New legal documents come into effect as from May 2017
08:39 04/05/2017
There are a range of legal documents of the Vietnamese Government, the Prime Minister and ministries coming into effect as from May 2017, as follows:
1. Decree No. 20/2017/ND-CP dated 24 February 2017 of the Government on prescribing tax administration for enterprises engaged in transfer pricing took effect as from 1 May 2017.
According to the Decree, “related-party transaction” is transactions arising between parties having related-party relationships; in particular, it may belong to any of the following cases (Article 5):
- An enterprise participates directly or indirectly in at least 25% of equity of the other enterprise;
- Both enterprises own at least 25% of equity in which a third party participates directly or indirectly;
- An enterprise is the shareholder who has the greatest ownership of equity of the other enterprise, or participates directly or indirectly in at least 10% of total share capital of the other enterprise;
- An enterprise guarantees or offers another enterprise a loan under any form to the extent that the loan amount equals at least 25% of equity of the borrowing enterprise and makes up for more than 50% of total medium and long term debts of the borrowing enterprise;
- An enterprise appoints more than 50% of total number of members of the executive board of another enterprise;
- Both enterprises appoint more than 50% of membership of the executive board or have one member of the executive board authorized to decide financial policies or business activities who is appointed by a third party;
- Both enterprises are managed or controlled by individuals that have close relationships;
- Both business entities have transactions, either between their head offices and permanent establishments or between permanent establishments of overseas entities or individuals;
- One or more enterprises is/are put under control of one individual through either his/her capital participation into that enterprise or his direct involvement in administration of that enterprise;
Prices of related-party transactions shall be determined according to the arm’s-length and substance-over-form principles in order to eliminate factors causing reduction in tax obligations that are controlled or affected by related-party relationships
Enterprises engaged in related-party transactions shall declare information about related-party relationships and transactions by using the Form No. 01 issued together with this Decree and submit it together with the tax accounting returns, concurrently, shall retain and provide the transfer pricing documentation package (Clause 3 and Clause 4 Article 10).
2. Decree No. 28/2017/ND-CP dated 20 March 2017 of the Government amending Decree No. 131/2013/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violation against copyrights and related rights and Decree No. 158/2013/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations against regulations on culture, sports, tourism and advertising will come into effect since 5 May 2017.
Accordingly, acts of delivering advertisement brochures, if causing negative impacts on social and traffic order and safety, shall be fined from VND 200,000 to VND 500,000.
A fine from VND 5-10 million shall also be applied to individuals whose products are printed on the aforesaid advertisement brochures (only if the delivery of such brochures cause negative impacts on social and traffic order and safety).
3. Decree No. 30/2017/ND-CP dated 21 March 2017 of the Government on response to emergency, acts of god and search and rescue takes effect from 5 May 2017 and abolishes Decision No. 76/2009/QD-TTg dated 11 May 2009 of the Prime Minister.
This Decree stipulates the regulation on response to emergency, acts of god and search and rescue, including: Emergency response organizations; emergency response education, training and rehearsal; budget and budget allocation for emergency response; accoutrements and clothing, responsibilities for emergency response, search and rescue of Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, governmental agencies, People’s Committees of all levels, social-political organizations and economic organizations.
4. Decree No. 32/2017/ND-CP dated 31 March 2017 of the Government defining state investment credit will take effect as from 15 May 2017.
The Decree clearly stipulates the subjects entitled to getting the credit, lending conditions and interest rates. The subjects eligible for investment credits are those who have investment projects on the list of those entitled to investment credits promulgated together with this Decree.
5. Decree No. 33/2017/ND-CP dated 3 April 2017 of the Government on administrative violations in mineral and water resource sectors will take effect as from 20 May 2017.
Under the Decree, the Government will impose fines ranging from VND 250 million (US$11,125) to VND 2 billion (US$89,000) on administrative violations in mineral and water resource sectors.
Administrative violations in the water resource sector involve violations in inspection, planning, surveying, exploitation and use of water resources; violation in reservoirs and reservoir operations; and violations in water resources protection among others.
Violations in the minerals sector include breaking regulations related to surveying and exploring minerals, mineral exploitation auction, using geological inspection information and violations of benefits to localities and residents where minerals are exploited.
Offenders can be slapped with additional penalties, depending on the scale of violation. The additional penalties include the withdrawal of licenses on surveying, exploitation and use of minerals and water resources from between one and 24 months; suspension of project operations from one to 12 months; and confiscation of exhibits and mineral specimen.
Culprits will also have to take measures to undo the effects of the violations on pollution and environment.
6. Decree No. 39/2017/ND-CP dated 4 April 2017 of the Government on providing the regulatory framework for animal feeds and aqua feeds takes effect as from 20 May 2017, replaces Decree No. 08/2010/ND-CP dated 5 February 2010, and abolishes Articles 12, 13 and14 of Decree No. 66/2016/ND-CP dated 1 July 2016.
This Decree prescribes statutory requirements for commercial animal feed and aqua feed trading, utilization, experiment, certification, testing and regulatory management. “Commercial animal and aqua feed” refers to any animal and aqua feed products manufactured for the purpose of being bartered or traded in the market.
Accordingly, it is required to release applicable standards and apply for approval for sale to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for commercial animal and aqua feed.
Particularly, with regard to animal feeds containing antibiotics, these principles must be met:
- Prohibit using antibiotics in aqua feeds;
- Ensure that antibiotics used in animal feeds for promoting growth of livestock and poultry must be emplaced in the classification list of antibiotics allowed for use in animal feeds;
- Assure that antibiotics used in animal feeds for the purpose of curing livestock and poultry diseases and preventing immature livestock and poultry diseases must be those approved for sale in Vietnam;
- Allow a maximum of 02 types of antibiotics used in an animal and aqua feed product.
7. Decree No. 41/2017/ND-CP dated 5 April 2017 of the Government amends and supplements a number of articles of the Decree on administrative penalties for violations in fields of aquaculture, veterinary, animal breeds, animal feed; forest management, development and protection, and forestry product management. The Decree enters into force from 20 May 2017 and replaces Decree No. 40/2015/ND-CP dated 27 April 2015.
According to the Decree, the use of any banned substance in animal husbandry and aquaculture shall be fined from VND70 million to VND 100 million.
Individuals and organizations using banned substances in animal husbandry and aquaculture shall also be subjected to 6-12 month suspension instead of the current 1-3 month suspension.
The transport, trading, collection, storage, processing of animal products containing banned substances shall be fined between VND 40 million to VND 50 million.
8. Decision No. 07/2017/QD-TTg dated 27 March 2017 of the Prime Minister on non-stop electronic toll collection takes effect from 15 May 2017.
This Decision deals with non-stop electronic toll collection from statutory vehicles nationwide and use of data from non-stop toll plazas for vehicle load control purpose, applies to organizations and individuals relating to non-stop toll collection and use of data from non-stop toll plazas for vehicle load control purpose.
9. Circular No. 06/2017/TT-BGTVT dated 28 February 2017 of the Ministry of Transport on prescribing the process for using technical and professional equipment and instruments, and use results obtained from technical and professional equipment and instruments as bases for determination of administrative violations and imposition of administrative penalties for violations arising from road traffic activities took effect from 1 May 2017.
This Circular provides for the process for using weighing system and camera device in order to check the weight of vehicles and detect violations against regulations on road traffic activities to be used as bases for determination of administrative penalties
This Circular shall be applied to: (i) Road regulatory authorities, including the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, the Road Management Department, the Road Management Sub-department and the Department of Transport; (ii) Entities performing road inspection functions, including the Inspectorate of Ministry of Transport, the Inspectorate of Department of Transport and those authorized to perform specialized road inspection functions; and, (iii) Organizations authorized to use, operate and maintain road traffic infrastructure facilities and other relevant organizations or individuals.
10. Circular No. 08/2017/TT-BGDDT dated 4 April 2017 of the Ministry of Education and Training on introducing regulations on doctoral enrolment and training shall enter into force from 18 May 2017 and replace the Circular No. 10/2009/TT-BGDDT dated 7 May 2009 and Circular No. 05/2012/TT-BGDDT dated 15 February 2012.
These Regulations shall be applied to national universities, regional universities, academies, higher education establishments (inclusive of higher education establishments as members of national universities or regional universities) that are commissioned to offer doctoral training, and scientific research institutes that obtain permission to offer doctoral degree programs, and other related entities and individuals.
These Regulations shall not be applied to doctoral degree program, partnership doctoral degree programs between local institutions and overseas ones in which the doctoral degree is awarded by the latter, partnership doctoral degree programs between local and overseas institutions in which the doctoral degree is awarded by both partners
11. Beside the documents mentioned as above, other legal normative documents also come into effect as from May 2017, including:
- Circular No. 42/2016/TT-NHNN dated 30 December 2016 of the State Bank of Vietnam promulgating on ranking of People’s Credit Funds took effect as from 1 May 2017;
- Circular No. 03/2017/TT-BXD dated 16 March 2017 of the Ministry of Construction guiding the determination of costs of maintenance of construction works took effect as from 1 May 2017;
- Circular No. 06/2017/TT-BLDTBXH dated 8 March 2017 of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs on recruitment, employment, and training applicable to vocational education teachers took effect from 1 May 2017 and replaces Decision No. 57/2008/QD-BLDTBXH dated 26 May 2008 and Circular No. 41/2015/TT-BLDTBXH of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs dated 20 October 2015;
- Circular No. 07/2017/TT-BNNPTNT dated 21 March 2017 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development introducing the National Technical Regulation on “Fishery product - Frozen Tra fish fillets” takes effect as from 5 May 2017;
- Circular No. 28/2017/TT-BTC dated 12 April 2017 of the Ministry of Finance amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 45/2013/TT-BTC dated 25 April 2013 and Circular No. 147/2016/TT-BTC dated 13 October 2016 of the Ministry of Finance guiding regulation on management, use and depreciation account of fixed assets shall take effect as from 26 May 2017 and it is applicable from the fiscal year of 2016./.
According to the Decree, “related-party transaction” is transactions arising between parties having related-party relationships; in particular, it may belong to any of the following cases (Article 5):
- An enterprise participates directly or indirectly in at least 25% of equity of the other enterprise;
- Both enterprises own at least 25% of equity in which a third party participates directly or indirectly;
- An enterprise is the shareholder who has the greatest ownership of equity of the other enterprise, or participates directly or indirectly in at least 10% of total share capital of the other enterprise;
- An enterprise guarantees or offers another enterprise a loan under any form to the extent that the loan amount equals at least 25% of equity of the borrowing enterprise and makes up for more than 50% of total medium and long term debts of the borrowing enterprise;
- An enterprise appoints more than 50% of total number of members of the executive board of another enterprise;
- Both enterprises appoint more than 50% of membership of the executive board or have one member of the executive board authorized to decide financial policies or business activities who is appointed by a third party;
- Both enterprises are managed or controlled by individuals that have close relationships;
- Both business entities have transactions, either between their head offices and permanent establishments or between permanent establishments of overseas entities or individuals;
- One or more enterprises is/are put under control of one individual through either his/her capital participation into that enterprise or his direct involvement in administration of that enterprise;
Prices of related-party transactions shall be determined according to the arm’s-length and substance-over-form principles in order to eliminate factors causing reduction in tax obligations that are controlled or affected by related-party relationships
Enterprises engaged in related-party transactions shall declare information about related-party relationships and transactions by using the Form No. 01 issued together with this Decree and submit it together with the tax accounting returns, concurrently, shall retain and provide the transfer pricing documentation package (Clause 3 and Clause 4 Article 10).
2. Decree No. 28/2017/ND-CP dated 20 March 2017 of the Government amending Decree No. 131/2013/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violation against copyrights and related rights and Decree No. 158/2013/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations against regulations on culture, sports, tourism and advertising will come into effect since 5 May 2017.
Accordingly, acts of delivering advertisement brochures, if causing negative impacts on social and traffic order and safety, shall be fined from VND 200,000 to VND 500,000.
A fine from VND 5-10 million shall also be applied to individuals whose products are printed on the aforesaid advertisement brochures (only if the delivery of such brochures cause negative impacts on social and traffic order and safety).
3. Decree No. 30/2017/ND-CP dated 21 March 2017 of the Government on response to emergency, acts of god and search and rescue takes effect from 5 May 2017 and abolishes Decision No. 76/2009/QD-TTg dated 11 May 2009 of the Prime Minister.
This Decree stipulates the regulation on response to emergency, acts of god and search and rescue, including: Emergency response organizations; emergency response education, training and rehearsal; budget and budget allocation for emergency response; accoutrements and clothing, responsibilities for emergency response, search and rescue of Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, governmental agencies, People’s Committees of all levels, social-political organizations and economic organizations.
4. Decree No. 32/2017/ND-CP dated 31 March 2017 of the Government defining state investment credit will take effect as from 15 May 2017.
The Decree clearly stipulates the subjects entitled to getting the credit, lending conditions and interest rates. The subjects eligible for investment credits are those who have investment projects on the list of those entitled to investment credits promulgated together with this Decree.
5. Decree No. 33/2017/ND-CP dated 3 April 2017 of the Government on administrative violations in mineral and water resource sectors will take effect as from 20 May 2017.
Under the Decree, the Government will impose fines ranging from VND 250 million (US$11,125) to VND 2 billion (US$89,000) on administrative violations in mineral and water resource sectors.
Administrative violations in the water resource sector involve violations in inspection, planning, surveying, exploitation and use of water resources; violation in reservoirs and reservoir operations; and violations in water resources protection among others.
Violations in the minerals sector include breaking regulations related to surveying and exploring minerals, mineral exploitation auction, using geological inspection information and violations of benefits to localities and residents where minerals are exploited.
Offenders can be slapped with additional penalties, depending on the scale of violation. The additional penalties include the withdrawal of licenses on surveying, exploitation and use of minerals and water resources from between one and 24 months; suspension of project operations from one to 12 months; and confiscation of exhibits and mineral specimen.
Culprits will also have to take measures to undo the effects of the violations on pollution and environment.
6. Decree No. 39/2017/ND-CP dated 4 April 2017 of the Government on providing the regulatory framework for animal feeds and aqua feeds takes effect as from 20 May 2017, replaces Decree No. 08/2010/ND-CP dated 5 February 2010, and abolishes Articles 12, 13 and14 of Decree No. 66/2016/ND-CP dated 1 July 2016.
This Decree prescribes statutory requirements for commercial animal feed and aqua feed trading, utilization, experiment, certification, testing and regulatory management. “Commercial animal and aqua feed” refers to any animal and aqua feed products manufactured for the purpose of being bartered or traded in the market.
Accordingly, it is required to release applicable standards and apply for approval for sale to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for commercial animal and aqua feed.
Particularly, with regard to animal feeds containing antibiotics, these principles must be met:
- Prohibit using antibiotics in aqua feeds;
- Ensure that antibiotics used in animal feeds for promoting growth of livestock and poultry must be emplaced in the classification list of antibiotics allowed for use in animal feeds;
- Assure that antibiotics used in animal feeds for the purpose of curing livestock and poultry diseases and preventing immature livestock and poultry diseases must be those approved for sale in Vietnam;
- Allow a maximum of 02 types of antibiotics used in an animal and aqua feed product.
7. Decree No. 41/2017/ND-CP dated 5 April 2017 of the Government amends and supplements a number of articles of the Decree on administrative penalties for violations in fields of aquaculture, veterinary, animal breeds, animal feed; forest management, development and protection, and forestry product management. The Decree enters into force from 20 May 2017 and replaces Decree No. 40/2015/ND-CP dated 27 April 2015.
According to the Decree, the use of any banned substance in animal husbandry and aquaculture shall be fined from VND70 million to VND 100 million.
Individuals and organizations using banned substances in animal husbandry and aquaculture shall also be subjected to 6-12 month suspension instead of the current 1-3 month suspension.
The transport, trading, collection, storage, processing of animal products containing banned substances shall be fined between VND 40 million to VND 50 million.
8. Decision No. 07/2017/QD-TTg dated 27 March 2017 of the Prime Minister on non-stop electronic toll collection takes effect from 15 May 2017.
This Decision deals with non-stop electronic toll collection from statutory vehicles nationwide and use of data from non-stop toll plazas for vehicle load control purpose, applies to organizations and individuals relating to non-stop toll collection and use of data from non-stop toll plazas for vehicle load control purpose.
9. Circular No. 06/2017/TT-BGTVT dated 28 February 2017 of the Ministry of Transport on prescribing the process for using technical and professional equipment and instruments, and use results obtained from technical and professional equipment and instruments as bases for determination of administrative violations and imposition of administrative penalties for violations arising from road traffic activities took effect from 1 May 2017.
This Circular provides for the process for using weighing system and camera device in order to check the weight of vehicles and detect violations against regulations on road traffic activities to be used as bases for determination of administrative penalties
This Circular shall be applied to: (i) Road regulatory authorities, including the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, the Road Management Department, the Road Management Sub-department and the Department of Transport; (ii) Entities performing road inspection functions, including the Inspectorate of Ministry of Transport, the Inspectorate of Department of Transport and those authorized to perform specialized road inspection functions; and, (iii) Organizations authorized to use, operate and maintain road traffic infrastructure facilities and other relevant organizations or individuals.
10. Circular No. 08/2017/TT-BGDDT dated 4 April 2017 of the Ministry of Education and Training on introducing regulations on doctoral enrolment and training shall enter into force from 18 May 2017 and replace the Circular No. 10/2009/TT-BGDDT dated 7 May 2009 and Circular No. 05/2012/TT-BGDDT dated 15 February 2012.
These Regulations shall be applied to national universities, regional universities, academies, higher education establishments (inclusive of higher education establishments as members of national universities or regional universities) that are commissioned to offer doctoral training, and scientific research institutes that obtain permission to offer doctoral degree programs, and other related entities and individuals.
These Regulations shall not be applied to doctoral degree program, partnership doctoral degree programs between local institutions and overseas ones in which the doctoral degree is awarded by the latter, partnership doctoral degree programs between local and overseas institutions in which the doctoral degree is awarded by both partners
11. Beside the documents mentioned as above, other legal normative documents also come into effect as from May 2017, including:
- Circular No. 42/2016/TT-NHNN dated 30 December 2016 of the State Bank of Vietnam promulgating on ranking of People’s Credit Funds took effect as from 1 May 2017;
- Circular No. 03/2017/TT-BXD dated 16 March 2017 of the Ministry of Construction guiding the determination of costs of maintenance of construction works took effect as from 1 May 2017;
- Circular No. 06/2017/TT-BLDTBXH dated 8 March 2017 of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs on recruitment, employment, and training applicable to vocational education teachers took effect from 1 May 2017 and replaces Decision No. 57/2008/QD-BLDTBXH dated 26 May 2008 and Circular No. 41/2015/TT-BLDTBXH of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs dated 20 October 2015;
- Circular No. 07/2017/TT-BNNPTNT dated 21 March 2017 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development introducing the National Technical Regulation on “Fishery product - Frozen Tra fish fillets” takes effect as from 5 May 2017;
- Circular No. 28/2017/TT-BTC dated 12 April 2017 of the Ministry of Finance amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 45/2013/TT-BTC dated 25 April 2013 and Circular No. 147/2016/TT-BTC dated 13 October 2016 of the Ministry of Finance guiding regulation on management, use and depreciation account of fixed assets shall take effect as from 26 May 2017 and it is applicable from the fiscal year of 2016./.