Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice has reversed a plan to increase the fine for gay couples who get married, announcing that they are scrapping the fine altogether.

Last month the ministry said they would double fines for same-sex couples who marry, prompting criticism and debate.

But the deputy minister of justice Pham Quy Ty said that the absence of fines doesn’t mean that the authorities are implicitly approving gay marriage.

‘The absence [of the fine] doesn’t mean Vietnam recognizes same-sex marriages,’ said Ty, Thanh Nien News reports.

Nevertheless, Le Quang Binh, director of Hanoi-based human rights advocates the Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE), says the end of the fine is ‘another new step forward that is in line with Vietnam’s current trend [of] protecting the rights of LGBT people’.

The trend Le refers to includes the Ministry of Justice’s move to consult on legalizing same-sex marriage last year.

In May 2012 a gay couple were fined 200,000 Vietnamese Dong ($9.60, â‚¬7.80) for holding a public wedding in Kien Gian province in southern Vietnam.

Civil rights groups protested the fine, prompting the government to look into legalizing gay marriage.

The government will probably vote on the matter in 2014.