New legal documents come into effect as from March 2017
14:02 06/03/2017
There are a range of legal documents of the Vietnamese Government and ministries coming into effect as from March 2017, as follows:
1. Decree No. 166/2016/ND-CP dated 24 December 2016 of the Government on electronic transactions in the sector of social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance took effect as from 1 March 2017.
According to the Decree, electronic social insurance papers can be submitted electronically via the website of Vietnam Social Insurance or IVAN 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The receiving agency shall send a confirmation, in no more than 15 minutes upon its receipt of the electronic social insurance papers, to the email address of the person who made the submission.
Any organization, individual that wishes to conduct electronic transactions in social insurance shall submit the Declaration of registration using the Form No. 01/DK-GD to SSAV’s portal or submit the Declaration of registration using the Form No. 04/DK-IVAN issued together with this Decree to I-VAN organization (Article 22, Article 27).
In principle, any organization, individual that conducts electronic transactions in social insurance must hold a valid digital certificate. However, in case an individual conducts electronic transactions in social insurance when he/she does not have a digital certificate granted, he/she may use electronic transaction authentication number granted by the SSAV (Clause 1 Article 5).
2. Decree No. 01/2017/ND-CP dated 6 January 2017 of the Government amends and supplements some Decrees on guidelines for the Land Law namely Decree 43/2014/ND-CP, dated 15 May 2014 detailing a number of articles of the Land Law; Decree 44/2014/ND-CP, dated 15 May2014 on land prices; and Decree No. 47/2014/ND-CP, dated 15 May 2014 on compensation, support and resettlement upon land recovery. The Decree took effect as from 3 March 2017.
The Decree regulates a number of new provisions to resolve the State’s limitation of rights to: (i) recover land where (a) land users fail to perform or inappropriately perform their obligations to pay levies, rents, or orders of specific performance and (b) investment projects conclude; (ii) lease assets attached to leased and subleased land of economic organizations, Vietnamese settled in foreign countries, foreign capital enterprises, households, individuals with annual rental payment; (iii) land usage in the cases of (a) capital contribution and share sale, purchase, transfer of enterprises and (b) privatization of State enterprises; (iv) establish procedure of granting Certificate of Land Use Right, House and other assets attached to land Ownership Right (“LURC”) to increase the permitted usable area than provided in documents on land use right that households, individuals are using; and (v) handling leased or mortgaged land use right when the State recovers such land.
3. Decree No. 03/2017/ND-CP dated 16 January 2017 of the Government on casino business shall take effect as from 15 March 2017.
This Decree provides for casino business and the management thereof and penalties for administrative violations against regulations on casino business in Vietnam.
According to the Decree, the “casino business” is a conditional business which must be licensed by a competent authority to provide prize-winning games on gaming machines and/or gaming tables (Clause 1 Article 2). In order to be licensed for engaging casino business, an enterprise must ensure that at least 50% of the total investment in the project has been disbursed and before inaugurating a casino business, the enterprise shall have fulfilled the security and order conditions.
The total investment capital required for a casino project would be trimmed from US$4 billion to US$2 billion, given disbursed capital must reach at least US$1 billion.
In addition, Vietnamese citizens shall be allowed to place their bets in casinos for a trial period of three years, from the date the first casino operator successfully obtains their license for Vietnamese gambles.
The trial casino entry opens for Vietnamese who must be at least 21 years old, have a monthly regular income of minimum VND10 million (US$454.5), and are capable of civil actions.
4. Decree No. 04/2017/ND-CP dated 16 January 2017 of the Government on provision and management of government guarantee shall take effect from 1 March 2017 and replaces Decree No. 15/2011/ND-CP.
This Decree deals with regulations on appraisal, approval and provision of the government guarantee for domestic and foreign loans, domestic and international bond issues.
Accordingly, beneficiaries of the government guarantee are programs, projects as defined in Article 32 of the Law on public debt management. The government guarantee limit for the principals of loans or bond issues for an investment project or program must not exceed 70% of total investment of that project or program (Article 10). Specific limits shall be decided by the Ministry of Finance.
In order to get the government guarantee for loans, bond issues, every enterprise must meet the following conditions: Its operating duration is at least 03 years; has a good financial health without accumulated losses (except for losses incurred by the Government policies), and ensure that the debt/equity ratio must not exceed 03 times according to its audited financial statement of the year preceding the year when an application for the government guarantee is verified (Article 9).
5. Decree 06/2017/ND-CP dated 24 January 2017 of the Government on horse, dog racing and international football betting shall take effect as from 31 March 2017.
According to Article 3 of this Decree, betting business is a conditional business. Enterprises must possess the Certificate of eligibility for betting business and the Certificate of fulfillment of requirements for security and order to run the betting business.
Vietnamese and foreigners aged full 21 years or older shall be allowed to bet on horse races, dog races or international football matches at a rate of between VND 10,000 and VND 1,000,000 for each betting product offered by a betting service provider.
In order to be granted a certificate of eligibility for horse racing or dog racing business, an enterprise must have a racecourse equipped with technological systems, technical devices and software to serve betting business. The enterprise will also be requested to work out a feasible business plan with betting ticket distribution methods and areas in conformity with regulations.
6. Circular No. 32/2016/TT-NHNN dated 26 December 2016 of the State Bank on amendments to Circular No. 23/2014/TT-NHNN dated 19 August 2014 of State Bank of Vietnam on guidelines for opening and maintenance of current accounts at payment services providers took effect as from 1 March 2017.
This Circular is to amend to conditions for opening current accounts at banks. Accordingly, this Circular abolishes the condition “must have own assets to secure the obligation in opening payment account” with regard to persons from the age of 15 to less than 18 (except for those who are lost or restricted in civil act capacity).
In addition, there are some changes in dossier of, procedures for opening payment accounts in comparison with the earlier provisions provided in Circular No. 23/2014/TT-NHNN.
7. Circular No. 329/2016/TT-BTC dated 26 December 2016 of the Ministry of Finance on guideline for implementation of a number of certain articles of the Government's Decree No.119/2015/ND-CP dated 13 November 2015 on compulsory insurance for construction activities took effect as from 1 March 2017.
This Circular provides guidelines for the policy wording, conditions, schedules of premiums, financial regime and reporting regime for compulsory insurance for construction activities including construction works insurance, professional liability insurance for construction consultants (referred to as professional liability insurance) and construction workers’ compensation insurance. In addition, this Circular also provides guidelines on the implementation of the third-party civil liability insurance.
Accordingly, investors shall be obliged to buy the insurance for the whole project or for each work item in the construction period (Article 14). The minimum insurance premium rate shall comply with Appendix 7 issued together with this Circular, depending on types of construction works, scale and value of construction works.
Consultancies shall be obliged to buy the compulsory professional liability insurance prior to provision of consultancy services (Article 23). The minimum insurance premium rate shall comply with Appendix 8 issued together with this Circular, depending on value of construction works and value of consulting contracts.
8. Circular No. 29/2016/TT-NHNN dated 12 October 2016 of the State Bank on providing for overdraft and overnight lending operations in the interbank electronic payment system shall take effect from 25 March 2017 and replaces Decision No. 04/2007/QD-NHNN dated 22 January 2007.
This Circular provides for overdraft and overnight lending operations in the interbank electronic payment system of the State Bank of Vietnam (abbreviated to the State Bank) applied to credit institutions and foreign bank branches.
Overdraft in the interbank electronic payment refers to an arrangement where a credit institution is allowed to overdraw money greater than the available balance of a VND checking account opened at a transaction center of the State Bank (Clause 1 Article 3). Overnight lending in the interbank electronic payment refers to an arrangement in which the State Bank offers a credit institution a loan secured by financial instruments pledged as collateral within a specified time period starting at the end of the previous day and ending on the consecutive business day (Clause 2 Article 3).
In comparison with the earlier regulations prescribed in Decision No. 04/2007/QD-NHNNstatus3 , this Circular supplements requirements with regard to financial instruments used in overdraft and overnight lending transactions such as: Complying with depository requirements, being negotiable, having been issued as Vietnam dong-denominated financial instruments and their minimum remaining term to maturity is 30 days.
Overdraft limit is determined according to the limit prescribed in Article 6 of this Circular. The overnight rate shall be subject to the approval granted by the Governor of the State Bank over time periods.
9. Beside the documents mentioned as above, other legal normative documents also come into effect as from March 2017, including:
- Circular No. 47/2016/TT-BYT dated 30 December 2016 of the Ministry of Health regulating medical examination and treatment for strokes in medical facilities took effect as from 1 March 2017;
- Circular No. 01/2017/TT-BNNPTNT dated 16 January 2017 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on supplement to the List of chemicals, antibiotics prohibited from importation, production, trade and use in animal feed in Vietnam took effect as from 1 March 2017;
- Circular No. 43/2016/TT-NHNN dated 30 December 2016 of the State Bank on prescribing consumer lending by finance companies shall take effect as from 15 March 2017;
- Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN dated 30 December 2016 of the State Bank on prescribing lending transactions of credit institutions and/or foreign bank branches with customers shall take effect as from 15 March 2017;
- Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT dated 10 February 2017 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade regulations on methods and procedures for formulation, assessment and approval for electricity transmission price shall take effect as from 27 March 2017./.
According to the Decree, electronic social insurance papers can be submitted electronically via the website of Vietnam Social Insurance or IVAN 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The receiving agency shall send a confirmation, in no more than 15 minutes upon its receipt of the electronic social insurance papers, to the email address of the person who made the submission.
Any organization, individual that wishes to conduct electronic transactions in social insurance shall submit the Declaration of registration using the Form No. 01/DK-GD to SSAV’s portal or submit the Declaration of registration using the Form No. 04/DK-IVAN issued together with this Decree to I-VAN organization (Article 22, Article 27).
In principle, any organization, individual that conducts electronic transactions in social insurance must hold a valid digital certificate. However, in case an individual conducts electronic transactions in social insurance when he/she does not have a digital certificate granted, he/she may use electronic transaction authentication number granted by the SSAV (Clause 1 Article 5).
2. Decree No. 01/2017/ND-CP dated 6 January 2017 of the Government amends and supplements some Decrees on guidelines for the Land Law namely Decree 43/2014/ND-CP, dated 15 May 2014 detailing a number of articles of the Land Law; Decree 44/2014/ND-CP, dated 15 May2014 on land prices; and Decree No. 47/2014/ND-CP, dated 15 May 2014 on compensation, support and resettlement upon land recovery. The Decree took effect as from 3 March 2017.
The Decree regulates a number of new provisions to resolve the State’s limitation of rights to: (i) recover land where (a) land users fail to perform or inappropriately perform their obligations to pay levies, rents, or orders of specific performance and (b) investment projects conclude; (ii) lease assets attached to leased and subleased land of economic organizations, Vietnamese settled in foreign countries, foreign capital enterprises, households, individuals with annual rental payment; (iii) land usage in the cases of (a) capital contribution and share sale, purchase, transfer of enterprises and (b) privatization of State enterprises; (iv) establish procedure of granting Certificate of Land Use Right, House and other assets attached to land Ownership Right (“LURC”) to increase the permitted usable area than provided in documents on land use right that households, individuals are using; and (v) handling leased or mortgaged land use right when the State recovers such land.
3. Decree No. 03/2017/ND-CP dated 16 January 2017 of the Government on casino business shall take effect as from 15 March 2017.
This Decree provides for casino business and the management thereof and penalties for administrative violations against regulations on casino business in Vietnam.
According to the Decree, the “casino business” is a conditional business which must be licensed by a competent authority to provide prize-winning games on gaming machines and/or gaming tables (Clause 1 Article 2). In order to be licensed for engaging casino business, an enterprise must ensure that at least 50% of the total investment in the project has been disbursed and before inaugurating a casino business, the enterprise shall have fulfilled the security and order conditions.
The total investment capital required for a casino project would be trimmed from US$4 billion to US$2 billion, given disbursed capital must reach at least US$1 billion.
In addition, Vietnamese citizens shall be allowed to place their bets in casinos for a trial period of three years, from the date the first casino operator successfully obtains their license for Vietnamese gambles.
The trial casino entry opens for Vietnamese who must be at least 21 years old, have a monthly regular income of minimum VND10 million (US$454.5), and are capable of civil actions.
4. Decree No. 04/2017/ND-CP dated 16 January 2017 of the Government on provision and management of government guarantee shall take effect from 1 March 2017 and replaces Decree No. 15/2011/ND-CP.
This Decree deals with regulations on appraisal, approval and provision of the government guarantee for domestic and foreign loans, domestic and international bond issues.
Accordingly, beneficiaries of the government guarantee are programs, projects as defined in Article 32 of the Law on public debt management. The government guarantee limit for the principals of loans or bond issues for an investment project or program must not exceed 70% of total investment of that project or program (Article 10). Specific limits shall be decided by the Ministry of Finance.
In order to get the government guarantee for loans, bond issues, every enterprise must meet the following conditions: Its operating duration is at least 03 years; has a good financial health without accumulated losses (except for losses incurred by the Government policies), and ensure that the debt/equity ratio must not exceed 03 times according to its audited financial statement of the year preceding the year when an application for the government guarantee is verified (Article 9).
5. Decree 06/2017/ND-CP dated 24 January 2017 of the Government on horse, dog racing and international football betting shall take effect as from 31 March 2017.
According to Article 3 of this Decree, betting business is a conditional business. Enterprises must possess the Certificate of eligibility for betting business and the Certificate of fulfillment of requirements for security and order to run the betting business.
Vietnamese and foreigners aged full 21 years or older shall be allowed to bet on horse races, dog races or international football matches at a rate of between VND 10,000 and VND 1,000,000 for each betting product offered by a betting service provider.
In order to be granted a certificate of eligibility for horse racing or dog racing business, an enterprise must have a racecourse equipped with technological systems, technical devices and software to serve betting business. The enterprise will also be requested to work out a feasible business plan with betting ticket distribution methods and areas in conformity with regulations.
6. Circular No. 32/2016/TT-NHNN dated 26 December 2016 of the State Bank on amendments to Circular No. 23/2014/TT-NHNN dated 19 August 2014 of State Bank of Vietnam on guidelines for opening and maintenance of current accounts at payment services providers took effect as from 1 March 2017.
This Circular is to amend to conditions for opening current accounts at banks. Accordingly, this Circular abolishes the condition “must have own assets to secure the obligation in opening payment account” with regard to persons from the age of 15 to less than 18 (except for those who are lost or restricted in civil act capacity).
In addition, there are some changes in dossier of, procedures for opening payment accounts in comparison with the earlier provisions provided in Circular No. 23/2014/TT-NHNN.
7. Circular No. 329/2016/TT-BTC dated 26 December 2016 of the Ministry of Finance on guideline for implementation of a number of certain articles of the Government's Decree No.119/2015/ND-CP dated 13 November 2015 on compulsory insurance for construction activities took effect as from 1 March 2017.
This Circular provides guidelines for the policy wording, conditions, schedules of premiums, financial regime and reporting regime for compulsory insurance for construction activities including construction works insurance, professional liability insurance for construction consultants (referred to as professional liability insurance) and construction workers’ compensation insurance. In addition, this Circular also provides guidelines on the implementation of the third-party civil liability insurance.
Accordingly, investors shall be obliged to buy the insurance for the whole project or for each work item in the construction period (Article 14). The minimum insurance premium rate shall comply with Appendix 7 issued together with this Circular, depending on types of construction works, scale and value of construction works.
Consultancies shall be obliged to buy the compulsory professional liability insurance prior to provision of consultancy services (Article 23). The minimum insurance premium rate shall comply with Appendix 8 issued together with this Circular, depending on value of construction works and value of consulting contracts.
8. Circular No. 29/2016/TT-NHNN dated 12 October 2016 of the State Bank on providing for overdraft and overnight lending operations in the interbank electronic payment system shall take effect from 25 March 2017 and replaces Decision No. 04/2007/QD-NHNN dated 22 January 2007.
This Circular provides for overdraft and overnight lending operations in the interbank electronic payment system of the State Bank of Vietnam (abbreviated to the State Bank) applied to credit institutions and foreign bank branches.
Overdraft in the interbank electronic payment refers to an arrangement where a credit institution is allowed to overdraw money greater than the available balance of a VND checking account opened at a transaction center of the State Bank (Clause 1 Article 3). Overnight lending in the interbank electronic payment refers to an arrangement in which the State Bank offers a credit institution a loan secured by financial instruments pledged as collateral within a specified time period starting at the end of the previous day and ending on the consecutive business day (Clause 2 Article 3).
In comparison with the earlier regulations prescribed in Decision No. 04/2007/QD-NHNNstatus3 , this Circular supplements requirements with regard to financial instruments used in overdraft and overnight lending transactions such as: Complying with depository requirements, being negotiable, having been issued as Vietnam dong-denominated financial instruments and their minimum remaining term to maturity is 30 days.
Overdraft limit is determined according to the limit prescribed in Article 6 of this Circular. The overnight rate shall be subject to the approval granted by the Governor of the State Bank over time periods.
9. Beside the documents mentioned as above, other legal normative documents also come into effect as from March 2017, including:
- Circular No. 47/2016/TT-BYT dated 30 December 2016 of the Ministry of Health regulating medical examination and treatment for strokes in medical facilities took effect as from 1 March 2017;
- Circular No. 01/2017/TT-BNNPTNT dated 16 January 2017 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on supplement to the List of chemicals, antibiotics prohibited from importation, production, trade and use in animal feed in Vietnam took effect as from 1 March 2017;
- Circular No. 43/2016/TT-NHNN dated 30 December 2016 of the State Bank on prescribing consumer lending by finance companies shall take effect as from 15 March 2017;
- Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN dated 30 December 2016 of the State Bank on prescribing lending transactions of credit institutions and/or foreign bank branches with customers shall take effect as from 15 March 2017;
- Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT dated 10 February 2017 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade regulations on methods and procedures for formulation, assessment and approval for electricity transmission price shall take effect as from 27 March 2017./.