Prime Minister wildlife directive
Government Policy
In Effect
July 23, 2020
Summary
On 23 July 2020, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued Directive No. 29/CT-TTg, “On a number of urgent solutions for wildlife management,” applying nationwide across all provinces and centrally run cities of Vietnam. The directive is a Prime Ministerial executive instrument binding on ministries and provincial People’s Committees — it is not a National Assembly statute or government decree. Its primary operative provision instructs that, pending further instructions or special permission from the Prime Minister, imports of wild animals (whether alive or dead) and their eggs, spawns, ova, larvae, parts, and derivatives are to be stopped, with exemptions for aquatic species used for food or livestock feed and for wild animal parts already processed into pharmaceutical or production materials.
Border-gate customs offices are directed to return non-compliant shipments to their place of departure or handle them under Vietnam’s illegal-import provisions. The directive assigns implementation tasks across MARD (breeding facility inspection and a national database of commercial and reproductive facilities), the Ministry of Public Security (wildlife trafficking enforcement), the Ministry of National Defense (border and sea patrols), the Ministry of Industry and Trade (market inspection), the Ministry of Health (pharmaceutical oversight), and the Ministry of Finance (ivory and rhino horn data), with the Supreme People’s Procuracy and Supreme People’s Court requested to intensify prosecution. It also addresses the Binh Duong tiger farming pilot for assessment and instructs elimination of illegal wildlife marketplaces.
Background Context
Before Directive 29/CT-TTg, Vietnam’s wildlife trade and conservation system included implementation of CITES through Government Decree 06/2019/ND-CP and prior Prime Ministerial directives (03/CT-TTg, February 2014; 28/CT-TTg, September 2016) addressing control of endangered species. The COVID-19 pandemic generated intensive international and domestic pressure on wildlife trade regulation, with WCS, WWF, and HSI/Vietnam publicly calling for stricter measures. Vietnam had documented ongoing illegal hunting, catching, slaughter, transport, trade, and consumption of wild fauna in certain localities, with associated disease transmission risks forming a primary institutional driver for the directive. The Binh Duong tiger farming pilot had been under government handling since at least 2007. The directive built on earlier instruments including Prime Minister’s Directive 05/2020 of 28 January 2020 (which had imposed a temporary wildlife import ban in response to COVID-19) and MARD guidance of 6 February 2020 (which exempted processed wildlife products from that ban); Directive 29/CT-TTg reiterates and modifies the import ban provisions with specified exemptions, and is characterised by WCS as repeating and adding to the exemptions from the earlier temporary ban.
System Impact
System Scale Direction
System Contraction
Type
Alters Legal Basis
Significance
Moderate
Global Trade Alert records the import ban as implemented the same day the directive was issued, affecting all eligible firms in inward wildlife flows. LuatVietnam lists the directive as having “Effect status: Known” with “Expiry date: Updating,” indicating no recorded expiry. No primary source documents formal revocation or supersession of the directive as of sources consulted. MARD was tasked with creating a national database of commercial and reproductive wildlife breeding facilities; WCS noted that following the directive, facility inspection and monitoring measures were adopted at local level. PanNature’s 2021 report documented that illegal wildlife trade had not declined despite the directive, indicating enforcement gaps. No primary source quantifies changes in wildlife import volumes attributable to the directive.
Anticipated Effects
If implemented as written, the import stop would reduce the volume of wild animals and wildlife products entering Vietnam through legal and semi-legal import channels, contracting this trade route.
If MARD’s breeding facility database and inspection measures are fully implemented, commercial and reproductive wildlife rearing establishments would be subject to more systematic oversight of origin, veterinary hygiene, and epidemic safety.
If the Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuracy apply the mandated strict penalties and increased mobile trials, enforcement pressure on illegal wildlife hunting, trade, and storage would increase, potentially altering incentives for actors in illegal supply chains.
Whether implementation of the directive has produced measurable reductions in illegal wildlife trade or wildlife import volumes in Vietnam is not established in available sources; PanNature’s 2021 report indicates that illegal trade had not declined.
Significance Rationale
The directive operates at national scale across multiple system components — imports, markets, captive breeding oversight, enforcement — but builds on pre-existing bans and enforcement frameworks, introduces exemptions that limit scope relative to the earlier temporary Directive 05/2020 ban, and available evidence indicates that illegal wildlife trade continued post-directive, indicating partial rather than comprehensive system transformation. This supports Moderate rather than High significance.
Within The System
Key Actors
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed and issued the directive. Named implementing ministries: MARD (lead for breeding facilities and legal framework review), Ministry of Public Security (transnational organized crime in wildlife trade), Ministry of National Defense (border patrol), Ministry of Industry and Trade (market surveillance), Ministry of Health (pharmaceutical oversight), Ministry of Finance (ivory/rhino horn data). Supreme People’s Procuracy and Supreme People’s Court (prosecution and adjudication). Provincial-level People’s Committees (local implementation). WCS, WWF, and HSI/Vietnam published statements responding to the directive. PanNature documented post-directive illegal trade continuation in a 2021 report.
Notice an inaccuracy or omission?
If you believe information on this page is incorrect, incomplete, or missing important context, you may submit a suggested correction for review.