You are using an outdated browser and your browsing experience will not be optimal. Please update to the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Install Microsoft Edge

May 27, 2021

New Regulations on Penalties in Animal Husbandry in Vietnam

Subscribe to Updates

On March 1, 2021, the government of Vietnam promulgated Decree No. 14/2021/ND-CP on Penalties for Administrative Violations Involving Animal Husbandry (Decree 14). The new decree took effect on April 20 and, among other contents, repeals the regulations on animal feed found in Decree No. 64/2018/ND-CP dated May 7, 2018.

In the field of animal feed, notable penalties of Decree 14 include the following:

Penalty forms and levels

For each administrative violation, the violator will be imposed a monetary penalty, which is the main penalty form. For the same violation, the monetary penalty level applied to an organization is double the amount applied to an individual.

In addition, based on the nature and extent of the violation, additional penalties may be imposed on the violators, including confiscation of violating items, and confiscating Certificates of Eligibility to manufacture animal feeds.

Violations of regulations on declaring product information

A fine of up to VND 3 million (USD 130) will be imposed for the act of changing information on product labels that has been published on the Portal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) without conducting the notification procedure to inform the MARD of such change.

A fine of up to VND 7 million (USD 300) will be imposed for the act of deliberately falsifying or erasing contents of documents or making false declarations in the applications for animal feed products on the Portal of the MARD.

Violation of regulations on quality in importing animal feed

A fine of up to VND 25 million (USD 1,080) will be imposed for the act of importing each animal feed having (i) a quantitative content of each quality criterion lower than the minimum level or higher than the maximum level compared with the standards announced or written on the goods label; or (ii) each safety criterion/each harmful microbiological criterion exceeding the allowable threshold under technical regulations or applied standards, depending on the specific criterion and percentage difference.

Violation of regulations on purchasing, selling, and importing expired animal feed

A fine of up to VND 40 million (USD 1,730) depending on the value of the violating goods will be imposed for the act of purchasing, selling, or importing animal feed products whose labels or enclosed documents state that the product has expired.

A fine of up to VND 10 million (USD 430) will be imposed for the act of not presenting or incorrectly presenting the manufacturing date on the product label or documents accompanying the product.

Violations of regulations on purchasing, selling, and importing animal feeds containing antibiotics

A fine of up to VND 15 million (USD 650) will be imposed for each acts of purchasing, selling, or importing an animal feed product having antibiotic content different from the content presented on the product label or in the documents accompanying the product, depending on the difference.

A fine of up to VND 15 million (USD 650) will be imposed for each act of (i) purchasing or importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics in which the information about the name and content of antibiotics, instruction for use, or time to ease using is not presented on the product labels or accompanying documents; or (ii) importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics without a prescription or not according to the prescription of a person having a practice certificate of prevention and treatment of animal diseases.

A fine of up to VND 20 million (USD 860) will be imposed for the each act of (i) importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics that is not a complete mixed feed for livestock or poultry, or pure feed for grass-fed cattle; (ii) purchasing, selling, or importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics to prevent disease for pets that are not in the immature stage; and (iii) purchasing, selling, or importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics for the purpose of growth stimulation.

A fine of up to VND 30 million (USD 1,300) will be imposed for the acts of purchasing, selling, or importing each animal feed product containing antibiotics that is not a veterinary drug approved for circulation in Vietnam or has not been approved by the relevant authority.

Violations of regulations on using animal feed material

A fine of up to VND 20 million (USD 860) will be imposed for each act of using an animal feed material which is not listed in the list of materials permitted to use in animal feed, depending on the value of the violating batch or the amount of illicit profits.

Remedial measures

In addition to the fines above, some remedial measures below are applied, depending on the case:

  • Being forced to repeal the published animal feed product information, or correct the false information published on the Portal of the MARD;
  • Being forced to recall, recycle, transform the use purpose, re-export or destroy the violating products; and
  • Being forced to re-submit the illicit profits gained from the violations.

Transitional provisions

For administrative violations that occurred before the effective date of Decree 14 (April 20, 2021) but were detected later, or are being considered and resolved, regulations that are beneficial to the violators will be applied.

For decisions on sanctioning of administrative violations that were issued or completely implemented before the effective date of Decree 14, but for which the violators can still appeal the decision, the previous legal document (Decree No. 64/2018/ND-CP) is applied.

For violations detected after the effective date of Decree 14 that are effective in transitional provisions in the Law on Animal Husbandry and documents detailing the implementation of the Law on Animal Husbandry, Decree No. 64/2018/ND-CP is still applied until the transition period expires.

Related Professionals

Industries

Life Sciences

Practices

Regulatory Affairs

Location

RELATED INSIGHTS​ 

June 4, 2026
Indonesia’s Minister of Health has issued Decree No. HK.01.07/MENKES/301/2026 on the Affixation of Nutritional Labels and Health Information to Ready-to-Eat Processed Food Products. The decree came into force on April 14, 2026, and was issued to implement the Health Law and Minister of Health Regulation No. 3 of 2026 on Disease Control. The decree requires the inclusion of Nutri-Level labeling on the front-of-pack nutrition labeling (FOPNL) to indicate the product’s nutritional level based on the content of sugar, salt, and fat (“gula, garam dan lemak (GGL)”). Changes from 2024 Draft Regulation The Nutri-Level labeling was previously proposed in 2024 by the Indonesian FDA (BPOM) through a draft regulation concerning nutrition information. While the categories of Nutri-Level labeling remain the same in the issued decree, the content requirements of sugar, salt and fat in the decree are different from the earlier proposal introduced in the 2024 draft BPOM regulation. In addition, the decree has further specified that the content of fat in the Nutri-Level labeling is the content of saturated fat, not total fat as previously proposed in the 2024 draft. The decree requires Nutri-Level labeling to be implemented in beverage products, which is the same as previously proposed in the 2024 draft BPOM regulation. Other food products may gradually become subject to mandatory Nutri-Level labeling under future implementing regulations. Nutri-Level Labeling Food levels as shown by the Nutri-Level labeling are classified into four color-coded categories from A to D: Level A (lowest amount) in dark green Level B in light green Level C in yellow Level D (highest amount) in red The Nutri-Level labeling is represented by the following image. The requirements for each level for sugar, salt, and fat content, based on amounts per 100 milliliters of product in beverage form, are as follows. Nutri-Level information must be
Read More
May 29, 2026
Indonesia’s Food and Drug Authority (BPOM) has issued Regulation No. 7 of 2026 on Drug Promotion and Advertising, establishing an updated framework for promotional activities involving medicinal products in Indonesia. The regulation took effect on April 16, 2026, and supersedes BPOM Regulation No. 2 of 2021 on Drug Advertising Supervision. The new regulation maintains general principles for advertising content, including requirements that advertisements be objective, complete, and not misleading, as further detailed in its annex. It also confirms that advertisements for nonprescription drugs directed to the public must obtain prior approval from BPOM before publication and must be in Bahasa Indonesia. The regulation provides a more comprehensive framework governing how drug promotion is conducted, introducing several notable additions and changes, as described below. Procedure and Requirements for Drug Advertisement Approval To apply for a drug advertisement approval, applicants must create an online account through the dedicated portal SIAPIK. Advertisement approval is available only for registered drugs; unregistered drugs are not eligible for advertisement approval with BPOM. The application must include the advertisement design, along with a translation if the design contains any wording in a foreign language. The submission format varies by media type, requiring, for example, copies in the form of print advertisements for visual media, scripts for audio media, and storyboards for audiovisual media. For online media—including social media—submissions should include any captions, descriptions, and hashtags that form an integral part of the advertising material. The approval timeline takes approximately 3–4 months, as BPOM will generally request additional information or revisions during the verification and evaluation process. Applicants have 20 days to submit any such requested documents. BPOM may also conduct a reevaluation of advertisements that have already received approval, based on monitoring results or new information regarding the safety and quality of the advertised drug. This
Read More
May 11, 2026
Vietnam’s legal framework governing chemicals has undergone significant reform, with the Law on Chemicals No. 69/2025/QH15 (Law on Chemicals 2025) taking effect on January 1, 2026. Together with a comprehensive set of implementing instruments issued in January 2026, including three decrees (No. 24/2026/ND‑CP, No. 25/2026/ND‑CP, and No. 26/2026/ND‑CP) and two circulars (No. 01/2026/TT‑BCT and No. 02/2026/TT‑BCT), the Law on Chemicals 2025 has significantly reshaped chemical registration and management requirements. Determining What Constitutes a “New Chemical” Among the most notable changes introduced under the Law on Chemicals 2025 are the rules governing the registration and management of new chemicals, which must be registered with the authority before being placed on the Vietnam market. Although the concept of new chemical registration was first introduced under the Law on Chemicals 2007, the corresponding registration mechanism has remained largely dormant in practice. Under the Law on Chemicals 2025, a “new chemical” is defined as a substance that is not yet included in Vietnam’s National Chemical Inventory and the list of foreign chemical inventories recognized by the competent Vietnamese authority (List of Foreign Chemicals). On a literal reading, the definition in the new law may suggest that a substance qualifies as a new chemical only if it is absent from both lists. Accordingly, a chemical present in either list should be treated as an existing chemical without the registration burden. However, a different interpretation emerges from Decree 26, which specifically requires registration of “new chemicals” even where such substances already appear in the List of Foreign Chemicals. This implies that inclusion in a recognized foreign inventory does not automatically exempt a substance from new chemical registration in Vietnam. This inconsistency between the statutory definition in the Law on Chemicals 2025 and the implementing provisions of Decree 26 creates significant interpretative and compliance challenges. At
Read More
April 29, 2026
Effective June 22, 2026, Thai Industrial Standards (TIS) for food contact paper and cooking paper will be enforced as mandatory for sale in the Thai market. This move has important implications for product licensing and tightens hygiene, labeling, and chemical-safety requirements for food-contact and cooking paper products. Thailand is strengthening its regulatory framework for paper-based culinary materials against a backdrop of accelerating global commitments to ESG and sustainability, as such materials—particularly those derived from natural or recycled fibers—have emerged as key alternatives to plastics in food preparation, cooking, and packaging applications. As a result, regulators worldwide are tightening controls to ensure that sustainability initiatives do not compromise consumer safety, particularly regarding the potential migration of chemical substances into food. Regulatory Framework: Voluntary vs. Mandatory Standards Standards under the TIS regime are generally classified into two categories. Voluntary standards allow manufacturers or importers to apply for a product license and affix the TIS mark to demonstrate product quality and build consumer confidence, but compliance is not legally required. Mandatory standards, by contrast, require manufacturers and importers to obtain a product license and affix the TIS mark before placing products on the Thai market, and noncompliant products cannot be legally sold. Previously, the TIS standards for food contact paper (TIS 2948-2562) and cooking paper (TIS 3438-2022) fell under the voluntary standard regime, meaning that obtaining a TIS license and displaying the TIS mark was optional. However, due to the increasing use of paper in food preparation and cooking, the Thai Industrial Standards Institute has determined that upgrading these standards to mandatory status is necessary to enhance consumer safety. As a result, all paper intended for food contact or cooking purposes must now obtain a TIS product license prior to sale in Thailand. Scope of the Standards The primary distinction between the
Read More