1. Decree No. 26/2015/ND-CP of the Government dated 9 March 2015 promulgating regulations and policies applicable to officials who are too old for reelection or reappointment to termed positions and titles in the agencies of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the State and other socio-political organizations took into effect as from 1 May 2015.

The Decree provides policies applicable to three categories of officials ineligible to be reelected or reappointed to the aforesaid positions and titles, including officials who retire before reaching or continue working until the retirement age, or stop working to wait for attainment of the retirement age.

2. The Decree No. 28/2015/ND-CP of the Government dated 12 March 2015 guiding the implementation of some articles of the Law on Employment took into effect as from 1 May 2015.

According to the Decree, employers shall be provided with financial assistance with the maximum volume of VND 01 million/person/month to cover expenses of training, improving working skills in order to maintain employment for workers. To be eligible for the financial support, employers shall have to fully meet the following conditions:

- Having fully paid unemployment insurance premiums for laborers obliged to participate in unemployment insurance for at least full 12 consecutive months by the time of request for support;

- Meeting difficulties due to economic recession or other force majeure causes, forcing them to undergo restructuring or change production and business technologies;

- Lacking funds for organizing training and re-training to improve occupational skills qualifications for laborers;

- Having a plan on training and re-training to improve occupational skills qualifications for job maintenance, approved by an authorized state agency.

The duration of support for training and re-training to improve occupational skills qualifications for job maintenance for laborers must comply with the approved plan, but must not exceed 6 months.

3. Decree No. 29/2015/ND-CP of the Government dated 15 March 2015 detailing and guiding the implementation some articles of the Law on Notarization No. 53/2014/QH13 took into effect as from 1 May 2015.

This Decree prescribes in details conversion of public notary offices into private notary offices; procedures for consolidation, acquisition, transfer of private notary offices; incentives for private notary offices in disadvantaged areas and extremely disadvantaged areas; facilities of private notary offices; professional liability insurance of notaries.

According to Article 19 of this Decree, public and private notary offices must buy professional liability insurance for their notaries within 60 days from the day on which such notaries are registered for practice.
Insurance premium shall be agreed by insurers and public notary offices or private notary offices but it.

4. The Decree No. 30/2015/ND-CP of the Government dated 17 March 2015 guiding detailed implementation of the Bidding Law regarding investor selection took into effect as from 5 May 2015.

The Decree shall be applied to public-private partnership (PPP) projects and projects using land of high commercial value specified in the lists approved for construction in urban and new urban centres, commercial housing construction and multipurpose complexes which are not under PPP projects.

5. Decree No. 32/2015/ND-CP of the Government dated 25 March 2015 on construction cost management took into effect as from 10 May 2015.

This Decree regulates the management of construction costs including total construction investment, construction estimate, construction contract estimate, construction norms, construction prices, construction price indexes, payment for and finalization of construction contracts, etc. Accordingly, one of new points of this Decree is adding more regulated entities, including all projects funded by state budget, instead of projects that used at least 30% of state budget as prescribed in the replaced Decree (Article 2).

6. Decree No. 31/2015/ND-CP of the Government dated 24 March 2015 on detailed implementation of some articles of the Law on Employment covers regulations on conditions, assessment and grant of national occupational certificates. The Decree will take into effect as from 15 May 2015.

7. Decision No. 08/2015/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister dated 25 March 2015 on pilot performance of online social insurance transactions, state enterprises and agencies and non-business units and organizations, which took into effect as from 1 May 2015, are allowed to carry out the online registration of social, health and unemployment insurance and application for grant of social insurance books and health insurance cards.

According to the new regulation, the move also allows insurance-covered employees to see their insurance transaction results online, simplifying procedures for them and their employers. In addition, online insurance transactions will be conducted through the e-portal of the Vietnam Social Security or websites of e-transaction service providers in the field of social insurance.

8. Decision No. 09/2015/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister dated 25 March 2015 promulgating the Regulation on implementation of one-stop-shop (OSS) and inter-level OSS mechanisms in state administrative agencies at local level. The Decree will take into effect as from 15 May 2015.

The Regulation specifies the definitions and processes and agencies responsible for deploying the mechanisms. According to the Regulation, the Receiving and Returning Unit (RRU) is the focal point of contact which provides instructions of administrative procedures, receives task portfolio from individuals, organizations, and sends them to related functional organizations or authorized level of government for being proceeded, then takes the results and returns to the individuals and organizations.

9. Besides, other legal normative documents also come into effect as from May 2015, including:

- Decree No. 24/2015/ND-CP of the Government dated 27 February 2015 on detailed regulations and measures to implement a number of articles of the Law on Inland Waterway Transport and the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Inland Waterway Transport took into effect as from 1 May 2015;

- Circular No. 32/2015/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated 17 March 2015 guiding the determination of needs, resources and financing methods for the adjustment of salaries of officials and servants and salaried positions in the armed forces from the salary coefficient of 2.34 or less according to Decree No. 17/2015/ND-CP dated 14 February 2015 of the Government took into effect as from 4 May 2015;

- Circular No. 12/2015/TT-BNNPTNT of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development dated 16 March 2015 providing guidance on food safety inspection of goods originating from imported plants took into effect as from 5 May 2015;

- Circular No. 09/2015/TT-BTNMT of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment dated 23 March 2015 enacting economic - technical norms to set up and adjust land use plan and project took into effect as from 7 May 2015.

- Circular No. 36/2015/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated 23 March 2015 on modification of export tax rates applicable to gold jewellery, goldsmiths and other golden articles in subheadings 71.13, 71.14, 71.15 of export tax schedule took into effect as from 7 May 2015./.