Vietnam: Ministry of Science and Technology opened consultation on Decree No. 2026/ND-CP implementing Law on Artificial Intelligence including AI authority governance

On 9 February 2026, the Ministry of Science and Technology opened a consultation on Decree No. 2026/ND-CP implementing the Law on AI. The Decree mandates risk-based supervision for high-risk AI systems, with the Ministry of Science and Technology providing implementation guidance and publishing oversight reports (Article 15). The law implemented by this Decree institutes a controlled testing mechanism for AI systems. Article 28 specifies that authority to issue testing certificates is based upon geographic scope, excepting defence and security applications (authority unlisted). Article 31 empowers issuing agencies to grant exemptions, conduct inspections, and revoke permits while also allowing them to propose regulations and exempting them from certain liabilities. Article 32 establishes principles of unification, openness, and security when building Vietnam's national AI infrastructure, defines its components, and assigns lead roles to the Ministry of Public Security for data centres and the Ministry of Science and Technology for technology development/coordination. Article 33 governs the provision of state-invested AI infrastructure. Article 35 assigns the Ministry of Finance the lead role in issuing guidance on preferential mechanisms. Article 36 establishes the National Database on AI as managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology (content) and hosted by the National Data Centre (infrastructure), requiring all ministry and provincial AI databases to connect uniformly according to state standards. Articles 39, 40, and 43 set national priorities for state support of AI technologies and specify fair and transparent measures of support. Article 41 establishes voluntary "AI Linkage Clusters" following a State-University-Enterprise "Golden Triangle" model, which can be recognised by the Ministry of Science and Technology through the one-stop AI Portal. Article 42 provides cost support for compliance testing, free state-developed tools, and a voucher system for infrastructure and consultancy services, with implementation guided by the Ministry of Science and Technology.