Amending fire prevention and fighting standards so that the regulations can be effectively applied in practice without ‘lowering’ safety standards

Accordingly, the Ministry of Public Security has recently promulgated Ministerial Circular No. 103/2025 of the Ministry of Public Security (MC/MPS), issuing the National Technical Regulation on fire prevention, fighting, rescue, and salvage equipment and arrangement for buildings and structures (NTR 10:2025/MPS). The Regulation takes effect on 30 December 2025 and is assessed as an important adjustment, both removing difficulties and obstacles for people and enterprises, and continuing to tighten fire prevention and fighting (FPF) safety requirements in the context of persistently complex fire and explosion risks.

The scope of application is broad, adopting an approach of risk-based requirements.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, NTR 10:2025/MPS applies to organizations and individuals related to the provision and arrangement of fire prevention, fighting, rescue, and salvage equipment for buildings and structures nationwide.

The Regulation governs urban areas, residential buildings, residential clusters, industrial parks, industrial clusters, tourism, research, training, and sports facilities when newly constructed, renovated, expanded, or when their functions are changed, resulting in increased scale or increased fire and explosion hazard levels.

Notably, for specialized facilities with high fire and explosion risks such as power plants, nuclear facilities, warehouses, oil and gas terminals, large parking lots, etc., in addition to complying with the new regulation, investors are allowed to additionally choose appropriate national, international, regional, or foreign standards for application.

In exceptional cases, if there are alternative technical solutions that ensure safety, investors may prepare a justification for the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Agency to consider for approval.

This new approach clearly reflects the principle of “risk-based requirements”: the higher the fire and explosion risk of a zone or facility, the stricter the fire prevention and fighting (FPF) requirements; conversely, facilities with smaller scale or lower hazard levels will not face uniform cost and FPF equipment obligations.

Eliminating “mechanical” requirements and reducing cost pressure for small and medium facilities

NTR 10:2025/MPS was developed based on reference to VNS 3890:2023, but many provisions have been reviewed and adjusted to be more practical and flexible.

Specifically, the previous requirement to reserve at least 10% of fire extinguishers has been removed. Under earlier regulations, many facilities had to invest in a large reserve of fire extinguishers, leading to higher procurement, maintenance, and inspection costs while the usage efficiency was disproportionate. The new regulation eliminates this requirement, significantly reducing initial investment costs, especially for high-rise buildings and facilities with multiple functional areas.

In addition, a range of buildings and rooms with low fire risk or small scale are exempted or subject to reduced requirements for installing automatic fire detection and firefighting systems compared to before, such as small libraries or book storage houses; certain museums and exhibition halls; some production or warehouse rooms; and individual houses. This approach better suits the characteristics of each type of building while avoiding “excessive” investment—installing systems that are rarely or almost never used.

Certain groups of buildings, such as kindergartens and preschools below specific area or height thresholds; some nursing homes, facilities for people with disabilities, museums, and agricultural product warehouses, have had requirements for automatic firefighting systems adjusted more reasonably. The goal is to reduce financial burdens and facilitate operations for educational, social care, production, and small- to medium-sized business facilities, while still prioritizing the safety of users.

A reduction of up to 99% in buildings required to invest in external firefighting water systems

One of the changes directly affecting business costs is the regulation regarding external firefighting water supply systems.

The new technical regulation, together with Government Decree No. 105/2025 (GD), clearly delineates responsibility for investing in external firefighting water supply systems for urban infrastructure and industrial zones to the People’s Committees at various levels and the technical infrastructure investors. According to calculations, the number of independent buildings required to self-invest in external firefighting water systems is reduced by approximately 99%.

This is particularly significant for enterprises and business households located in urban areas or industrial zones that already have shared infrastructure: instead of each facility bearing the cost of its own system, they can now utilize the external firefighting water supply system built by the State and infrastructure investors.

Regarding mechanized firefighting equipment, the new standard adjusts as follows: fireboats are required only for ports and wharves with particularly high risks, such as large-scale specialized LNG terminals; tugboats may be used as substitutes for specialized fireboats in certain cases, while fire trucks can be reduced, consolidated, or shared among facilities with similar conditions.

Some facilities that previously had to have their own dedicated fire trucks (such as cement plants, paper mills, certain warehouses, and mineral exploitation sites) are now adjusted according to the scale and actual risk characteristics.

For public address systems and emergency evacuation guidance, the standard more clearly defines the types of facilities that genuinely require them. Warehouses and production buildings with a limited number of people per floor, few floors, and manageable fire risks will no longer be obligated to install complex and costly loudspeaker systems as before.