New Regulations for Gold Bar Production Licensing in Vietnam

On August 26, 2025, Decree 232/2025/ND-CP, amending and supplementing Decree 24/2012/ND-CP, annulled the State monopoly mechanism on gold bar production, allowing several enterprises and banks that fully meet the prescribed conditions to produce gold bars. In order to guide this new regulation, the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam signed and issued Circular No. 34/2025/TT-NHNN, new regulations for gold bar production licensing in Vietnam. Below, Viet An Law will update the notable content of this new regulation.

Annul the monopoly mechanism, license enterprises and commercial banks to produce gold bars

• Previously, Clause 3, Article 4 of Decree 24/2012/ND-CP stipulated the principle of state monopoly on the production of gold bars, export of raw gold and import of raw gold to produce gold bars.
• However, Decree 232/2025/ND-CP abolished Clause 3, Article 4 of Decree 24/2012/ND-CP. Thus, the new regulation officially abolished the state monopoly mechanism in the production, import and export of raw gold for the production of gold bars.
• Instead, enterprises and commercial banks can be licensed by the State Bank of Vietnam to produce gold bars if they meet the conditions prescribed in Article 11a of Decree 24/2012/ND-CP, amended and supplemented by Decree 232/2025/ND-CP. This method ensures the removal of State monopoly, promotes the commercialization of gold trading activities but still has strict control over gold bar production activities.

Accordingly, currently, the dossiers and procedures for granting a License to produce gold bars are specifically guided in Circular No. 34/2025/TT-NHNN.

Components of the dossier for a Gold bar production license

According to Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular 34/2025/TT-NHNN, the application for a Gold bar production license includes:

• Application form for issuance of licenses to manufacture gold bars using Form specified in Appendix 03 attached hereto;
• Internal regulations on manufacture of gold bar include basic contents such as: Raw material import process; gold bar manufacturing process; process of supervision of gold bar manufacturing; product quality control process;
• Documents proving that remedial measures have been completed according to the decision on administrative penalties, petition with implementation deadlines in the inspection conclusions of competent state agencies on gold business activities (if any).

Note for dossier components:

• Dossiers for Certificate, License, and limit issuance must be prepared in 1 set in Vietnamese.
• For the application components that are copies, a copy issued from the original book or a certified copy or a copy with the original presented for comparison must be submitted. In case the applicant submits a copy with the original presented for comparison, the person who compares must sign to confirm the copy and be responsible for the accuracy of the copy compared to the original.
• Each set of documents must have a list of documents.
• Documents in the electronic file are electronic scans of the original (PDF format files).

Procedures for granting a license to produce gold bars

Article 17 of Circular No. 34/2025/TT-NHNN has provisions on granting Gold bar production license, accordingly the procedures are as follows:

Submit dossiers to the State Bank of Vietnam

Enterprises and commercial banks that need to be granted a license to produce gold bars must submit one set of dossiers to the State Bank of Vietnam.

The dossier is submitted in one of the following forms:

• Submit online via the National Public Service Portal, National Single Window Portal (if any);
• Submit directly at the Single Window Department of the State Bank of Vietnam or the Single Window Department of the State Bank Regional Branch (where the enterprise or credit institution has its head office);
• Send via postal service;

When submitting dossiers online via the National Public Service Portal, the Viet Nam National Single Window (if any), electronic dossiers must use digital signatures in accordance with the provisions of law on performing administrative procedures in the electronic environment.

The State Bank reviews and grants licenses.

Within 30 working days from the date of receiving a complete and valid dossier, the State Bank of Vietnam shall consider granting a Gold bar production license to an enterprise or commercial bank according to the form in Appendix No. 16 or refuse to grant it (clearly stating the reason).

Dossiers and procedures for amending and supplementing the Gold bar production License

Dossier components

In case of amending or supplementing the Gold bar production license, the dossier includes the following documents according to Clause 2, Article 5 of Circular No. 34/2025/TT-NHNN:

• Application form for revision of licenses to manufacture gold bars using Form specified in Appendix 03 attached hereto;
• Records and documents proving the changes according to point a of this clause (for enterprises).

Implementation procedures

• According to Clause 2, Article 17 of Circular 34/2025/TT-NHNN, within 30 days from the date an enterprise or commercial bank changes its name or head office address, it must complete procedures to amend or supplement the Gold bar production license.
• Within 20 (twenty) working days from the date of receiving complete and valid documents, the State Bank of Vietnam shall consider issuing a Decision to amend and supplement the License to produce gold bars for enterprises and commercial banks.

Dossiers and procedures for revoking Gold bar production license

Gold bar production license may be revoked in the following two cases according to Article 24 of Circular No. 34/2025/TT-NHNN:

In case the enterprise/commercial bank voluntarily terminates gold bar manufacturing

The enterprise/commercial bank shall submit to the SBV an application including:

• Application form for voluntary termination of gold bar manufacturing clearly stating the reasons;
• Original copy of the License to manufacture gold bars and original copies of documents that are inseparable parts of the License to manufacture gold bars (if any);

Within 15 (fifteen) working days from the date of receiving a complete and valid application, the Governor of the SBV shall issue Decision on revocation of the License to manufacture gold bars.

The enterprise/commercial bank’s License shall be revoked

The State Bank of Vietnam decides to revoke the License to produce gold bars in the following cases:

• Due to dissolution or bankruptcy under the law;
• Due to revocation of the License to trade gold bars;
• Upon competent state agency’s request to cease gold bar manufacturing.

The enterprise or commercial bank must immediately cease gold bar manufacturing at the time the License to manufacture gold bars is revoked and must return the original copy of such License and any Decisions on revision of the License to the SBV within 3 (three) working days.

Note the responsibilities when being granted a gold bar production licensing in Vietnam

Reporting

According to Article 29 and Article 30 of Circular No. 34/2025/TT-NHNN, there are regulations on granting gold bar production licenses related to the reporting regime. Accordingly, enterprises and commercial banks operating in gold bar production must make reports as follows:

• Periodically every month, year or when necessary, enterprises and commercial banks granted a License to produce gold bars shall report to the State Bank of Vietnam on the implementation of gold bar production and the purchase and sale of raw gold.
• Deadline for submitting periodic reports: For monthly periodic reports: no later than the 8th (eighth) day of the month following the reporting month. For annual periodic reports: no later than the 15th (fifteenth) day of January (first) of the year following the reporting year.

Information connection for the State Bank

According to Article 25 and Article 26 of Circular No. 34/2025/TT-NHNN, the connection to provide information to the State Bank of Vietnam by enterprises and credit institutions granted a License to produce gold bars is carried out according to the following principles and methods:

• The information provided must be extracted from the data systems of enterprises and credit institutions, ensuring completeness and accuracy.
• The connection must be made electronically, ensuring timeliness.

Accordingly, the connection information with the State Bank of Vietnam of enterprises and commercial banks granted a License to produce gold bars includes:

• Information on gold bar manufacturing (input materials, manufacturing time, output products);
• Information on gold export/import (quantity of gold, gold content, export/import value);
• Information on gold material trading (partners, quantity, content, and transaction value).

The minimum storage period of this information is 10 (ten) years from the date the information data is connected to the State Bank of Vietnam.

Above is an update of new regulations for gold bar production licensing in Vietnam. If you have any related questions or need advice on documents and procedures in the gold trading field, please contact Viet An Law for the best support!