Foreign-invested companies almost always want the internal regulations in two languages: Vietnamese for the authorities, English for management and expatriate staff. Nothing forbids the practice — but the two versions do not carry equal legal weight, and disputes tend to ignite precisely at the sentence where the translation drifts from the original.
The Vietnamese text is the legal original in every case
The registration dossier for internal labour regulations under Article 119 of the 2019 Labour Code is filed in Vietnamese; Vietnamese labour authorities, mediators and People’s Courts work from the Vietnamese text when resolving disputes. Foreign employees working in Vietnam fall within the scope of Vietnamese labour law, so disciplinary consequences for them are likewise determined by the registered Vietnamese regulations. In other words, the English version, however formally issued alongside, remains a management translation — a reference text, not the registered original.
That does not make the English version useless. Clause 4, Article 118 requires the regulations to be notified to employees; for expatriate staff who cannot read Vietnamese, the English translation is precisely the vehicle by which the company proves it communicated the content and the employee understood the rules before breaching them. In a disciplinary case against a foreign expert, their signed acknowledgement of an English version faithful to the Vietnamese original is powerful evidence of the “knew the rule” element.
A language-priority clause and translation discipline
Sound practice has three protective layers. Layer one: write a governing-language clause straight into the regulations — issued in Vietnamese with an English translation attached; in case of divergence, the Vietnamese text prevails. Layer two: control the translation like a legal document — disciplinary terminology (reprimand, wage-raise deferral, demotion, dismissal), the names of misconduct acts and every limitation figure must be rendered consistently, avoiding classic drift pairs such as translating demotion as “dismissal”, which scrambles the sanction ladder.
Layer three: a synchronised update process. Every amendment must revise both versions at once under a single issuance decision; an English version updated one beat late creates a window in which foreign staff follow rules that have already been replaced. For documents destined for registration files and disputes, a certified translation adds evidential weight, although the law does not require notarisation of a regulations translation.
Communicating to foreign staff and other languages
Beyond English, companies with large Chinese, Korean or Japanese workforces often need further translations. The principle is unchanged: one registered Vietnamese original, every translation auxiliary and carrying a priority reference back to the original. When rolling the regulations out, run the briefing in the language the staff actually use, and keep attendance lists plus per-language signed acknowledgements — this evidence chain matters almost as much as the regulations’ content once a dispute begins.
A note on bilingual labour contracts: many companies already use Vietnamese-English contracts with a similar priority clause, and the logic carries over to the regulations. But do not conflate the two documents: a priority clause in the contract does not automatically “cover” the regulations; each document needs its own language clause, and the regulations carry an extra anchor — the version filed with the labour authority is always the final reference text.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are bilingual regulations legally valid?
Valid, but not equal: the Vietnamese text is the one registered with the labour authority under Article 119 of the 2019 Labour Code and governs in disputes; the English (or other-language) version is a management and communication translation, valuable as proof that foreign employees were notified of the content.
Which version prevails?
The Vietnamese one. The regulations should state a language clause expressly: issued in Vietnamese with a translation attached; where the two diverge, the Vietnamese text applies. Labour authorities and courts likewise test against the registered Vietnamese version.
What translation care is needed?
Treat it as a legal document: disciplinary terms and misconduct names rendered consistently (keep demotion distinct from dismissal), no drift in limitation periods or deadlines. Every amendment must update both versions simultaneously under one issuance decision.
How should they be communicated?
Clause 4, Article 118 of the 2019 Labour Code requires the regulations to be notified to employees with core contents posted. For foreign staff, use their language version, brief in the language they work in, and file individual signed acknowledgements — the “knew the rule” evidence in any later discipline case.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council