Vietnam’s revised 2026 Law on Belief and Religion lays the groundwork for protecting freedom of belief and religion while addressing new challenges in state management.
The revised 2026 Law on Belief and Religion was passed by the National Assembly on April 23, 2026, and will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. The key task now is to translate its principles into regulations that closely reflect reality, particularly on emerging issues such as religious and belief activities in cyberspace and belief practices conducted outside designated worship sites.
Simplifying procedures to bring the law into practice
The revised Law on Belief and Religion was passed by the National Assembly on April 23, 2026. Photo: Lam Hien
The revised 2026 Law on Belief and Religion was passed by the National Assembly on April 23, 2026, and will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. According to Senior Colonel Nguyen Huu Thien, deputy director of the Internal Security Department under the Ministry of Public Security, bringing the law quickly into practice requires a focus on developing implementing regulations, particularly finalizing a draft decree detailing a number of articles and measures for implementing the law, referred to as the draft decree.
At a conference reviewing the drafting of the law on Aug. 13, 2026, Deputy Minister of Ethnic and Religious Affairs Nguyen Hai Trung said the drafting agency was urgently completing the dossier for the draft decree. Under regulations, legal documents take effect 45 days after they are signed and promulgated, meaning the draft decree must be submitted to the government before Oct. 15, 2026.
On July 23, 2026, the prime minister issued Decision No. 1382/QD-TTg outlining a plan for implementing the revised Law on Belief and Religion. Alongside drafting the government decree detailing provisions and implementation measures, the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs was tasked with reviewing legal documents related to belief and religion, developing a database and accelerating digital transformation in state management of religious and belief affairs.
The ministry has prepared the draft decree dossier and conducted broad consultations. Despite belief and religion being a specialized field involving many new and challenging issues, the draft has generally received positive assessments from experts, scientists, administrators, religious dignitaries, religious officials and practitioners.
One major feature is the reduction of administrative procedures, removal of unnecessary documentation and a 50% cut in processing times. Four procedures would shift from requiring an “application” to “registration,” while some activities would move from “registration” to simple “notification.”
Phan Vu, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Ethnic and Religious Affairs, said the administrative procedures set out in the draft decree are concise and clear, with paperwork reduced for many matters under the sector’s jurisdiction.
Father Pham Quang Long, chief of office of the Bishop’s House of the Diocese of Vinh, also welcomed the removal of unnecessary documents, such as criminal record certificates. In his view, regulations can only be effective when they are clear, easy to understand, consistent and practical to implement.
Refining regulations to keep pace with digital transformation
Under the draft decree, not every belief activity conducted outside a designated worship site would require registration. Only activities that are complex in nature or large in scale would be subject to the procedure. Photo: Dong Ngac Ward People’s Committee, Hanoi
In Report No. 3257/BC-BDTTG reviewing implementation of the 2016 Law on Belief and Religion, the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs said digital transformation is profoundly changing the way religious and belief practices are conducted while creating new requirements for their management.
Where such activities were once largely identified by specific locations and organizations, religious and belief-related content can now spread widely within a short period, making information management and guidance more complex.
Professor Thuong Mai Thanh, a member of the Standing Committee of the Cao Dai Ban Chinh Dao Church, said information technology has made access to religious and belief-related content more convenient and diverse. However, cyberspace has also generated negative effects, including the use of digital platforms to disseminate information that misrepresents the Party and state’s policies on belief and religion.
Against this backdrop, the revised 2026 Law on Belief and Religion introduces provisions governing religious and belief activities in cyberspace. According to Nguyen Quynh Lien of the National Assembly’s Committee for Legal and Judicial Affairs, this is an important new development that allows the law to keep pace with digital transformation.
“The new provisions have also addressed shortcomings that emerged after a decade of implementing the 2016 Law on Belief and Religion. We will continue working alongside the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs to translate these provisions into detailed implementing regulations,” Lien said.
According to Deputy Minister of Ethnic and Religious Affairs Nguyen Hai Trung, detailed guidance is particularly important if the law is to be implemented effectively. While the law focuses on principles and provides an overall framework, the decree must be specific and detailed enough to be applied directly in practice without necessarily waiting for additional circulars.
To meet that requirement, the draft decree has been carefully prepared and subjected to broad consultation with experts, scientists, agencies, organizations and affected groups. Following consultation workshops and conferences, the draft has continued to be reviewed and adjusted to ensure consistency with the existing legal system.
Vu Thi Hien of the Department of Criminal and Administrative Legislation and Management of Administrative Violation Handling under the Ministry of Justice said the drafting agency had shown responsibility and commitment in incorporating feedback and revising the draft decree. Overall, she said, the draft provides detailed measures for organizing and guiding implementation of the revised Law on Belief and Religion, including provisions on religious and belief activities in cyberspace.
Ensuring belief practices remain true to their nature
Commenting on the draft decree detailing provisions and implementation measures for the Law on Belief and Religion, Senior Colonel Nguyen Huu Thien, deputy director of the Internal Security Department under the Ministry of Public Security, said customs and traditions of ethnic communities should be clearly distinguished from belief activities conducted outside designated worship sites.
Another new feature of the revised 2026 Law on Belief and Religion is the introduction of registration requirements for certain belief activities conducted outside designated worship sites.
According to Nguyen Thi Dinh, head of the Belief and Other Religions Division under the Government Committee for Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs, the provision is necessary amid cases in which some groups and businesses have used spirituality as a pretext for profit-making at tourist attractions and resorts.
“Adding management provisions provides a legal basis for authorities to identify and distinguish legitimate belief practices from cases showing signs of exploiting belief for profit,” Dinh said.
According to Dinh, not every belief activity conducted outside a designated worship site will have to be registered. Only activities that are complex in nature or large in scale would be subject to the procedure. The draft decree proposes criteria that local governments and relevant authorities can use to determine the scale and nature of an activity.
Drawing on Decree No. 38/2005/ND-CP and the Ministry of Public Security’s Circular No. 09/2005/TT-BCA, the draft decree proposes a benchmark of gatherings involving 50 people or more as an indicator of scale. In determining complexity, the draft focuses on whether an activity “has the potential to affect security and public order.”
Senior Colonel Nguyen Huu Thien, deputy director of the Internal Security Department under the Ministry of Public Security, said quantitative criteria would help identify activities at risk of becoming distorted or involving large-scale “commercialization” of spirituality. At the same time, a consistent understanding of criteria such as “large scale” and “potential to affect security and public order” would help ensure uniform implementation of the revised Law on Belief and Religion nationwide.
From administrative reform and the management of belief activities outside designated worship sites to adapting to digital transformation, the overarching requirement in finalizing the draft decree is to translate the revised Law on Belief and Religion into rules that are clearer, more closely aligned with reality and capable of consistent implementation.
When the law’s principles are translated into clear, accessible and practical regulations, the legal framework can both safeguard freedom of belief and religion and provide a basis for consistent management of emerging issues. This is also how the regulatory framework can keep pace with changes in religious and spiritual life, helping guide its stable and healthy development in a new environment.
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