Annotation work often involves personal data: faces in street footage, voices in call recordings, names in documents. If that work happens in Vietnam, the country’s data protection rules now apply at the level of statutory law.
This article is a general overview, not legal advice. Check your specific situation with qualified counsel.
What Changed
- A full law. The Law on Personal Data Protection (No. 91/2025/QH15) was passed on 26 June 2025 and took effect on 1 January 2026
- A new guiding decree. Decree 356/2025/ND-CP took effect on the same date and replaced the earlier Decree 13/2023
- Higher penalties. Fines for cross-border transfer violations can reach 5% of the previous year’s revenue in Vietnam
- Wide scope. The law covers Vietnamese organizations and foreign organizations that process the personal data of people in Vietnam
Why It Matters for Annotation
Most annotation clients send data into Vietnam rather than out of it, and much of that data describes people outside Vietnam. Even so, vendors are processing personal data on your behalf, and the law raises the bar for how they handle it. Datasets that include Vietnamese residents, such as local street scenes, voice recordings or documents, deserve extra care, especially if labeled data is sent abroad afterwards.
Questions to Ask Your Vendor
- Who in the company is responsible for data protection?
- Where is our data stored, and does it ever leave approved systems?
- Who can access it, and how is that access logged and removed?
- Are annotators bound by confidentiality agreements?
- How is data deleted at the end of the project, and can you confirm it in writing?
- If a transfer abroad is involved, will you handle the required impact assessment?
Good Practice Regardless of the Law
Share only the data the task needs. Blur or remove personal details that do not affect the label. Agree retention periods up front. These steps reduce risk under any jurisdiction and usually make annotation faster too.
How Smart Annotahub Handles It
Our team works under confidentiality agreements with role-based access, and we agree data handling and deletion terms with every client before a pilot begins. Our Data Privacy Notice sets out the details.
About Smart Annotahub
Smart Annotahub is a managed data annotation company based in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. Our in-house annotators, QA leads and project managers turn raw image, video, 3D, geospatial, text and audio data into training-ready datasets for teams building computer vision, robotics and language AI. Every project starts with a free pilot, runs on your guidelines and tools, and ships with multi-stage quality checks.
Our Services
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the free pilot work?
Send us a sample of your data and your guidelines. We annotate it at no cost, report accuracy and turnaround, and return a precise quote, usually within a few working days.
How do you ensure annotation quality?
Every batch passes annotator self-checks, peer review and a dedicated QA lead. We agree accuracy targets up front and share QA reports with each delivery.
Can you work in our annotation tool?
Yes. Our team works in your platform or ours and delivers in the formats your pipeline expects, such as COCO, YOLO, Pascal VOC or custom JSON.
How is my data kept secure?
All work is done by our in-house team under NDA, with role-based access and no data leaving approved environments. See our Data Privacy Notice for details.
How is pricing calculated?
Per object, per hour or per project, depending on the task. See Pricing for reference rates, or request a pilot for an exact quote.
Want to see the difference on your own data?
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