Gold dealers and businesses have expressed apprehensions about some provisions in the new draft decree on gold bullion trading that was issued this week.

It gives firms making and trading gold jewelry one year to register but only three months for bullion trading firms.

There are more than 10,000 jewelry businesses in Vietnam, and the CEO of a Ho Chi Minh City-based gold trading firm wondered if the State Bank of Vietnam had enough personnel to investigate all of them for issuing licenses.

Gold firms have to apply to the central bank for their license, and the bank will have to verify if their location and facilities are good enough.

Another complaint the gold firms have is that the decree fails to spell out the capital, revenue, and network requirements for licensing, saying merely it will issue a circular for this.

A CEO of a gold trading firm owned by a Ho Chi Minh City-based bank hoped the central bank would issue the circular well in time.

“If the three-month term elapses and the central bank has yet to license a firm, can it continue doing business or has to shut down?” he asked.

A major fear is about the stipulation that doing business with unlicensed gold shops would be illegal.

A deputy CEO of a Ho Chi Minh City gold trading firm pointed out that the public would have no idea if a business was licensed or not.

He wanted to know how the central bank would deal with an individual who traded with an unlicensed shop out of ignorance.