Livestock, aquaculture and animal health: the Law on Animal Husbandry and its 2025 amendments, farm scale, density and the certificate for large-scale farms, feed and breeds, disease control, quarantine, slaughter and veterinary drugs under the Law on Veterinary Medicine, aquaculture and sea-area allocation under the Fisheries Law, shrimp and pangasius exports, the EU IUU yellow card and US trade remedies, with a worked example

The sector, the statute book and the regulators

Livestock and aquaculture attract foreign capital into integrated pig and poultry farming, feed mills, hatcheries and seafood processing. Seafood is the larger export: the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE) reported seafood exports of USD 11.32 billion in 2025, and the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) estimated shrimp at more than USD 4.6 billion and pangasius at more than USD 2.1 billion. In the first nine months of 2026 VASEP recorded USD 9.10 billion, up 11.4%, including shrimp of USD 3.75 billion and pangasius of USD 1.74 billion. Livestock products, sold mainly at home, exported USD 627.8 million in 2025.

Three laws govern the sector: the Law on Animal Husbandry No. 32/2018/QH14, the Law on Veterinary Medicine No. 79/2015/QH13 and the Law on Fisheries No. 18/2017/QH14. All three were amended by Law No. 146/2025/QH15 of 11 December 2025, which amended fifteen laws in the agriculture and environment field from 1 January 2026, and all three are amended again by the law amending ten laws in the field passed in August 2026, which takes effect on 1 January 2027 and removes further business conditions and procedures. The main implementing decrees are Decree No. 13/2020/ND-CP on animal husbandry, as amended by Decree No. 46/2022/ND-CP and Decree No. 32/2026/ND-CP of 21 January 2026 (consolidated as Document No. 23/VBHN-BNNMT of 27 February 2026); Decree No. 35/2016/ND-CP on veterinary medicine; and Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP on fisheries, as amended by Decree No. 37/2024/ND-CP. Penalties are set by Decree No. 211/2026/ND-CP of 16 June 2026 for livestock and Decree No. 38/2024/ND-CP for fisheries.

At central level the MAE acts through its Department of Livestock Production and Animal Health (Cục Chăn nuôi và Thú y) and its fisheries department, which also handles fisheries surveillance (see Agricultural legal framework and regulators). The 2025 and 2026 reforms moved most licensing to the provincial People's Committee chairperson and the agency he or she designates, and gave communes, through the new commune veterinary function (thú y xã), front-line roles in disease reporting and slaughter control.

Farm scale, siting and density

The law classifies livestock facilities as large-scale, medium-scale and small-scale farms and household farming (Article 52). Scale is measured in livestock units (đơn vị vật nuôi), each corresponding to 500 kg of live weight, with coefficients converting each species and age into units. Decree No. 13/2020/ND-CP as first issued set large-scale farms at 300 units or more, medium at 30 to under 300, small at 10 to under 30 and household farming below 10. Decree No. 32/2026/ND-CP rewrote Article 21 without the figures, and Law No. 146/2025/QH15 transferred the detailing of Article 52 from the Government to the Minister, so the thresholds in force should be confirmed in the Minister's current rules before a project is designed around one category.

Every farm must meet the conditions in Article 55(1) of the law: a location consistent with planning and the permitted livestock density, barns and equipment suited to the species, records sufficient for traceability kept for at least one year, environmental protection measures and safe distances; Law No. 146/2025/QH15 trimmed the list. Article 5 of Circular No. 23/2019/TT-BNNPTNT, as issued, sets minimum distances from residential areas of 100 m for small, 200 m for medium and 400 m for large farms, and from schools, hospitals, markets and community water sources of 150 m, 300 m and 500 m respectively, with 50 m between farms of different owners; the current text of the circular should be checked for amendments. Medium and small farms are inspected by the provincial agency every three years and must remedy any breach within six months. Livestock operators also declare their activity to the commune People's Committee under Article 54 of the law, and the Minister now regulates farm codes and traceability under Article 11(4) as amended.

Density is a planning constraint. Under Article 53 as amended, the Minister sets livestock density by region and each province sets density for its territory, measured against the total agricultural land area (Article 22 of the decree); provinces have issued 2026 decisions running to 2030, such as Decision No. 77/2026/QD-UBND of Thai Nguyen and Decision No. 70/2026/QD-UBND of Ca Mau. The provincial People's Council decides the areas in which livestock farming is prohibited and the support for relocating farms out of them (Article 80 as amended). A site search should therefore begin with the province's density decision and prohibited-area map, then the land route (Agricultural land and land accumulation) and the environmental assessment (FAQ 89).

The certificate for large-scale farms

A large-scale farm may operate only with a certificate of eligibility for livestock farming (Giấy chứng nhận đủ điều kiện chăn nuôi), required by Article 55(2) of the law. Under Article 23 of Decree No. 13/2020/ND-CP as amended, it is issued and revoked by the agency assigned by the provincial chairperson where the farm is located, or, for a farm straddling provinces, where its investment procedure was registered. The dossier is an application (Form 01.ĐKCN) and an explanation of the farm's conditions (Form 02.ĐKCN).

The authority appraises a complete dossier within 5 working days, establishes an assessment team within 15 working days to inspect the farm against Article 55(1), and issues the certificate within 5 working days after a successful assessment; a farm that fails has six months to remedy and report. The authority then conducts surveillance every 36 months, giving six months' notice, and revokes the certificate where the farm no longer meets the conditions and fails to remedy as committed. Operating a farm that requires a certificate without one is fined VND 15 million to 20 million under Article 25 of Decree No. 211/2026/ND-CP, before remedial measures, and the decree caps fines at VND 100 million for individuals and VND 200 million for organisations.

The certificate is the last step: a greenfield farm will already have needed land, environmental approval, construction approvals and, for a foreign investor, an IRC, and may qualify for incentives (Investment incentives and high-tech agriculture).

Feed and breeds

Feed is regulated by product announcement and facility certification. Complete compound feed and concentrates are self-announced on the MAE portal, and the producer or importer may trade immediately after announcement on its own responsibility (Article 8a of the decree). Supplementary feed must be appraised before announcement and may then circulate for five years, with re-announcement due within six months before expiry (Article 33 of the law as replaced; Article 8b of the decree). The appraisal is performed by the MAE agency until 31 December 2026 and by the provincial chairperson from 1 January 2027. Only feed already announced may be imported, save for permitted imports for fairs, research, testing or export production (Article 41(3) of the law), and State quality inspection of imported feed moves from the MAE agency to the provinces on the same date.

A feed mill needs a certificate of eligibility for feed production: the MAE agency issues it for mills producing for export where the importing country so requires, and the provincial agency for all others (Article 10 of the decree); a complete dossier is appraised within 10 working days, and surveillance follows every 48 months, or 60 months for mills certified to ISO, GMP or HACCP standards. Antibiotics may be used in feed only for young animals within defined age or weight limits, such as piglets up to 25 kg, and only in complete feed for livestock and concentrates for ruminants; under Article 12 the use of antibiotics for disease prevention was phased out in stages, ending on 31 December 2025 for the last category.

For breeds, the Minister now sets the procedure for importing breeding bulls, semen and embryos of cattle (Article 20(4) of the Law on Animal Husbandry as amended), the export or international exchange of breeds on the export-prohibited list requires the Minister's approval (Articles 15 and 21), and a new breed is recognised only on testing at a qualified facility or equivalent scientific results (Articles 26 and 30). Imports of high-risk livestock products can trigger inspection of the producer abroad (Article 28 of the decree).

Disease control, quarantine and slaughter

African swine fever, first confirmed in Vietnam in February 2019, remains endemic, and Vietnamese live attenuated vaccines have been licensed for use since 2022; avian influenza and foot-and-mouth disease are recurrent. Under Article 26 of the Law on Veterinary Medicine as amended, an outbreak confined to one commune is declared by the commune chairperson, one spreading to two or more communes by the provincial chairperson, and one spreading to two or more provinces by the Minister; the end of an outbreak is declared only after the central veterinary authority has appraised the provincial request (Article 36). Producers aiming at export markets that demand regionalisation can be certified as disease-safe facilities or zones under Circular No. 24/2022/TT-BNNPTNT, amended in 2026 by Circular No. 20/2026/TT-BNNMT.

Quarantine follows the movement. Animals and products transported out of a province must be registered for quarantine with the provincial veterinary agency (Article 39 as amended). Imports, exports and temporary imports for re-export are registered with the MAE and declared at the border to the central veterinary authority (Articles 41 to 50 as amended), with parallel provisions for aquatic animals and products (Articles 53 to 58).

Slaughter is moving into concentrated slaughterhouses that meet veterinary hygiene conditions; communes help build the network and supervise slaughter, transport and trade locally (Article 76 as amended). In August 2026 Hanoi approved a network of 28 concentrated facilities in 25 communes to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2028, many still without investors; network approval does not replace each project's own investment, land and environmental procedures. Food safety for meat and processed products is covered in Agro-processing, food safety, cooperatives and contract farming.

Veterinary drugs and practitioners

A veterinary drug may circulate only if it meets the national technical regulation and holds a circulation certificate (Giấy chứng nhận lưu hành), valid for five years; renewal must be filed three months before expiry, and reissue is needed on a change of composition or formula (Articles 78 to 82 as amended). The certificate of eligibility for producing veterinary drugs is issued by the Minister for pharmaceutical forms and vaccines and by the provincial chairperson for other products, and certificates for trading and importing veterinary drugs are issued by the provincial chairperson (Articles 96 to 98). Imports of vaccines, microorganisms and drug ingredients are registered with the MAE, and the province checks quality at the border (Article 100). Individuals need a veterinary practising certificate from the provincial chairperson, valid for five years (Article 109).

A foreign drug or vaccine group usually registers its products through a Vietnamese importer or subsidiary; local manufacture needs a ministerial production certificate and a technology licence structured with the transfer rules in mind (Technology transfer and licensing).

Aquaculture, breeding stock and sea areas

Under Article 38 of the Law on Fisheries, an aquaculture facility must meet conditions on location and land or water-surface use, infrastructure and equipment, environmental, veterinary and labour safety, and food safety, and cage or raft farming and the key farmed species designated by the Prime Minister, in practice black tiger shrimp, whiteleg shrimp and pangasius, must be registered. Breeding facilities need university-qualified technical staff (Article 28(2)(a) as amended), only listed species may be traded, and feed and environmental treatment products must meet the Minister's national technical regulations and publish the standards they apply (Articles 23 and 31 as amended). The details are in Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP as amended by Decree No. 37/2024/ND-CP.

Marine aquaculture changed on 1 January 2026. Law No. 146/2025/QH15 repealed the separate licence for aquaculture at sea (Articles 38(3) and 39) and replaced Article 44: aquaculture at sea now requires an aquaculture plan or project and an allocation of the sea area, consistent with marine spatial, coastal and provincial planning and with defence and security requirements. Allocation runs for up to 50 years from the decision, extendable several times for a combined total of up to 20 years. Sea-area use fees are waived only for Vietnamese individuals moving from coastal fishing to aquaculture and permanent local residents living mainly from aquaculture, within three nautical miles of the mean lowest low-water line, and individuals may mortgage assets they own on the allocated area (Article 46(2)). The general rules on sea-area allocation are in Decree No. 11/2021/ND-CP as amended, and pond and onshore aquaculture use land under the Land Law (How foreign-invested companies access land).

For foreign investors the line falls between fishing and farming. Marine fishing in Vietnamese waters is among the lines closed to foreign investors (Market access), while aquaculture, hatcheries, feed and seafood processing are open. Offshore projects depend on the province allocating sea area, so early engagement on the marine spatial plan and defence clearance is essential.

Seafood exports, the EU yellow card and US trade remedies

The European Commission issued Vietnam a yellow card for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing on 23 October 2017. Provinces were still implementing recommendations from the Commission's fifth inspection in September 2026, and Ho Chi Minh City designated temporary landing sites from 29 September 2026 expressly to help lift it, so the card remained in place at 16 October 2026. The yellow card affects wild-caught products, whose consignments to the EU need validated catch certificates and face heavier checks; farmed shrimp and pangasius fall outside the catch certificate scheme. Decree No. 38/2024/ND-CP sets heavy fines for IUU breaches.

In the United States, anti-dumping orders apply to frozen fish fillets (pangasius) and frozen warmwater shrimp from Vietnam. In February 2026 the US Department of Commerce issued the final results of the 19th administrative review of the shrimp order, for February 2023 to January 2024, with margins of 25.76% for the two mandatory respondents and 4.58% for separate-rate companies. VASEP reports that US tariff costs and Marine Mammal Protection Act documentation continue to weigh on trade. For China, which drove 2026 growth, the producer must be registered with Chinese customs and meet its labelling and testing rules (Horticulture: fruit, vegetables and flowers); and the wider tariff and origin points are in Rice, coffee and key commodity exports.

From site to stocked barns: licensing a large-scale livestock farm

1. Screen the siteCheck the provincial density decision, prohibited areas, distance rules and land use planning before acquiring any interest.
2. Register the investmentObtain the IRC (foreign investor) or investment policy approval where required, and confirm any incentives.
3. Secure the landLease the land from the State or acquire it through a permitted route, and settle compensation and land rent.
4. Obtain environmental approvalPrepare the environmental impact assessment or environmental licence required for the farm's scale and waste system.
5. Build and equipConstruct barns, waste treatment and biosecurity to Article 55(1) standards, with records ready for traceability.
6. Apply for the certificateFile Forms 01.ĐKCN and 02.ĐKCN with the provincial agency; appraisal 5 working days, assessment within 15 working days, certificate within 5 working days.
7. Operate and maintainDeclare stock to the commune, register quarantine for movements, follow vaccination programmes and prepare for surveillance every 36 months.