The Government issued Decree No. 31/2026/ND-CP dated January 21, 2026, stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the field of archiving.
The Decree stipulates 2 forms of administrative sanctions in the field of archiving, including: warnings and fines.
The additional form of penalty in the field of archiving is the revocation of the right to use a professional certificate of archiving for a term of 3 months to 6 months.
The maximum fine for individuals committing administrative violations in the field of archiving is 30 million VND, and for organizations is 60 million VND.
The fine level for business households and households with administrative violations in the field of archiving is implemented as the fine level for individuals.
For violations of regulations on prohibited acts in the field of archiving, the Decree stipulates a fine of 20 to 30 million VND for one of the following violations:
Accessing, copying, and illegally sharing archived documents, databases of archived documents that have not reached the level of criminal prosecution;
Provision, transfer, cancellation of illegally stored archival documents or purchase, sale, and appropriation of archival documents that have not reached the level of criminal prosecution;
Distorting the content, damaging the integrity of archival documents and master data of archival documents without reaching the level of criminal prosecution;
Damaging archival materials to the point of irreparability;
Losing archival documents;
Using archived documents for the purpose of fabricating, defaming, and insulting the dignity and honor of an individual without reaching the level of criminal prosecution.
Remedial measures include:
Obligation to return archival documents for current archives, historical archives for acts specified in Clause 1 above;
Force the cancellation of all copies of archival documents that have been illegally copied for the prescribed act;
Forcing the return of dossiers and archived documents that have been provided, transferred, purchased, sold, and appropriated illegally to the dossier and document management agency for the acts specified in point b, clause 2 above;
Forcing correction of false or misleading information that has been published and reported on mass media, electronic information pages or other media and publicly apologizing personally for the acts specified in point e, clause 2 above.
This Decree takes effect from March 8, 2026.
