Legal news in November 2017 in Viet Nam

1.Addition to the list of countries whose citizens can be granted with e-visa by Vietnam On 29 November 2017, the Government has issued Resolution No. 124/NQ-CP on addition to the list of countries whose citizens are pilot granted with e-visa.  Pursuant to this Resolution, there will be 06 additional countries whose citizens are pilot-granted with e-visa as stipulated in Article 9.1 of Decree No. 07/2017/ND-CP, including: Australia, United Arab Emirates, Canada, India, Netherlands, and New Zealand. Thus, such 06 country addition to the list of 40 existing countries like Korea South, Germany, etc., as stipulated in Decree No. 07/2017/ND-CP will make a total...

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Legal news in October 2017 in Viet Nam

Strengthening supervision of transactions on the stock market On 25 October 2017, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No.115/2017/TT-BTC, providing guidelines for supervision of trading on the stock market ("Circular 115"). Whereby: Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD) will become another supervisory entity, apart from two existing entities, including the State Securities Commission (SSC) and the Stock Exchange (SE). VSD plays a major role in monitoring the rate of use of deposit as collateral assets per each account of investor and member of the clearing  house; and monitoring the limit of position of investor during participation in trading derivative securities. At...

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Legal news September 2017 in Viet Nam

1.Guidelines for conversion of investment costs for construction of building works On 20 September 2017, the Ministry of Construction issued Decision No.964/QD-BXD, providing guidelines for conversion of investment costs for construction of building works. Whereby: (a) Conversion of investment costs for construction of building works shall be conversion of items of investment costs already finalized in term of the price level at the time of hand-over for putting into use. The conversion is intended to determine the newly increased value of assets formed by investment and shall be taken as the basis for finalization of the completed project. (b) Conversion will be...

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Legal news August 2017 in Viet Nam

1.Term of licenses for receiving and paying in foreign currency in prize-winning electronic gaming business This is the highlighted content of Circular No. 11/2017/TT-NHNN dated 30 August 2017 of Vietnam State Bank on foreign exchange control in business activities of prize-winning electronic games for foreigners (“Circular 11”). This Circular provides new regulations on term of license for receiving and paying in foreign currency and other activities in foreign currency, under which the term is equal to the remaining term of one of the following documents: (a) Certificate of satisfaction of regulatory conditions for business of prize-winning electronic gaming; (b) Certificate of investment registration...

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Geographical indication protection of “Quản Bạ” for seedless persimmon

A Geographical Indication in Viet nam (GI) is a name or sign which identifies goods as having a specific geographical origin, and possessing qualities, reputation, or characteristics that are essentially attributable to products from that place of origin. GIs have been recognised in Vietnam since the promulgation of the Vietnam IP Law in 2005. Per Article 4.22 of the Vietnam IP Law in 2005, “A geographical indication means a sign which identifies a product as originating from a specific region, locality, territory or country”. Vietnam has over fifteen years of experience in GI protection, and GIs are considered an important...

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Legal News June 2017 in Viet Nam

  Finance Law No. 15/2017/QH14 dated 21 June 2017 of the National Assembly on management and use of public assets. Decision No. 23/2017/QD-TTg dated 22 June 2017 of the Prime Minister, on amendment and supplement to some articles of Decision No. 246/2006/QD-TTg dated 27 October 2006 of the Prime Minister, on setting up the Cooperative Development Assistance Fund and promulgating the Regulation on credit guarantee and post-investment interest support activities of this Fund. Decision No. 20/2017/QD-TTg dated 12 June 2017 of the Prime Minister, providing for operations of microfinance programs and projects by political, socio-political, or non-governmental organizations. Decision No....

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Legal News May 2017 in Viet Nam

Amendment and supplement to Decree detailing a number of Articles and implementation measures of the Law on Lawyers Draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of Articles of Decree No.123/2013/ND-CP detailing a number of Articles and implementation measures of the Law on Lawyers, has been developing by the Ministry of Justice with significant amendments on code of professional conducts and standards for a lawyer. Accordingly, the draft Decree adds provisions on ethics of lawyer: “Lawyer must be a person who has integrity, honesty, responsibility in professional activities to protect justice and fairness, must not do against laws and profession morality...

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Legal News April 2017 in Viet Nam

Officially decreasing rate of social insurance premium payable by employers as of 1 June 2017 On 14 April 2017, the Government issued Decree No. 44/2017/ND-CP, on the rate of compulsory social insurance premium contributed to Occupational accident and diseases insurance fund (“Decree 44”). Accordingly, from 1 June 2017, the rate of compulsory social insurance premium contributed to Occupational Accident and Diseases Insurance Fund by employers shall be 0.5% of the salary fund taken as the basis to calculate social insurance premiums for the employees, as specified in Points a, b, c, d, dd and h of Clause 1 of Article 2...

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Legal News March 2017 in Viet Nam

1. Practice in construction of product-by-process claim in Vietnam A product-by-process claim is understood worldwide as a patent claim in which a product claimed by defining the process by which the product is made, and this claim type is at present permitted in many jurisdictions. In Vietnam, such a product-byprocess claim format is also permitted, however it is allowed under certain special circumstances only. As stated in the Guidelines for Patent Examination issued by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (hereinafter referred to as “the NOIP’s Guidelines”) dated 31 March 2010, in the case that a product whose structure is...

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