Expanding the scope of regulation for gold bar production activities
On August 26, the Government issued Decree No. 232/2025/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP on management of gold trading activities.
The notable content of Decree 232/2025/ND-CP is that it has abolished Clause 3, Article 4 of Decree 24/2012/ND-CP to abolish the State's monopoly mechanism for the production of gold bars, the export of raw gold and the import of raw gold to produce gold bars.
Regarding the scope of regulation, Decree No. 232/2025/ND-CP has added "gold bar production activities" in Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP.
Accordingly, this Decree stipulates gold trading activities, including: Production and processing of gold jewelry and fine arts; trading activities of buying and selling gold jewelry and fine arts; gold bar production activities; trading activities of buying and selling gold bars; gold export and import activities and other gold trading activities, including gold trading activities on accounts and gold derivatives activities.
Decree No. 232/2025/ND-CP amends and supplements the concept of gold bars: Gold bars are gold products broken into pieces, with characters and numbers indicating the volume and quality, with the symbol of an enterprise and commercial bank licensed by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV); gold bars are organized by the SBV to be produced in each period.
According to the new regulations, the phrase "credit institution" is changed to "commercial bank" to suit the scope of commercial banking activities in the Law on Credit Institutions and orientations only allows commercial banks (excluding other credit institutions) to carry out gold bar production activities, gold export and import activities.
Decree No. 232/2025/ND-CP also amends and supplements Clause 6, Article 4, accordingly, gold bar production is a conditional business activity and must be licensed by the State Bank.
The amendment and supplementation are consistent with the goal of shifting from a monopoly mechanism for gold bar production to a mechanism for licensing gold bar production activities.
Gold trading from 20 million VND/day or more must be paid through bank accounts
Decree No. 232/2025/ND-CP also supplements Clause 10, Article 4 of Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP on payment for buying and selling gold.
Accordingly, the payment for the purchase and sale of gold worth VND20 million or more per day of a customer must be made through the customer's payment account and the payment account of a gold trading enterprise opened at a commercial bank or foreign bank branch.
The addition of the above regulation is to ensure the requirement for authenticating customer information but does not create additional obligations for customers because the authentication has been carried out when customers open and use payment accounts at commercial banks or foreign bank branches. This regulation also aims to increase publicity and transparency in gold trading.
Decree No. 232/2025/ND-CP also adds Clause 5a, Article 6 on the responsibility of enterprises in the production of gold jewelry and fine arts.
Accordingly, when selling raw gold purchased from enterprises, commercial banks specified in Article 11a of this Decree must prepare and use electronic invoices according to the provisions of law; fully and accurately store data on raw gold sales transactions; connect to provide information to the SBV according to the regulations of the SBV Governor.
Supplementing the responsibility of enterprises operating in the production of gold jewelry and handicrafts when selling raw materials purchased from enterprises, commercial banks must establish and use electronic invoices; store data to ensure transparency and control in transactions of buying and selling raw gold.
