Vietnam Criminal Code
Summary
This document is the consolidated English version of the Criminal Code of Viet Nam, issued under Consolidation Document No. 135/VBHN-VPQH dated September 5, 2025 by the Office of the National Assembly of Viet Nam. The Criminal Code No. 100/2015/QH13, effective from January 1, 2018, has been amended by Law No. 12/2017/QH14, the Law on Juvenile Justice No. 59/2024/QH15, and Law No. 86/2025/QH15 on amendments to a number of articles of the Criminal Code.
The Criminal Code sets out the legal framework for determining crimes, criminal liability, penalties, judicial measures, and the handling of criminal offences in Viet Nam. It applies to individuals and, in specific cases, commercial legal entities that commit criminal offences as prescribed by law.
The Code provides fundamental principles on the basis of criminal liability, classification of crimes, age of criminal responsibility, intentional and unintentional crimes, preparation for crimes, attempts, complicity, concealment of crimes, and cases where criminal liability may be exempted. It also regulates the effect of the Criminal Code on offences committed within and outside the territory of Viet Nam.
In relation to penalties, the Criminal Code provides primary and additional sentences applicable to individuals, including warning, fine, community sentence, expulsion, determinate imprisonment, life imprisonment, and death sentence. It also sets out penalties applicable to commercial legal entities, such as fines, suspension of operation, permanent shutdown, prohibition from operating in certain fields, and prohibition from raising capital.
The Code further regulates judicial measures, sentencing principles, mitigating and aggravating circumstances, sentence reduction, suspended sentences, conditional parole, deferment or suspension of imprisonment, conviction expungement, and criminal liability of commercial legal entities.
Overall, the Criminal Code serves as a core legal instrument in Viet Nam’s criminal justice system, providing the basis for crime prevention, criminal prosecution, sentencing, enforcement, and protection of the lawful rights and interests of individuals, organizations, and the State.
