Vietnam’s updates on Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives, and Combat Gear 2024

Vietnam’s updates on Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives, and Combat Gear 2024 

According to the Law, the principles of managing and using weapons, explosives, explosive precursors, and combat gear are as follows: 

- Compliance with the Constitution and the law and conformity with international treaties that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory and relevant international agreements. 

- Weapons, explosives, and combat gear shall be provided for proper recipients under proper jurisdiction, ensuring compliance with technical regulations and standards. 

- Agencies, organizations, enterprises, and individuals managing and using weapons, explosives, explosive precursors, and combat gear shall ensure their eligibility as per regulation. 

- Competent persons issuing orders or decisions on the use of weapons, explosives, and combat gear shall take responsibility for such orders and decisions as per regulation. 

- The use of weapons, explosives, explosive precursors, and combat gear shall comply with the regulations, limiting damage to human life and health, property, and the environment. 

- Research, creation, production, testing, business operation, provision, export, import, transport, repair, and use of weapons, explosives, explosive precursors, and combat gear shall be licensed by competent authorities or permitted by competent persons, ensuring strict management, security, safety, and environmental protection. 

- Weapons, explosives, explosive precursors, and combat gear shall be subject to periodic inspections, statistics, and quality assessments. Where agencies, organizations, and enterprises no longer wish to use weapons, explosives, and combat gear that are expired or damaged beyond use, they shall be recovered, liquidated, or destroyed as per regulation, ensuring security, safety, and environmental protection. 

- Lost weapons, explosives, explosive precursors, combat gears, licenses, and certificates shall be promptly reported to competent authorities. 

- Weapons, explosives, explosive precursors, and combat gears shall be tested, inspected, assessed, certified, and registered under the law on the management of quality of goods and products before being licensed to be produced, traded, and used in Vietnam. 

The Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives, and Combat Gear 2024 comes into force as of January 1, 2025, excluding Article 17, Article 32, and Clause 1 Article 49, which take effect from July 1, 2025. 

The Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives, and Combat Gear 2017 shall be annulled from the effective date of the Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives, and Combat Gear 2024, excluding the following cases: 

- Article 17, Article 35, Clause 1 Article 52 of the Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives, and Combat Gear 2017 (amended), which continue to be effective until June 30, 2025; 

- Article 75 of the Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives, and Combat Gear 2017.

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