Vietnam Steps Up Prevention of Illegal Child Labor: Decision 1415/QĐ-TTg and What Export Factories Should Check

On July 28, 2026, the Prime Minister issued Decision 1415/QĐ-TTg, which approves the National Program on child protection and on preventing and reducing child labor contrary to law for the years 2026 to 2030.

For a factory, the practical message is the level of attention on industries, provinces, and supply chains seen as higher risk. If you sell abroad, this is the moment to get your supplier records in order, before anyone asks to see them.

Key Facts

Document	Decision 1415/QĐ-TTg
Date of issue	July 28, 2026
Issued by	The Prime Minister,
Subject	National Program on child protection and on preventing and reducing child labor contrary to law
Period covered	2026 to 2030
What it means for you	No new filing and no new standalone duty for individual companies. It raises the level of attention on higher risk supply chains
Who should read it	Factories and export companies in Vietnam that buy from several layers of suppliers

What to Expect Over the Next Five Years

The program aims at one goal, which is that every child lives in a safe and healthy place. For a factory the useful question is narrower. Expect four things.

• Tighter definitions. The test for who counts as a child laborer, and which children are treated as at risk, is set to become firmer. Grey areas that feel comfortable today are likely to narrow.
• More checking, and better checking. Finding and handling cases is a stated priority. Plan for inspection activity to rise rather than stay flat.
• Authorities that talk to each other. Central ministries and local offices are set to coordinate more closely and share information. A finding in one province is less likely to stay in that province.
• A spotlight on risky supply chains. Industries, provinces, and supply chains seen as higher risk are singled out for closer watch. If you export from one of those sectors, assume you are in scope.

What changes is how closely someone is likely to look, and how much you will need to prove.

Why This Matters for Export Factories

Government agencies share more information with each other. Companies in industries marked as higher risk would be receiving more inspection.

For most foreign owned factories, the risk is not the main plant. Records there are usually in good order. The compliance risk sits further up the chain, in the small shop that does the finishing work, in the seasonal supplier during a busy month, and in the household producer that nobody has ever visited. You may have no idea who they are, and that is exactly the problem.

There is a second reason to act now. Buyers in the other countries already ask exporters to prove labor conditions across their whole supplier base, not just at the final factory. In those markets, enforcement can stop a shipment at the border rather than punish a company later. Goods from Vietnam in fields such as garments, textiles, footwear, and seafood have drawn this kind of attention before. The good news is that one set of records answers both sides. A factory that can document its supply chain satisfies a Vietnamese inspector and a foreign customer with the same file.

Traceability: The Five Links You Should Be Able to Show

You should be able to follow any product backward to the people who supplied the material, and follow any batch of material forward to every product that used it. Most factories can describe this in a meeting. Far fewer can prove it with documents when a buyer asks.

Link in the chain	Record you should be able to show
1. Supplier	Name, address, and the actual factory where the goods were made, not just the trading name on the invoice
2. Material lot	A lot number given to each batch of material when it arrives at your gate
3. Production order	The order that shows which lots went into which run on your factory floor
4. Finished goods	The batch of finished products that came out of that production order
5. Export shipment	The container and invoice that carried those finished products to the buyer

First, pick one finished product at random and try to name every supplier behind it. Second, pick one material lot and try to list every container that carried products made from it. If your team can do both from records rather than from memory, you are in good shape. If the work takes weeks and depends on one person who remembers things, a held shipment will turn into an expensive lesson.

Recommended Checks on Prevention of Illegal Child Labor

• Check your own house first. Confirm the age of every worker against original documents at hiring, and keep those records, especially for anyone under eighteen.
• Look past your direct suppliers. Ask each one to name its own subcontractors. If a trader refuses to say who actually made the goods, treat that refusal as a red flag.
• Fix your supplier contracts. Add a clear ban on child labor contrary to law, a duty to name upstream suppliers, a right to inspect, and a right to end the contract for breach.
• Number your lots. Give every incoming batch a lot number and connect it to production orders and export shipments, so a question can be answered with paperwork.
• Write the response plan before you need it. Decide now how the factory will protect the child, notify the right authority, and fix the problem if a case turns up at a supplier.

About the Author

Tuan Nguyen is the Managing Partner and founder of ANT Lawyers, with more than 20 years of experience across legal practice, management and compliance. He advises foreign companies, investors and manufacturers on corporate, commercial, international trade, regulatory and dispute-related matters in Vietnam. He holds an LLB from Hanoi National University School of Law and an MBA from Warwick Business School, and is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

About ANT Lawyers, a Law Firm in Vietnam

Founded in 2012, ANT Lawyers is a Vietnam law firm with offices in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. Our employment lawyers advise on hiring, work permits, internal labour regulations and termination disputes in Vietnam. We combine legal analysis with practical understanding of Vietnam’s regulatory environment and local administrative practice.

General Disclaimer

This article is for general informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Vietnamese laws, regulations and administrative practice change over time, and the correct position for any matter depends on its specific facts and the rules in force when action is taken. Verify the current position before relying on anything stated here, and consult qualified counsel on your specific situation.