Government Decree 232/2025 on managing gold trading activities, effective from October 10, abolishes the state’s monopoly on producing gold bars, exporting raw gold, and importing raw gold for gold bar production.

Enterprises are eligible for a license from the State Bank of Vietnam to produce gold bars if they meet conditions such as holding a license for trading gold bars and have charter capital of VND1,000 billion or more.

Commercial banks may be granted a license to produce gold bars by the State Bank of Vietnam if they have a license for trading gold bars and charter capital of VND50,000 billion or more.

They must be enterprises or banks which have not have been fined for administrative violations in gold trading or must have completed remedial measures if fined.

The decree also states: “Payments for gold transactions valued at VND20 million or more per day for a single customer must be conducted through the customer’s payment account and the payment account of the gold trading enterprise opened at a commercial bank or foreign bank branch.”

The regulation aims to ensure customer information verification without imposingmes additional obligations, as verification is already performed when customers open and use payment accounts at commercial banks or foreign bank branches. It also seeks to enhance transparency in gold transactions.

Circular eliminates student expulsion as disciplinary measure

Circular 19/2025 of the Ministry of Education and Training, governing student rewards and discipline, takes effect from October 31.

Under the new regulation, handling student violations must be based on respect, tolerance, objectivity, and impartiality, while ensuring alignment with students’ psychological state, gender, and physical characteristics.

The Ministry of Education and Training emphasizes that disciplinary measures must not involve violence, humiliation, or actions that negatively impact students’ physical or mental well-being.

While the previous circular outlined five levels of discipline, from class reprimands to one-year expulsion, Circular 19/2025 adjusts disciplinary measures based on school levels.

For primary school students, violations will result only in reminders or requests for apologies. For higher levels, measures may include reminders, criticism, or requiring students to write self-criticism reports.

The circular also introduces supportive activities to help students address violations, such as counseling and encouragement to recognize wrongdoing, monitoring and guidance during remediation, and participation in school counseling, social work, skill-building, or other school-organized activities.

Single women permitted to undergo IVF

Decree 207/2025, effective October 1, allows single women to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) if they wish.

Sperm, egg, and embryo donations for assisted reproductive techniques must follow the principle of being donated at only one licensed facility for storing sperm, eggs, or embryos. Donated sperm, eggs, or embryos may only be used for one woman or one couple to conceive.

Sperm and embryo donations and receipts are to be conducted anonymously between donors and recipients. Assisted reproductive techniques are to be only performed for infertile couples, those with medical indications, or single women with a desire to conceive.

The decree also regulates assisted reproductive techniques and altruistic surrogacy. Accordingly, sperm, egg, and embryo donations are permitted only at licensed facilities, with each donation used for only one woman or couple. Information about couples using surrogacy, surrogate mothers, and children born through surrogacy is protected and kept confidential by law.

Three more income types exempt from tax

Under Clauses 18, 19, and 20 of Article 4 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2007, amended by Clause 3 of Article 71 of the Science, Technology, and Innovation Law 2025 (effective today), three additional income types are exempt from personal income tax.

These include: income from salaries or wages for performing science, technology, and innovation tasks; income from copyrights of science, technology, and innovation tasks when their results are commercialized under science, technology, innovation, and intellectual property laws; and income of individual investors, experts working for innovative startup projects, founders of innovative startup enterprises, or individual investors contributing capital to venture capital funds.

Tam An