New legal documents come into effect as from June 2018
16:31 04/06/2018
There are a range of legal documents of the Vietnamese Government, the Prime Minister and ministries coming into effect as from June 2018, as follows:
1. Decree No. 51/2018/ND-CP dated April 9, 2018 of the Government on amendments to some articles of the Government’s Decree No. 158/2006/ND-CP dated December 28, 2006 elaborating the Commercial Law with respect to trading in commodities through commodity exchanges took effect as from June 1, 2018.
Under this Decree, foreign investors will be allowed to contribute capital to establish commodity exchange in Vietnam. However, their ownership in the exchange should not exceed 49 percent of its charter capital. Foreign investors are also permitted to trade goods on the commodity exchange as clients and can become members of the exchange (brokers or traders) without ownership restraint. A brokerage member must have a charter capital of 5 billion VND (220,000 USD) or more while a trading member must have at least 75 billion VND.
The Decree stipulates that the commodity exchange must have a charter capital of at least 150 billion VND (6.6 million USD) and an IT system that meets technical requirements in processing purchase and selling orders as well as a software solution with a capacity of tracing transactions, payment and delivery for at least five years.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade will be responsible for verifying and granting the establishment license.
2. Decree No. 52/2018/NĐ-CP dated April 12, 2018 of the Government on the development of rural sectors and traditional craft villages took effect as from June 1, 2018.
The Decree includes five chapters and 25 articles stipulating activities on the development of rural sectors and some contents and policies on rural sectors and traditional craft villages.
3. Decree No. 58/2018/ND-CP dated April 18, 2018 of the Government on agricultural insurance will take effect as from June 6, 2018.
The Decree includes five chapters and 40 articles, defining regulations on agricultural insurance and policies supporting agricultural insurance. It aims to facilitate organizations and individuals operating in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture to actively overcome financial damages caused during the production process.
4. Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP dated April 20, 2018 of the Government amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP on customs value will come into effect as from June 5, 2018.
In addition, the Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP supplements the concept of border gate of exportation. Article 86 of the Customs Law stipulates that Customs value of export goods is the selling prices of goods determined upon its arrival at the border gate of exportation. However, the Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP does not stipulate what is the export border. That leads to the failure to identify related costs when determining Customs value of export goods.
Therefore, the Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP supplements the concept of border gate of exportation. Specifically, for the transportation by sea way and air way, the border gate of exportation is the port where goods are loaded on means of transport described in the Customs declarations. For railway transportation, the border gate of exportation is a place where goods are loaded at international railway shown in the Customs declarations. For the road and inland water way transportation, the border gate of exportation is a border gate where goods are exported out of Vietnamese territory, shown on the sale contract or other relevant documents.
The amendment and supplementation of this concept will unify different ways of understanding the gate of exportation which lead to the inconsistent identification of arising costs added to the Customs value of export goods. The supplementation does not increase administrative procedures.
5. Decree No. 61/2018/ND-CP dated April 23, 2018 of the Government on launching one-door and connected one-door mechanisms in processing administrative procedures was issued to tackle obstacles and shortcomings in realizing Decision No. 09/2015/QD-TTg dated March 25, 2015, promulgating the regulation on implementation of the one-stop-shop and inter-agency one-stop-shop mechanisms at local state administrative agencies will come into effect as from June 21, 2018.
Accordingly, the Decree No. 61/2018/ND-CP regulates the principle of information technology application in administrative procedures as follows: (i) Ensure uniformity, efficiency and synchronism, avoiding overlapping and wastefulness in investment and construction of information technology infrastructure from the central to grassroots levels; (ii) Ensure compliance with Vietnam e-Government Architecture Framework; national technical specifications for the identification and data packet format for connection of document management systems; national technical standards on the structure of citizen data messages exchanged with the national database on population; (iii) Ensure the capability of connecting and sharing information between information systems of state agencies; the ability to receive, connect and share information between agencies competent to handle administrative procedures with organizations and individuals want to carry out administrative procedures through electronic means, media, social network authorized by the authority; (iv) Comply with the law on investment, construction, information technology, clerical, archiving, security and information safety and other relevant law provisions.
It can be seen that the Decree No. 61/2018/ND-CP specifically regulates the application of information technology in handling administrative procedures through “one-stop” mechanism and the inter-agency one-stop mechanism, thereby speeding up the handling of administrative procedures of state agencies, contributing to construct E-government.
6. Decree No. 63/2018/ND-CP dated May 4, 2018 of the Government on Public Private Partnership investment will take effect as from June 19, 2018, replacing Decree No. 15/2015/ND-CP.
This Decree is expected to provide detailed, specific and separate basis for this type of investment. The PPP models mentioned in the decree include: Project contract; Build-Operate-Transfer contracts (BOT); Build-Transfer-Operate contracts (BTO); Build-Transfer contracts (BT); Build-Own-Operate Contracts (BOO); Build-Transfer- Lease Service Contacts (BTL); Build – Lease Service– Transfer Contracts (BLT); Operate – Management Contract (O & M) and Mixed Contract.
The Decree created an open payment mechanism for investors in construction-transfer contracts. Accordingly, investors who execute investment projects under BT contracts shall be paid by the State with land (use of land use right value) or by other modes of payment such as working office project, infrastructure assets in accordance with the law on management and use of public assets, payment by business right transfer, right of exploitation of works, services according to specialized law.
In addition to expanding the payment method, investors under the BT contract do not have to follow the order and procedures for deciding the investment policy and deposit in accordance with the law for implementation of other projects. However, investors must meet additional requirements on equity (if any) in accordance with the law on investment, construction, housing, real estate business and relevant laws to implement the others project.
7. Decree No. 64/2018/ND-CP dated May 7, 2018 of the Government stipulating administrative sanction for violations in the fields of domestic animal breeds, animal feed and fishery will take effect as from June 22, 2018.
Accordingly, administrative violations in domestic animal breeds, animal feed and fishery are listed as following: (i) violation in animal feed production and processing; trade, import and inspect animal feed; production, processing, import of expired feed; use of antibiotics, prohibited substances in production, trade, import of the feed; use of banned substances in animal husbandry and aquaculture; (ii) violation of regulations on managing, preserving livestock gene source; exploitation and preservation of the rare livestock gene source; inspecting, verifying new domestic animal breeds; production, trade, export and import of the new domestic animal breeds; management of the new domestic animal breeds.
If there are administrative violations in the fields of domestic animal breeds, animal feed and fishery which are not stipulated in this Decree, other decrees of the Government on administrative fines should be applied.
Period of administrative fine is one year, except for administrative violations in the field of production, trade, export and import of domestic animal breeds, animal and fishery feed.
For administrative violations in domestic animal breeds, animal feed and fishery, individuals and organizations will be warned or fined. Maximum fine for violation of animal breeds is VND 50 million for individual, and VND 100 million for organization. Maximum fine for violation of animal, fishery feed is VND 100 million for individual, and VND 200 million for organization.
The fine stipulated at Chapter 2 of the Decree is applied for individuals who violate the regulation. If organization has the same infraction, the fine will be doubled.
8. Decision No. 19/2018/QD-TTg dated April 19, 2018 of the Prime Minister on the criteria, competence, order and procedures for recognition of hi-tech agricultural enterprises shall take effect as from June 5, 2018.
According to the regulations, enterprises entitled to incentives and supports are enterprises that have been established, registered and operating under the Law on Enterprise and have agricultural projects under (i) special investment incentives; (ii) preferred investment incentives and (iii) investment incentives.
The enterprises will be supported by the State via the land use tax exemption and reduction; to exempt or reduce the land rent or water surface rent of the State; support for land consolidation; access to credit support; support of research, transfer and application of hi-tech agriculture; support human resources training, market development; investment support; provision of public services and investment in agricultural and rural infrastructure.
9. Decision No. 20/2018/QD-TTg dated April 26, 2018 of the Prime Minister on implementing the destruction of smuggled foreign cigarettes which are fake or not in good quality, and the pilot auction of confiscated smuggled foreign cigarettes in good quality in order to export them will take effect as from June 15, 2018.
10. Beside the documents mentioned as above, other legal normative documents also come into effect as from June 2018, including:
- Circular No. 01/2018/TT-BYT dated January 18, 2018 of Ministry of Health on labeling and package inserts of drugs and medicinal ingredients took effect as from June 1, 2018;
- Circular No. 07/2018/TT-BYT dated April 12, 2018 of the Ministry of Health on detailing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy and the Government’s Decree No. 54/2017/ND-CP of May 8, 2017, detailing a number of articles of, and providing measures for implementing, the Law on Pharmacy took effect as from June 1, 2018;
- Circular No. 10/2018/TT-NHNN dated April 9, 2018 of the State Bank of Vietnam on providing the dossiers, order and procedures for approval of changes proposed by microfinance institutions took effect as from June 1, 2018;
- Circular No. 37/2018/TT-BTC dated April 6, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance providing guidelines for some contents on re-arranging and dealing with houses and land as prescribed in Decree No. 167/2017/ND-CP dated December 31, 2017 by the Government on re-arranging and dealing with public properties will take effect as from June 1, 2018;
- Circular No. 03/2018/TT-BXD dated April 24, 2018 of the Ministry of Construction elaborating on a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 139/2017/ND-CP dated November 27, 2017 on penalties for administrative violations against regulations on investment and construction; extraction, processing and trading of minerals used in construction, production and trading of minerals used in constructions, production and trading of building materials; management of infrastructural construction; real estate business, housing development management and operation of apartment buildings and office buildings will take effect as from June 12, 2018;
- Circular No. 06/2018/TT-BCT dated April 20, 2018 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade providing detailed regulations on trade remedies will take effect as from June 15, 2018;
- Circular No. 09/2018/TT-NHNN dated March 30, 2018 of the State Bank of Vietnam providing for the operation network of credit institutions as cooperatives will take effect as from June 15, 2018./.
Under this Decree, foreign investors will be allowed to contribute capital to establish commodity exchange in Vietnam. However, their ownership in the exchange should not exceed 49 percent of its charter capital. Foreign investors are also permitted to trade goods on the commodity exchange as clients and can become members of the exchange (brokers or traders) without ownership restraint. A brokerage member must have a charter capital of 5 billion VND (220,000 USD) or more while a trading member must have at least 75 billion VND.
The Decree stipulates that the commodity exchange must have a charter capital of at least 150 billion VND (6.6 million USD) and an IT system that meets technical requirements in processing purchase and selling orders as well as a software solution with a capacity of tracing transactions, payment and delivery for at least five years.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade will be responsible for verifying and granting the establishment license.
2. Decree No. 52/2018/NĐ-CP dated April 12, 2018 of the Government on the development of rural sectors and traditional craft villages took effect as from June 1, 2018.
The Decree includes five chapters and 25 articles stipulating activities on the development of rural sectors and some contents and policies on rural sectors and traditional craft villages.
3. Decree No. 58/2018/ND-CP dated April 18, 2018 of the Government on agricultural insurance will take effect as from June 6, 2018.
The Decree includes five chapters and 40 articles, defining regulations on agricultural insurance and policies supporting agricultural insurance. It aims to facilitate organizations and individuals operating in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture to actively overcome financial damages caused during the production process.
4. Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP dated April 20, 2018 of the Government amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP on customs value will come into effect as from June 5, 2018.
In addition, the Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP supplements the concept of border gate of exportation. Article 86 of the Customs Law stipulates that Customs value of export goods is the selling prices of goods determined upon its arrival at the border gate of exportation. However, the Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP does not stipulate what is the export border. That leads to the failure to identify related costs when determining Customs value of export goods.
Therefore, the Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP supplements the concept of border gate of exportation. Specifically, for the transportation by sea way and air way, the border gate of exportation is the port where goods are loaded on means of transport described in the Customs declarations. For railway transportation, the border gate of exportation is a place where goods are loaded at international railway shown in the Customs declarations. For the road and inland water way transportation, the border gate of exportation is a border gate where goods are exported out of Vietnamese territory, shown on the sale contract or other relevant documents.
The amendment and supplementation of this concept will unify different ways of understanding the gate of exportation which lead to the inconsistent identification of arising costs added to the Customs value of export goods. The supplementation does not increase administrative procedures.
5. Decree No. 61/2018/ND-CP dated April 23, 2018 of the Government on launching one-door and connected one-door mechanisms in processing administrative procedures was issued to tackle obstacles and shortcomings in realizing Decision No. 09/2015/QD-TTg dated March 25, 2015, promulgating the regulation on implementation of the one-stop-shop and inter-agency one-stop-shop mechanisms at local state administrative agencies will come into effect as from June 21, 2018.
Accordingly, the Decree No. 61/2018/ND-CP regulates the principle of information technology application in administrative procedures as follows: (i) Ensure uniformity, efficiency and synchronism, avoiding overlapping and wastefulness in investment and construction of information technology infrastructure from the central to grassroots levels; (ii) Ensure compliance with Vietnam e-Government Architecture Framework; national technical specifications for the identification and data packet format for connection of document management systems; national technical standards on the structure of citizen data messages exchanged with the national database on population; (iii) Ensure the capability of connecting and sharing information between information systems of state agencies; the ability to receive, connect and share information between agencies competent to handle administrative procedures with organizations and individuals want to carry out administrative procedures through electronic means, media, social network authorized by the authority; (iv) Comply with the law on investment, construction, information technology, clerical, archiving, security and information safety and other relevant law provisions.
It can be seen that the Decree No. 61/2018/ND-CP specifically regulates the application of information technology in handling administrative procedures through “one-stop” mechanism and the inter-agency one-stop mechanism, thereby speeding up the handling of administrative procedures of state agencies, contributing to construct E-government.
6. Decree No. 63/2018/ND-CP dated May 4, 2018 of the Government on Public Private Partnership investment will take effect as from June 19, 2018, replacing Decree No. 15/2015/ND-CP.
This Decree is expected to provide detailed, specific and separate basis for this type of investment. The PPP models mentioned in the decree include: Project contract; Build-Operate-Transfer contracts (BOT); Build-Transfer-Operate contracts (BTO); Build-Transfer contracts (BT); Build-Own-Operate Contracts (BOO); Build-Transfer- Lease Service Contacts (BTL); Build – Lease Service– Transfer Contracts (BLT); Operate – Management Contract (O & M) and Mixed Contract.
The Decree created an open payment mechanism for investors in construction-transfer contracts. Accordingly, investors who execute investment projects under BT contracts shall be paid by the State with land (use of land use right value) or by other modes of payment such as working office project, infrastructure assets in accordance with the law on management and use of public assets, payment by business right transfer, right of exploitation of works, services according to specialized law.
In addition to expanding the payment method, investors under the BT contract do not have to follow the order and procedures for deciding the investment policy and deposit in accordance with the law for implementation of other projects. However, investors must meet additional requirements on equity (if any) in accordance with the law on investment, construction, housing, real estate business and relevant laws to implement the others project.
7. Decree No. 64/2018/ND-CP dated May 7, 2018 of the Government stipulating administrative sanction for violations in the fields of domestic animal breeds, animal feed and fishery will take effect as from June 22, 2018.
Accordingly, administrative violations in domestic animal breeds, animal feed and fishery are listed as following: (i) violation in animal feed production and processing; trade, import and inspect animal feed; production, processing, import of expired feed; use of antibiotics, prohibited substances in production, trade, import of the feed; use of banned substances in animal husbandry and aquaculture; (ii) violation of regulations on managing, preserving livestock gene source; exploitation and preservation of the rare livestock gene source; inspecting, verifying new domestic animal breeds; production, trade, export and import of the new domestic animal breeds; management of the new domestic animal breeds.
If there are administrative violations in the fields of domestic animal breeds, animal feed and fishery which are not stipulated in this Decree, other decrees of the Government on administrative fines should be applied.
Period of administrative fine is one year, except for administrative violations in the field of production, trade, export and import of domestic animal breeds, animal and fishery feed.
For administrative violations in domestic animal breeds, animal feed and fishery, individuals and organizations will be warned or fined. Maximum fine for violation of animal breeds is VND 50 million for individual, and VND 100 million for organization. Maximum fine for violation of animal, fishery feed is VND 100 million for individual, and VND 200 million for organization.
The fine stipulated at Chapter 2 of the Decree is applied for individuals who violate the regulation. If organization has the same infraction, the fine will be doubled.
8. Decision No. 19/2018/QD-TTg dated April 19, 2018 of the Prime Minister on the criteria, competence, order and procedures for recognition of hi-tech agricultural enterprises shall take effect as from June 5, 2018.
According to the regulations, enterprises entitled to incentives and supports are enterprises that have been established, registered and operating under the Law on Enterprise and have agricultural projects under (i) special investment incentives; (ii) preferred investment incentives and (iii) investment incentives.
The enterprises will be supported by the State via the land use tax exemption and reduction; to exempt or reduce the land rent or water surface rent of the State; support for land consolidation; access to credit support; support of research, transfer and application of hi-tech agriculture; support human resources training, market development; investment support; provision of public services and investment in agricultural and rural infrastructure.
9. Decision No. 20/2018/QD-TTg dated April 26, 2018 of the Prime Minister on implementing the destruction of smuggled foreign cigarettes which are fake or not in good quality, and the pilot auction of confiscated smuggled foreign cigarettes in good quality in order to export them will take effect as from June 15, 2018.
10. Beside the documents mentioned as above, other legal normative documents also come into effect as from June 2018, including:
- Circular No. 01/2018/TT-BYT dated January 18, 2018 of Ministry of Health on labeling and package inserts of drugs and medicinal ingredients took effect as from June 1, 2018;
- Circular No. 07/2018/TT-BYT dated April 12, 2018 of the Ministry of Health on detailing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy and the Government’s Decree No. 54/2017/ND-CP of May 8, 2017, detailing a number of articles of, and providing measures for implementing, the Law on Pharmacy took effect as from June 1, 2018;
- Circular No. 10/2018/TT-NHNN dated April 9, 2018 of the State Bank of Vietnam on providing the dossiers, order and procedures for approval of changes proposed by microfinance institutions took effect as from June 1, 2018;
- Circular No. 37/2018/TT-BTC dated April 6, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance providing guidelines for some contents on re-arranging and dealing with houses and land as prescribed in Decree No. 167/2017/ND-CP dated December 31, 2017 by the Government on re-arranging and dealing with public properties will take effect as from June 1, 2018;
- Circular No. 03/2018/TT-BXD dated April 24, 2018 of the Ministry of Construction elaborating on a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 139/2017/ND-CP dated November 27, 2017 on penalties for administrative violations against regulations on investment and construction; extraction, processing and trading of minerals used in construction, production and trading of minerals used in constructions, production and trading of building materials; management of infrastructural construction; real estate business, housing development management and operation of apartment buildings and office buildings will take effect as from June 12, 2018;
- Circular No. 06/2018/TT-BCT dated April 20, 2018 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade providing detailed regulations on trade remedies will take effect as from June 15, 2018;
- Circular No. 09/2018/TT-NHNN dated March 30, 2018 of the State Bank of Vietnam providing for the operation network of credit institutions as cooperatives will take effect as from June 15, 2018./.