If passed by the National Assembly, the Law on Cultural Industry Development will become a unified legal foundation connecting the entire value chain, from creativity, intellectual property protection, and resource mobilisation to production, distribution, commercialisation, and reinvestment, instead of the fragmented, sector-by-sector approach that is currently in place.
Building ecosystem for breakthrough in the cultural industries
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, after 12 years of implementing policies to develop the cultural industries, their contribution to GDP during 2018–2025 reached only around 4%–5%, still well below the target of at least 7% by 2030. Despite its rich cultural resources, young creative workforce and market of nearly 100 million people, Viet Nam’s cultural industries have yet to develop in line with their potential due to the lack of an enabling legal framework capable of connecting resources and stimulating the market.
According to the draft submission prepared by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, existing regulations primarily approach the cultural industries from the perspective of content management, while mechanisms to promote economic development remain inadequate.
The legal framework is scattered across numerous specialised laws, including those on cinematography, intellectual property, tourism, advertising, and publishing, which is creating institutional gaps, grey areas, and bottlenecks. In particular, the rapid development of cross-border digital platforms has created an urgent need for a legal framework capable of both protecting the domestic market and enabling Vietnamese creative businesses to compete globally.
For this reason, the draft law has been developed with the aim of becoming an “enabling law”, removing bottlenecks and clarifying legal gaps while introducing new mechanisms to unlock resources, unleash creative potential, and turn the cultural industries into a driver of economic growth.
One of the most notable new features is that, for the first time, the cultural industries are approached from the perspective of a complete value chain encompassing creativity, development, production, distribution, dissemination, commercialisation, consumption, and reinvestment. At the same time, research, training, technology application, brand building, intellectual property asset management, and financial services are recognised as important supporting links in the chain.
Another breakthrough is the establishment of a controlled testing mechanism for new business models and technologies in the cultural industries. This is regarded as a sandbox for creative ideas that are not yet covered by regulations or for which existing legislation has failed to keep pace with reality.
Eligible organisations and businesses will be permitted to conduct trials within specified scopes, periods, and geographical areas, while being exempted from liability when they comply with the prescribed procedures, act without personal gain, and do not intentionally violate the law.
This approach reflects a major shift in regulatory thinking from pre-approval controls towards enabling development, creating room for new creative models to emerge and mature before being incorporated into legislation.
This is also an important foundation for Viet Nam to build an innovation ecosystem in the cultural sector and gradually develop businesses, products, and brands capable of competing at regional and international levels.
Another highlight is a financial policy framework designed to diversify investment resources. In addition to the state budget, the draft law encourages the mobilisation of capital from businesses, investment funds, cultural and arts funds, and lawful domestic and foreign sources of funding for the development of the cultural industries.
At the same time, the state will prioritise resources for developing infrastructure, human resources and intellectual property assets, as well as key cultural industry products bearing Vietnamese identity and having export potential.
For the first time, a co-investment mechanism between the state and the private sector is also proposed, helping reduce risks for investors while creating incentives for the development of cultural brands with international competitiveness.
For businesses, the draft law expands a range of preferential policies on taxation, land, credit and investment.
Film scripts could also be used as collateral for bank loans
Another noteworthy provision concerns the use of intellectual property assets as a type of asset that can participate in the financial market. The draft stipulates that intellectual property assets in the cultural industries may be used as capital contributions or collateral in credit relationships. At the same time, the state will establish mechanisms for credit guarantees and valuation support, as well as develop an exchange for intellectual property rights and cultural industry products to promote the commercialisation of creative assets.
Specifically, the draft Law on Cultural Industry Development proposes allowing games, film scripts, and similar intellectual property assets to be used to obtain bank loans, enabling such assets to generate revenue and circulate on an equal footing in the financial market.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, intellectual property assets such as film scripts, animated characters, sound recordings, and video games can generate countless derivative products, expand the value chain, and generate revenue continuously for many years.
However, the existing legal framework lacks policies to develop the economic value of intellectual property rights. As a result, businesses in the cultural industries, which are predominantly small and medium-sized enterprises or young creative groups, frequently face a shortage of investment capital.
These entities generally have few conventional assets to use as collateral, such as real estate or machinery, while credit institutions lack both the legal basis and the capacity to assess the value of intangible assets.
To address the capital bottleneck, the draft Law proposes allowing intellectual property assets to be used as capital contributions and collateral in credit relationships.
The State Bank of Viet Nam is expected to take the lead in developing risk-management mechanisms and providing guidance for credit institutions to extend financing based on the value of intellectual property assets during the initial stage of this financial market’s development.
The policy aims to encourage commercial banks to participate in the creative economy. The level of support will gradually decrease as the market becomes more stable.
Information on intellectual property products pledged as collateral will be synchronised with the National Cultural Industry Database and directly incorporated into intellectual property asset records.
The draft proposes that these intellectual property assets be professionally valued by independent valuation organisations, with the resulting valuations serving as the basis for banks to approve secured loans.
The state will strengthen valuation capacity, develop valuation methodologies and standards in line with international practices, and provide specialised training for valuers and credit officers in accordance with standards set by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Periodically, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will be responsible for publishing data on actual transaction prices of intellectual property assets in the market, providing reliable reference data for relevant parties.
In the event of dissolution or bankruptcy, intellectual property assets will be prioritised for continued exploitation through transfer or licensing to capable entities.
