Regulations on the Scope of Bank Card Usage from July 01, 2024 in Vietnam

Regulations on the Scope of Bank Card Usage in Vietnam (Image from the Internet)

Regulations on the Scope of Bank Card Usage from July 1, 2024 in Vietnam

According to Clause 1 Article 3 Circular 18/2024/TT-NHNN, a bank card is a payment instrument issued by the card issuing organization to perform card transactions under the conditions and terms agreed upon by the parties. In Article 16 Circular 18/2024/TT-NHNN, issued on June 28, 2024, the scope of bank card usage in Vietnam is prescribed as follows:

(1) Debit cards, named prepaid cards are used to perform card transactions as agreed between the cardholder and the card issuing organization.

(2) Credit cards are used to pay for lawful goods and services; withdraw cash as agreed between the cardholder and the card issuing organization; credit cards may not be used to transfer (or credit) to a payment account, debit card, or prepaid card.

(3) Unnamed prepaid cards can only be used to pay for lawful goods and services at point-of-sale card acceptance devices within the territory of Vietnam; they may not be used for electronic card transactions and cannot be used to withdraw cash.

(4) Supplementary cards issued to supplementary cardholders under 15 years of age cannot withdraw cash and can only be used to pay for lawful goods and services, in accordance with the usage scope agreed in writing between the card issuing organization and the primary cardholder.

(5) Cards are used to pay for lawful goods and services as regulated by Vietnamese law, including for purchases of goods and services overseas.

(6) Cards may only be used for electronic card transactions after verifying the cardholder's identification documents and biometric information with:

- Biometric data stored in the encrypted information storage part of the citizen identification card or certified by the police authority, or through authentication of the electronic identity account created by the Electronic Identification and Authentication System; or

- Biometric data collected and verified (ensuring the match of biometric data with the encrypted storage part of the citizen identification card or with the data verified by the police authority, or through the authentication of the electronic identity account created by the Electronic Identification and Authentication System); or

- Biometric data collected through a direct face-to-face meeting for foreigners without electronic identity, Vietnamese origin whose nationality is not determined; or

- Biometric data stored in the National Population Database in case the citizen identification card does not have an encrypted information storage part.

The regulations on the scope of bank card usage in Article 16 Circular 18/2024/TT-NHNN are effective from July 1, 2024, except for Clause 6 of Article 16, which corresponds to item (6) and takes effect from January 1, 2025. If the card issuing organization in Vietnam is a credit institution under special control, the regulation in item (6) takes effect from July 1, 2025.

Tran Trong Tin

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