Vietnam Enacts Southeast Asia's First AI Law

Vietnam's Law on Artificial Intelligence (No. 134/2025/QH15) was passed by the National Assembly on December 10, 2025, and took effect March 1, 2026. The Ministry of Science and Technology is the lead authority for its implementation, which supersedes previous AI provisions in the Law on Digital Technology Industry to create a single, unified legal framework. The legislation is built on seven core principles, including human-centric development, safety, transparency, and accountability. It also uniquely emphasizes national autonomy, seeking to strengthen self-reliance in AI technology and infrastructure while aligning with Vietnam's cultural values. The law establishes a risk-based classification system—categorizing AI as low, medium, or high-risk—which determines the level of regulatory control. While this mirrors the EU AI Act's tiered philosophy, Vietnam's model is structurally simpler and separates its list of prohibited acts, such as creating deepfakes that threaten national security, from the risk-based categories. Companies deploying high-risk AI systems must conduct conformity assessments, register with a National AI Database, and ensure mechanisms for human oversight. Foreign providers of high-risk systems are required to appoint a local legal representative in Vietnam to act as a point of contact for authorities. Article 11 of the law mandates explicit transparency, requiring that users be informed when interacting with an AI system. It also requires that AI-generated audio, images, and video be accompanied by machine-readable markers to distinguish them from authentic content, directly addressing the risks of deepfake technology. This law is a component of Vietnam's broader "National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence" which aims to make the country a top 4 AI leader in ASEAN and one of the top 50 globally by 2030. The strategy prioritizes developing national AI infrastructure and specific datasets for key sectors like healthcare, agriculture, and transport to support this goal. The law has extraterritorial reach, applying to any foreign organization whose AI systems impact users or markets in Vietnam. Companies with AI systems already operating before the law's effective date have a 12-month grace period to become compliant, with an extended 24-month period for systems in healthcare, education, and finance.