Vietnam Factory Labour Compliance: The Audit You Should Demand

You judge labour compliance at a Vietnamese factory from documents the factory already holds: time records, payslips, the staff register and a dated social audit report. The 2019 Labour Code caps overtime at 40 hours a month, and at 300 hours a year in sectors listed by decree, including aquatic product processing. If the factory won't show you these documents before the first order, it won't show you them afterwards either.

Labour compliance in Vietnamese factories: what the law already requires

Vietnam's legal framework exists, and it is precise. Law No. 45/2019/QH14, known as the 2019 Labour Code, sets normal working hours at 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week, regulates overtime, requires a written contract and bans the employment of anyone under 15. So the question is not whether the rules exist, but whether the factory supplying you applies them.

What overtime limits apply to a shrimp processing plant?

Overtime cannot exceed 50% of normal daily hours, 40 hours a month or 200 hours a year. An implementing decree (Decree 145/2020) raises the annual cap to 300 hours for listed sectors, and on our reading aquatic product processing is one of them. Get the factory's legal adviser to confirm this in writing.

The table below sums up the checks to make and the document that proves each one.

When did these rules come into force?

The current Labour Code was passed by the National Assembly in November 2019 and has applied since January 2021, according to Better Work, the joint programme of the International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation. As early as December 2017, nearly 400 factories had already been inspected by provincial labour authorities under an ILO project in the electronics sector. Better Work cites Maxport 9, a factory in Thai Binh province that had to revise its internal rules, particularly on contracts and anti-harassment.

The date matters to you for one simple reason: an audit report from before 2021 was written against a different legal framework. Discard it.

Why overtime is the biggest social risk

The most common compliance gap in a Vietnamese factory is almost always working hours. A processing plant runs to the rhythm of raw material deliveries, and the temptation to catch up on production delays with overtime never goes away. The pattern is well documented in garment manufacturing, and we apply the same caution to shrimp.

What does the Fair Labor Association report show about overtime?

In April 2019, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) published data gathered over three years from 13,000 workers in 38 Vietnamese garment factories. The average worker there earns more than double the minimum wage, but that income does not cover basic needs, so most of them work more than 50 hours of overtime a month. That is above the legal monthly cap of 40 hours.

One honest caveat: these figures cover garments, not seafood processing. I cite them as an indicator of what happens when base wages are low, not as a measurement of the shrimp sector.

Is your purchase price pushing the factory past the limits?

In 2019, Sharon Waxman, President and CEO of the FLA, called on international companies to push for higher minimum wages. The report adds that buyers contribute to the problem through "harsh negotiating tactics" on price, a complaint also raised by the NGO Better Buying.

An importer who squeezes the price down to the last cent is unknowingly paying for the factory's overtime.

That is my position, and it has a practical consequence: I would rather pay 2 or 3% more to a factory that shows me its time records than save that amount with a factory that refuses to open them. The cost of a shipment held at a sanitary inspection, or of a retailer pulling out, far outweighs that difference. On traceability in a crisis, our article on contaminated shrimp and traceability applies the same reasoning on the food safety side.

Social audits of Vietnamese factories: which to demand, which prove nothing

A social audit is an inspection of the factory by a third-party auditor, who checks working conditions on site and produces a report listing non-conformities ranked by severity. The common standards are SMETA (from Sedex), amfori BSCI and, for garments, WRAP. WRAP certifies compliance with 12 principles, including compliance with local laws, the prohibition of forced and child labour, working hours, and health and safety, according to the website of the brand MeroMero.

Is a certificate enough to prove compliance?

No. A certificate shows a date and a logo, whereas the report details the gaps found and the corrections promised. Always ask for the full report, with the name of the audit firm, the date of the visit and the status of each non-conformity.

ASC and BAP do not replace this audit. They mainly attest to farming and processing practices, as we explain in ASC vs BAP: which to require from your supplier. A factory can hold both and still have falsified time records.

How does an on-site factory audit work?

The starting point is still a factory visit by the buyer in person. Pietro, who has been supporting buyers in Vietnam since 2009, describes in Guillaume Rondan's video a shortlisted factory whose advertised waste treatment did not exist: "everything went into the river", and the manager pointed to "the black door" where the treatment plant was supposedly located.

He also gives three rules that apply to shrimp purchasing. First, compare several factories before choosing. Second, avoid a factory where you account for 2% of the volume, because you will get 2% of the service. Third, stay involved after the contract is signed.

"Even a good supplier needs to be monitored."

Pietro, Move To Asia speaker, Guillaume Rondan's video

He adds that in Vietnam the final decision comes down to the relationship. I agree about the relationship, but not with the conclusion some buyers draw from it: personal trust is no substitute for an accounting record. A factory director can be entirely sincere while the shop floor still breaks the rules.

Another sign you can spot during a visit: according to vietnam.vn (Báo Ninh Bình, 6 May 2026), factories in the province are investing in ventilation and cooling to keep temperatures stable in hot weather. In a frozen shrimp plant, look in the same way at the changing rooms, the breaks and the ventilation in the cold areas.

What to write into your supplier specification

The specification is the only place where social requirements become contractually enforceable. This section gives you lines you can copy, with figures, for a buyer signing an order on the scale of a 20-foot container. For a single restaurant that doesn't buy by the container, these clauses are for information only.

Which exact clauses should you demand from the factory?

• Social audit report: SMETA, amfori BSCI or equivalent, less than 12 months old, shared in full with the corrective action plan.
• Working hours: time records and payslips for the last 3 months, with a maximum of 40 hours of overtime a month and 300 a year.
• Age: staff register with dates of birth, no employee under 15.
• Subcontracting: no processing step outsourced to an undeclared workshop.
• Unannounced audit: the buyer's right to send a third party with no more than 48 hours' notice.
• Corrections: any critical non-conformity corrected within 90 days, failing which orders are suspended.

The final pre-shipment inspection, and the 20% deposit followed by the 80% balance via cash against documents (CAD), described in ordering a container of shrimp from Vietnam, are the right moments to lock in these clauses. Ask for these documents before paying the deposit, not after.

We have brought these requirements, factory selection and the inspection of every container together on EMG Seafood's supplier page, with a costed quote within 48 hours. If the factory refuses even one of these clauses, our checklist for vetting a shrimp supplier helps you decide what to do next.

Labour compliance and the importer's responsibility: the verdict

A Vietnamese factory's social compliance becomes your risk as an importer the moment you put your name on the shipment. A supermarket chain sourcing a private-label product through you will expect up-to-date social audits, and EU law is moving in the same direction.

What does EU regulation change for an importer?

Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 bans placing products made with forced labour on the market and applies from 14 December 2027, according to the texts published by the European Commission. Directive (EU) 2024/1760 on corporate sustainability due diligence applies first to large groups, and its implementation timetable has been pushed back. Check the date currently in force before telling a client otherwise.

My operational verdict fits in three lines. Demand before any deposit: the full social audit report less than 12 months old, the time records and the payslips. Test on a first container: an unannounced third-party check at the time of the final inspection. Reject without discussion: any factory that refuses access to its documents or to an unannounced audit.