Legal provision for the publishing sector currently comprises the Publishing Law and the Copyright Law.

A new Publishing Law was promulgated in 2005 to replace the earlier 1993 law. This new law includes several chapters specifying the rights and obligations of citizens and organisations concerning publishing, printing and distribution of printed materials, governmental control on publication and penalties for violations. However, it also includes several important changes.

In contrast to the 1993 law - which demanded the issue of 11 different licences, each publisher is now granted a code. Plans must be submitted to the Publishing Department of the Ministry of Information and Communications on an annual basis and these must correspond to the targets, functions and responsibilities of each publisher. However, publishers are now permitted to print seven days after their plans are submitted and to launch their publications without having to wait for a licence.

The new law also defines more clearly the responsibilities of publishers; Directors of publishing houses, rather than Editors in Chief, are now held responsible for the content of their publications.

Perhaps the most important innovation of the new law is the fact that private companies can now become partners to state publishing houses. It had been felt that the 1993 legislation hindered the full engagement of the publishing sector with the market economy by insisting that a private publisher could only get involved in printing and distribution as part of a joint venture project with a state-owned publishing house. Under the 2005 law private companies are allowed to become partners with publishing houses in almost all stages of publishing, including the ownership of copyright. However, the new law does not allow private companies to invest in publishers, in order to ensure that publishing houses remain totally state-owned.

Việt Nam's existing copyright protection system is based on the Copyright Law, enshrined in Articles 745 to 779, Part 6, Chapter 1 of the Civil Code, which was adopted by the National Assembly on 28 October 1995 and took effect from 1 July 1996, replacing all previous laws and regulations on copyright in Việt Nam. It has since been supplemented by a range of other legal enactments, notably Decree 76/CP of 29 November 1996, which provides guidelines for the implementation of a number of provisions on the Civil Code; Decree 88/CP of 14 December 1995, which stipulates sanctions against administrative violations in cultural activities, cultural services, and in fighting and preventing a number of social evils; and Decree 60/CP of 6 June 1997, which guides the implementation of the provisions on the Civil Code concerning civil relations involving foreign factors. Given the degree of overlap and contradiction between these laws - not to mention the obvious enforcement difficulties - a new dedicated law on intellectual property is currently being prepared.