Notable new policies of Vietnam effective as of the middle of April 2025

Vietnam’s regulations on salary tables and scales in state-owned enterprises

On February 28, 2025, the Government of Vietnam promulgated Decree No. 44/2025/ND-CP on the management of labor, salaries, remunerations, and bonuses in state-owned enterprises. 

According to the Decree, regulations on salary tables and scales in state-owned enterprises are as follows: 

- Enterprises shall, based on the organizational structure of labor management and organization and manufacturing organization, develop and establish salary scales, salary tables, and salary-based allowances for employees, salary tables for Executive Boards, and salary tables for members of councils and full-time controllers for use as the grounds for salary classification and agreements in labor contracts, implementation of benefits social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance and other benefits according to the labor law. 

- Enterprises shall decide on the salary levels in salary scales, salary tables, and salary-based allowances while ensuring that the total salary of employees, Executive Boards, members of councils, and full-time controllers calculated based on such salary levels and other additional amounts (if any) does not exceed the respective plan for total salary of employees, Executive Boards, members of councils, and full-time controllers where the salaries of General Directors and Directors do not exceed the limit prescribed in Point b Clause 1 Article 19 of Decree No. 44/2025/NĐ-CP.

- When developing or revising salary scales, salary tables, and salary-based allowances, enterprises shall consult with employee representative organizations at their facilities, hold conversations at workplaces according to the labor law, and announce the development or revision before implementation. Before issuance, enterprises shall submit reports to proprietor representative agencies for approval for the salary tables of council members and full-time controllers of wholly state-owned enterprises and provide opinions on the salary tables of council members and full-time controllers of partially state-owned enterprises or the total number of voting shares.

- Regarding employees, Executive Boards, council members, and full-time controllers who are commissioned officers, professional soldiers, national defense workers and public employees, public security commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers, and workers, and persons engaging in cipher operations, the salary classification shall follow salary tables and regulations on salary-based allowances under the regulations of the Government of Vietnam on armed forces and persons engaging in cipher operations. 

See more details in Decree No. 44/2025/ND-CP, effective as of April 15, 2025. 

Vietnam’s regulations on recovery of funding for pedagogical students 

On March 3, 2025, the Government of Vietnam promulgated Decree No. 60/2025/ND-CP on amendments to Decree No. 116/2020/ND-CP on tuition support and living allowances granted to pedagogical students. 

According to the Decree, amendments to Article 9 of Decree No. 116/2020/ND-CP on the recovery of funding for pedagogical students are as follows: 

(1) Annually, teacher training institutions shall, based on the training and learning results of pedagogical students, notify the list of students specified in Point c Clause 1 Article 6 of Decree No. 116/2020/ND-CP to provincial People’s Committees where such students reside or to the commissioning and ordering agencies to notify the recovery of the supported funding to pedagogical students according to Clause 2 Article 8 of Decree 116. 

(2) Regarding pedagogical students receiving support funding by estimate assignment who are required to reimburse the funding according to Clause 1 Article 6 of Decree 116, provincial People’s Committees where such students reside shall, based on the written confirmations of working time in the education sector following Form No. 02 in the Appendix enclosed with Decree 116 of the pedagogical students, review, monitor, instruct, and notify the recovery of support funding for pedagogical students to sufficiently return the amount subject to reimbursement according to Article 8 of Decree 116 and Decree No. 60/2025/ND-CP before December 30 every year. 

(3) Regarding pedagogical students receiving funding support by commissioning and ordering who are required to reimburse the funding according to Clause 1 Article 6 of Decree 116, commissioning and ordering agencies shall monitor, instruct, and notify the recovery of support funding for pedagogical students to sufficiently return the amounts subject to reimbursement according to Article 8 of Decree 116 and Decree No. 60/2025/ND-CP.

(4) Within 30 days after receiving notices from competent authorities, students who are required to reimburse funding shall contact the agencies issuing notices of the recovery of the funding subject to reimbursement to carry out the procedure for reimbursing the support funding.

The time limit for carrying out the obligation to reimburse the support funding is up to 4 years from the receipt of notices of funding reimbursement. 

Within the time limit mentioned above, students shall submit the amounts subject to reimbursement to teacher training institutions or commissioning and ordering agencies (regarding students subject to commissioning and ordering) as per regulation. 

Where students fail to carry out the reimbursement obligation after the time limit, they shall bear the maximum interest rate applicable to demand deposits prescribed by the State Bank of Vietnam for the deferred payment of the amounts subject to reimbursement. Where the State Bank of Vietnam does not stipulate any maximum interest rate applicable to demand deposits, students shall bear the interest rate applicable to demand deposits of the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade when carrying out the reimbursement obligation. 

(5) If pedagogical students required to reimburse the funding according to Clause 1 Article 6 of Decree 116 suffer from at least 61% work capacity reduction as confirmed by competent authorities or die, they shall be exempted from funding reimbursement; if the mentioned pedagogical students are beneficiaries of policies on tuition fee exemption or reduction according to regulations of the Government of Vietnam, they shall be eligible for an exemption from or reduction in the corresponding support funding for tuition fees subject to reimbursement. 

Provincial People’s Committees where pedagogical students reside shall, based on the specific conditions of such students, decide on the exemption, reduction, or cancellation of the funding subject to reimbursement for pedagogical students who are policy beneficiaries. 

(6) Within 5 working days after receiving the amounts subject to funding reimbursement from pedagogical students, teacher training institutions or commissioning and ordering agencies shall return the funding to the state budget according to Decree No. 11/2020/ND-CP dated January 1, 2020 of the Government of Vietnam on administrative procedures concerning State Treasury. 

(7) Authorities competent to monitor, instruct, and issue notices of funding recovery may file lawsuits against pedagogical students who fail to carry out the reimbursement obligation to the Courts according to the law.

See more details in Decree No. 60/2025/ND-CP, which comes into force as of April 20, 2025 and is applicable from the 2025-2026 academic year. 

Persons entitled to exemption from payment of contributions to disaster management funds in Vietnam from April 19, 2025 

On March 5, 2025, the Government of Vietnam promulgated Decree No. 63/2025/ND-CP on amendments to Decree No. 78/2021/ND-CP on the establishment and management of disaster management funds. 

According to the Decree, persons entitled to exemption from payment of contributions to disaster management funds from April 19, 2025 include: 

(1)  Persons entitled to the preferential treatment intended for people with meritorious services to the revolution according to the provisions of Article 3 of the Ordinance on Incentives for people with meritorious services to the revolution No. 02/2020/UBTVQH14 dated December 9, 2020.

(2) Social protection beneficiaries that are enjoying monthly welfare; beneficiaries of emergency social support according to regulations of the law on social support policies for social protection beneficiaries; employees who are at least 60 years old specified in point c clause 3 Article 12 of Decree No. 78/2021/ND-CP.

(3) Non-commissioned officers and soldiers joining the armed services within a definite term who are receiving living allowance.

(4) Students and learners who are taking intensive and long-term courses at universities, colleges, secondary schools and vocational schools.

(5) Persons who are handicapped or are incapacitated at the rate of 21% or more; persons suffering from fatal diseases; legally incapacitated persons or, persons with limited capacity of exercise, people with limited cognition or behavior control according to the civil law.

(6) Persons who are unemployed or jobless for 6 months in a year or a longer period.

(7) Pregnant women; women that are rearing their children aged under 36 months.

(8) Members of poor or near-poor households; members of households seriously afflicted by natural disasters, diseases, fires and accidents; members of households at extremely disadvantaged communes located at coastal areas, islands, region-III communes and extremely disadvantaged villages within ethnic minority or mountainous areas; ethnic minority groups at region-I communes, region-II communes and region-III communes within ethnic minority or mountainous areas according to decisions issued by the Prime Minister of Vietnam and the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and relevant legal documents.

(9)  Cooperatives earning no revenue.

(10) Domestic and foreign economic organizations that operate in the localities suffering damage to property, factories and equipment caused by natural disasters in a year to the extent that the cost incurred from repair or purchase accounts for 0,02 % of total value of their asset, or their production and business must be temporarily closed for 5 consecutive days or more as certified by the district-level People's Committees, or they are exempted from the requirement for payment of corporate income tax.

See more details in Decree No. 63/2025/ND-CP, effective as of April 19, 2025. 

4 steps in audit process of State Audit Office of Vietnam 

On March 3, 2025, the Auditor General of the State Audit Office of Vietnam promulgated Decision No. 10/2025/QD-KTNN on the audit process of the State Audit Office of Vietnam.

According to the Decision, the audit process of the State Audit Office of Vietnam stipulates the procedure for implementing the work of an audit session carried out by the State Audit Office of Vietnam. The audit process is developed based on the Law on State Audit Office of Vietnam 2015, the system of state audit standards, and the actual audit operations. 

The audit process includes 4 steps: 

- Audit preparation; 

- Audit; 

- Formulation and submission of audit reports; 

- Monitoring and inspection of audit conclusions and suggestions. 

In audit operations, if there are cases arising unprescribed by the regulations of the audit process, heads of audit delegations, heads of audit teams, members of audit delegations, and organizations and individuals authorized or hired to carry out the audit shall submit reports to the head auditors or directors of units assigned to take charge of audit sessions (head auditors) to request for feedback from the Auditor General of the State Audit Office of Vietnam for consideration and decision. 

The audit process applies to: 

- Affiliates of the State Audit Office of Vietnam assigned to take charge of the implementation of audit sessions and inspection, supervision, and control of audit quality; 

- Audit delegations of the State Audit Office of Vietnam (audit delegations), state auditors, and members who are not state auditors participating in audit operations (state auditors);

- Organizations and individuals authorized to carry out or hired for audit operations; 

- Units subject to audit; 

- Other agencies, organizations, and individuals relevant to audit operations. 

Purposes of the audit process of State Audit Office of Vietnam: 

- To create legal grounds and professional framework for organizing work in an audit session and operations of audit delegations and auditors; ensure the consistency in the organization, implementation, and management of audit operations. 

- To be the grounds for implementing the inspection, supervision, and control of audit quality and assessment of the quality of audit sessions and professional ethics of state auditors. 

- To be the grounds for developing audit guidelines for each type and field of audit of the State Audit Office of Vietnam. 

- To create grounds for developing the system of audit record forms and training and advanced training curriculum and documents for state auditors. 

See more details in Decision No. 10/2025/QD-KTNN, effective as of April 17, 2025.

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