Notable new policies of Vietnam effective from the end of January 2025

Vietnam’s regulation on documents applicable to retailers of narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs from January 30, 2025

This is a content of Circular No. 27/2024/TT-BYT on amendments to Circular No. 20/2017/TT-BYT guiding the Law on Pharmacy, effective as of January 30, 2025. 

According to the Circular, retailers of narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs shall adequately prepare and record the following documents: 

- Records of sale, purchase, inventory of narcotic drugs, psychotropic drugs, and precursor drugs according to the template provided in Appendix VIII enclosed with Circular 20/2017;

- Notes of delivery of narcotic drugs, psychotropic drugs, and precursor drugs from the suppliers; 

- Prescriptions for narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs that are sold;

- Receipt of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, or precursors, as per the receipt template provided in Appendix XX enclosed with Circular 20/2017;

- Records of buyers according to the template provided in Appendix XXI enclosed with Circular 20/2017.

A retailer of combined drugs that contain narcotic active ingredients, psychotropic active ingredients, or precursors shall prepare records of buyers according to the template provided in Appendix XXI enclosed with Circular 20/2017.

Vietnam's amendments to primary school assessment standards 

Circular No. 22/2024/TT-BGDDT on amendments to the regulation on education quality accreditation, effective as of January 25, 2025. 

According to the Circular, the primary school assessment standards prescribed in Circular No. 17/2018/TT-BGDDT are amended.

Specifically, the facility standard in the level-1 primary school assessment standard is as follows: 

Standard 3: Facilities and teaching equipment   

- Criterion 3.1: Location, scale, and area comply with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, including: 

+ School location and school site; 

+ Scale; 

+ The area of the land where the school or school site is constructed and floor areas of construction work items. 

- Criterion 3.2: Work items comply with the mandatory facility standards of primary schools according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, including: 

+ Administrative offices; 

+ Classrooms and learning classrooms; 

+ Auxiliary rooms; playgrounds and sports areas; living rooms.  

- Criterion 3.3: Technical infrastructures,  solid work items, and teaching equipment comply with the mandatory facility standards of primary schools according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, including: 

+ Clean water supply systems; electricity supply systems; fire safety systems; infrastructures of technology information and communication and waste collection areas; 

+ Ratio of solid work items; 

+ Teaching equipment. 

List of banned plant protection in Vietnam from January 30, 2025 

Circular No. 25/2024/TT-BNNPTNT on the list of permissible plant protection drugs in Vietnam and the list of banned plant protection drugs in Vietnam promulgated by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, effective as of January 30, 2025.

The list of banned plant protection drugs in Vietnam prescribed in Appendix II enclosed with Circular 25/2024 includes: 

- Pesticides, forest product preservatives: 23 active ingredients.

Specifically: Aldrin; BHC, Lindane; Cadmium compound (Cd); Carbofuran; Chlordane; etc. 

- Fungicides: 6 active ingredients, including Arsenic (As); Captan; Captafol; Hexachlorobenzene; Mercury (Hg); Selenium (Se).

- Rodenticides: 1 active ingredient (Talium compound).

- Herbicides: 1 active ingredient (2.4.5 T).

Vietnam’s regulation on specialized inspector cards concerning information and communications

Circular No. 15/2024/TT-BTTTT on the content of the specialized inspections concerning information and communications promulgated by the Minister of Information and Communications of Vietnam, effective as of January 28, 2025, which stipulates regulations on specialized inspections concerning information and communications as follows: 

- Persons assigned to carry out specialized inspection tasks shall receive specialized inspector cards issued by the Minister of Information and Communications of Vietnam for use during specialized inspection tasks. 

- Persons assigned to carry out specialized inspection tasks shall preserve and use specialized inspector cards according to the law and refrain from using the cards for personal purposes, using the cards of other persons, or lending the cards to other persons. 

- A specialized inspector card shall be valid for up to 5 years from the issuance date, including new, exchanged, and re-issued cards, according to Article 6 of Circular 15/2024.

- Where a specialized inspector card is lost, damaged, or expired, the person assigned to carry out specialized inspection tasks shall submit a report to the Director to carry out the procedure for card exchange or re-issuance as per regulation. 

- Persons with issued specialized inspector cards shall return the cards to the Director when they are no longer tasked to carry out our specialized inspection tasks. 

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