Consolidated Document No. 18/VBHN-VPQH: Labor Code (Consolidating Amendments Through 2025)
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Consolidated Document No. 18/VBHN-VPQH (Official Gazette No. 131, dated February 28, 2026) consolidates the Labor Code No. 45/2019/QH14 (effective January 1, 2021) with amendments from three laws: Law on Digital Technology Industry No. 71/2025/QH15 (effective January 1, 2026), Population Law No. 113/2025/QH15 (effective July 1, 2026), and Law on Vocational Education No. 124/2025/QH15 (effective January 1, 2026). The Code governs labor standards; rights, obligations, and responsibilities of employees, employers, employee representative organizations, and employer representative organizations; and state management of labor. Its scope of application covers: employees, apprentices, trainees, workers without labor relations, employers, foreign workers in Vietnam, and other agencies/organizations/individuals directly related to labor relations. This is a technical consolidation reflecting the current legal status of the Labor Code. The PDF text is truncated at Article 16 of Chapter III (employment contracts), but the Code comprehensively regulates: employment and recruitment, employment contracts, wages, working hours and rest periods, occupational safety and hygiene, social insurance, resolution of labor disputes, and strikes.
Scope
Consolidated Document No. 18/VBHN-VPQH, published in Official Gazette No. 131 on February 28, 2026, consolidates Labor Code No. 45/2019/QH14 dated November 20, 2019 (effective January 1, 2021) with three amending laws:
- Law on Digital Technology Industry No. 71/2025/QH15 dated June 14, 2025, effective January 1, 2026
- Population Law No. 113/2025/QH15 dated December 10, 2025, effective July 1, 2026
- Law on Vocational Education No. 124/2025/QH15 dated December 10, 2025, effective January 1, 2026
The Code regulates: (1) labor standards; (2) rights, obligations, and responsibilities of employees, employers, employee representative organizations at the enterprise level, and employer representative organizations in labor relations and other relations directly related to labor relations; (3) state management of labor.
Key provisions
Scope of application (Article 2): Employees, apprentices, trainees, and workers without labor relations; employers; foreign workers in Vietnam; other agencies, organizations, and individuals directly related to labor relations.
Chapter I - General provisions: Defines core concepts (employee, employer, labor relations, forced labor, discrimination, sexual harassment in the workplace); state policies on labor (protecting rights, gender equality, developing the labor market, promoting collective bargaining); rights and obligations of employees and employers; prohibited acts.
Chapter II - Employment, recruitment, and labor management: Employees' right to freely choose employment; employers' right to recruit (directly or through employment service organizations); obligation to maintain a labor management register and declare labor use within 30 days.
Chapter III - Employment contracts (PDF text truncated at Article 16): Employment contracts must be concluded in writing (or electronically); oral contracts apply only for contracts under 1 month; principles of voluntariness, equality, good faith, cooperation, and honesty.
Note: The PDF text is truncated; provisions on wages, working hours and rest periods, occupational safety, social insurance, labor disputes, and strikes form the subsequent chapters of the Code but are not available in the extract.
Effective date
This is a technical consolidation document. Effective dates by amending law: Laws 71/2025/QH15 and 124/2025/QH15 effective January 1, 2026; Law 113/2025/QH15 effective July 1, 2026. The base Labor Code 45/2019/QH14 has been effective since January 1, 2021.