First in Southeast Asia: Vietnam enacts standalone AI Law
18 March 2026
Manh-Hung Tran | head of IP, AI and technology @ BMVN (alliance with Baker McKenzie), Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam now has an Artificial Intelligence Law, enacted on March 1, 2026, becoming the first in Southeast Asia and one of the first few countries in the world to have a standalone law dedicated to AI.
The AI Law supersedes the AI provisions of the Law on Digital Technology Industry, which came into force on January 1, 2026.
It contains 35 articles across eight chapters. It covers research, development, and deployment of the technology, as well as governance of AI initiatives in Vietnam by local and foreign parties. Overall, the law emphasizes that AI must serve human beings rather than replace them. It espouses innovation, human rights, safety, privacy, transparency, accountability, and national interest. The AI Law also promotes green AI, including energy efficiency and environmental protection.
Article 7 presents a list of AI-related activities considered illegal. Included in this list is unlawful data processing in violation of data protection, intellectual property or cybersecurity laws.
The law has no other provisions for IP-related matters.
However, as it anchors AI compliance to existing IP laws, the statute imports the full complexity of IP laws into the AI framework, according to Manh-Hung Tran, head of IP, AI and technology at BMVN (alliance with Baker McKenzie) in Ho Chi Minh City. “Whether an AI system is lawful will depend on, among other compliance areas, whether its training data was acquired in compliance with copyright regulations such as text and data mining exemptions, matters the AI Law itself does not address,” Tran said.
“That said, the question of whether the AI legal framework will contain specific IP provisions hinges upon, and must await, the forthcoming decree guiding the AI Law, which currently remains in draft form,” he added.
- Espie Angelica A. de Leon
