and export explosive precursors. Detailed obligations are summarize below:
| Activity | Obligation | Process period | Validity |
| Production | Apply for certificate of eligibility from MOIT | 5 working days | - |
| Trading | Apply for license to trade in explosive precursors from MOIT | 5 working days | 5 years |
| Import and export | Apply for license to import or export explosive precursors from MOIT | 5 working days | 6 months |
| Transport | Apply for license to transport explosive precursors from MOIT | 3 working days | 30 days |
The application shall be submitted via national public service portal or by post.
Exemption from licenses shall be granted in the following cases:
Licenses to trade in, export or import explosive precursors for scientific research or testing whose weight used in a year does not exceed 05 kilograms;
Explosive precursors imported to be directly used for production, research or testing shall obtain import license and be exempted from trading license;
Explosive precursors are not used completely and the redundant ones are sold to lawful providers, in this case it will be exempted from trading license.
Businesses are also required to preserve records for each type of precursors for 5 years and submit periodic and ad hoc reports.
Law No.42/2024/QH15 can be accessed here.
