1. Decree No. 12/2016/ND-CP dated 19 February 2016 of the Government on fees for mining came into effect as from 1 May 2016.
According to the Decree, the following fee for mining shall be applied:
- Environment protection fee for crude oil exploitation: VND 100,000 per ton and VND 50 per cubic meter of natural gas or methane.
Extraction of natural gas (associated gas) during crude oil exploitation incurs a fee of VND 35 per cubic meter.
- Environment protection fees for other mining activities are defined in the fee schedule enclosed to this Decree.
- Environment protection fees for salvage exploitation of minerals shall be 60% of the fees for such minerals as prescribed in the fee schedule enclosed to this Decree.
Provincial People’s Councils shall consider the fee schedule under this Circular and specify the local environment protection fee for each type of mineral from time to time according to actual circumstances.
2. Decree No. 14/2016/ND-CP dated 15 March 2016 of the Government stipulating lines, appropriate professional requirements of the People's Army for citizens aged women perform Military service; citizenship exempt wartime enlistment and training of reserve second-class soldiers came into effect as from 1 May 2016.
3. Decree No. 15/2016/ND-CP dated 15 March 2016 of the Government amending and supplementing some articles of Decree 79/2012/ND-CP dated 5 October 2012 on art performances, fashion shows; beauty and model contests; and circulation and trading of audio and visual recordings of  musical and theatrical performances come into effect as from 1 May 2016.
4. Decree No. 16/2016/ND-CP dated 16 March 2016 of the Government on management and utilization of official development assistance (ODA) and preferential loans from foreign lenders came into effect as from 2 May 2016 and replaces Decree No. 38/2013/ND-CP.
Under the Decree, six priority sectors of ODA and preferential loans include: (i) assistance to economic - social infrastructure programs and projects; (ii) assistance to research and development of economic - social policies and fortification of state management; (iii) assistance to human resource development, science research and technology development; (iv) assistance to environment protection, climate change adaptation and green growth; (v) Government financing of PPP projects (Public-Private Partnership) and (vi) other priority sectors as per the Prime Minister's decisions.
5. Decree No. 17/2016/ND-CP dated 17 March 2016 of the Government amending a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 112/2013/ND-CP of 2 October 2013, providing the sanction of expulsion and the measures of temporary custody and escorted transfer of violators according to administrative procedures, and management of foreigners committing violations of Vietnam’s law pending the completion of expulsion procedures came into effect as from 2 May 2016.
According to the Decree, administrative detention shall be applied under the following circumstances:
- To prevent or desist the acts of disrupting public order or causing injuries to other people;
- To preclude or intercept the acts of smuggling or trafficking goods across borders upon intimations of offenders’ absconding, destructing exhibits or means of crime or obstructing remedial measures;
- To forestall or terminate violations of Section 5, Article 20 of the Law on family violence prevention and Section 1, Article 12, Decree No. 08/2009/ND-CP on details and guidelines for the enforcement of certain articles of the Law on family violence prevention.
6. Decree No. 19/2016/ND-CP dated 22 March 2016 of the Government on gas business will come into effect as from 15 May 2016.
7. Decree No. 23/2016/ND-CP    dated 5 April 2016 of the Government on construction, management and use of cemeteries and cremation establishments will come into effect as from 27 May 2016.
8. Decree No. 24a/2016/ND-CP dated 5 April 2016 of the Government on management of construction materials will come into effect as from 26 May 2016.
9. Decree No. 25/2016/ND-CP dated 6 April 2016 of the Government approving the organization and operation charter of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group will come into effect as from 26 May 2016.
10. Decision No. 06/2016/QD-TTg dated 22 February 2016 of the Prime Minister regulating personal income tax exemption for foreign specialists who are conducting programs and projects on non-government foreign aid in Vietnam came into effect as from 1 May 2016
According to the Decision, foreign specialists’ eligibility for tax exemption: (i) hold foreign nationality; (ii) have engaged in contracts with non-government foreign organizations, project governing agencies or sponsors of non-government foreign aids in Vietnam to carry out activities of non-government foreign aid programs and projects in a direct manner.
11. Decision No. 07/2016/QD-TTg dated 22 February 2016 of the Prime Minister on personal income tax exemption for Vietnamese people working in representative units of UN’s international agencies in Vietnam came into effect as from 1 May 2016.
According to the Decision, requirements for personal income tax exemption includes (i) hold Vietnamese nationality; (ii) work for a representative unit of a UN international agency in Vietnam and have such employment asserted by an authorized representative of that unit in the list of employees submitted to tax authorities.
12. Decision No. 09/2016/QD-TTg dated 2 March 2016 of the Prime Minister on loan for medical graduates came into effect as from 1 May 2016.
13. Decision No. 13/2016/QD-TTg dated 15 March 2016 of the Prime Minister on salary for personnel in the General Department of Taxation or General Department of Vietnam Customs in the budget year of 2016 to 2020 came into effect as from 1 May 2016.
According to the Decision, average salary for state officials, state employees and workers in the General Department of Taxation or General Department of Vietnam Customs and their additional income from the saving and regular spending funds shall be at most 1.8-fold and 0.2-time, respectively, of the salary for state officials and state employees as regulated by the Government.
14. Decision No. 15/2016/QD-TTg dated 5 April 2016 of the Prime Minister on social insurance, unemployment insurance and health insurance management expenses during 2016-2018 will come into effect as from 25 May 2016.
15. Beside the documents mentioned as above, other legal normative documents also come into effect as from May 2016, including:
- Circular No. 17/2016/TT-BQP dated 11 March 2016 of the Ministry of National Defense regulating details and guidelines for military academies' enrollment came into effect as from 1 May 2016;
- Circular No. 05/2016/TT-BXD dated 10 March 2016 of the Ministry of Construction providing for guidelines for determination of unit labor cost for construction cost management came into effect as from 1 May 2016;
- Circular No. 06/2016/TT-BXD dated 10 March 2016 of the Ministry of Construction promulgating the guideline for determination and management of building investment cost and construction cost came into effect as from 1 May 2016;
- Circular No. 08/2016/TT-BXD dated 10 March 2016 of the Ministry of Construction guiding some regulations on construction consulting contract came into effect as from 1 May 2016;
- Circular No. 09/2016/TT-BXD dated 10 March 2016 of the Ministry of Construction on guidelines for building contracts came into effect as from 1 May 2016.
- Circular No. 05/2016/TT-BGDDT dated 21 March 2016 of the Ministry of Education and Training regulating the length of internship for teachers and lecturers will come into effect as from 6 May 2016;
- Circular No. 06/2016/TT-BGDDT dated 21 March 2016 of the Ministry of Education and Training promulgating the Regulation on admission to study abroad will come into effect as from 6 May 2016;
- Circular No. 07/2016/TT-BGDDT dated 22 March 2016 of the Ministry of Education and Training prescribing assurance requirements, contents and procedures for inspection and endorsement of the conformity to standards on general education and illiteracy eradication will come into effect as of 10 May 2016;
- Circular No. 02/2016/TT-BLDTBXH dated 25 March 2016 of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs providing guidelines for determination of householders living on agriculture, forestry, fishery and salt farming and by average standards in 2016 to 2020 will come into effect as from 10 May 2016;
- Circular No. 51/2016/TT-BTC dated 18 March 2016 of the Ministry of Finance amending the list of product categories and preferential import tax rate on iron or steel for production of bead wires under Chapter 98 of Preferential Import Tariff came into effect as from 2 May 2016;
- Circular No. 54/2016/TT-BTC dated 21 March 2016 of the Ministry of Finance on the management and utilization of interests on loans from the National Employment Fund will come into effect as from 5 May 2016;
- Circular No. 55/2016/TT-BTC dated 23 March 2016 of the Ministry of Finance regulating financial management for public private partnership projects and investor selection expenses shall come into effect as from 5 May 2016;
- Circular No. 61/2016/TT-BTC dated 11 April 2016 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the collection, remittance and management of profits and dividends earned from state capital amounts invested in enterprises Ministry of Finance will come into effect as from 26    May 2016;
- Circular No. 04/2016/TT-BYT dated 26 February 2016 of the Ministry of Health regulating cases of health insurance with appropriate referrals with regard to tuberculosis treatment and settlement of treatment expenses covered by health insurance came into effect as from 1 May 2016;
- Circular No. 05/2016/TT-BYT dated 29 February 2016 of the Ministry of Health regulating medications prescribed for outpatients came into effect as from 1 May 2016;
- Circular No. 01/2016/TT-BGTVT dated 1 February 2016 of the Ministry of Transportation on aviation security and quality control program came into effect as from 1 May 2016.