On 30 December 2015 the Ministry of Construction issued Circular No. 11/2015/TT-BXD (“Circular 11”) regulating the issuance of real estate broker's practicing certificates; guiding the training on real estate brokerage and operation of real estate trading floors; and regulating the establishment and operation of real estate trading floors.

On 9 December 2015 the State Bank of Vietnam issued Circular No. 26/2015/TT-NHNN guiding on procedures for mortgage and lifting mortgage of houses yet to be built (“Circular 26”). Apart from regulations on lifting mortgages, Circular 26 provides guidance on the mortgage of house formed in the future (“Future House”) and residential house development projects (“Project”) only at credit institutions

This article forcus on the resolving disputes over domain names which are identical or confusingly similar to registered trademark, trade names in Vietnam. According to the current Law on Information Technology and regulations guiding the implementation thereof, such domain name disputes can be resolved in three ways: through negotiation or conciliation; arbitration; and litigation at the competent court.

Similar to the former 2005 Law on Enterprises, the new Law on Enterprises No. 68/2014/QH13 dated 26 November 2014 ("New LOE 2014") allows the contribution of intellectual property rights (“IPRs”) to count as capital of an enterprise.

Decree No. 78/2015/ND-CP on enterprise registration (Decree 78) has recently been issued to reinforce the spirit of “business freedom” of the 2014 Enterprise Law, providing detailed instructions and guidance on enterprise registration.

One of the notable points of the new Law on Enterprises, dated 26 November 2014 (“Law on Enterprise 2014”), is the relaxation of restrictions on the founding shareholders’ ordinary shares during the period of three years from the initial establishment date of the joint stock company (the “Lock-up Period”).

On 25 June 2015 the State Bank of Vietnam promulgated Circular No. 07/2015/TT-NHNN on bank guarantees, effective from 9 August 2015 (Circular 07), to replace Circular No. 28/2012/TT-NHNN dated 3 October 2012 (Circular 28).

On 26 November 2014 the National Assembly of Vietnam adopted a new law on investment (“2014 Investment Law”) which will take effect on 1 July 2015 and replace the current 2005 Investment Law. Under this new law, there are many changes designed to open opportunities for foreign investors through new provisions on licensing procedures applicable to certain common investment forms, including (i) investment along with setup of enterprise; and (ii) investment under the way of capital contribution or shares purchase in enterprises in Vietnam.

On 14 February 2015 the Government of Vietnam enacted Decree No. 15/2015/ND-CP (“Decree 15”) regulating the investment in the form of public-private partnership (“PPP”) that took effect on 10 April 2015 and replaced the following legislation: (a) Decree No. 108/2009/ND-CP of the Government, dated 27 November 2009, on investment in the forms of BOT (Build-Operate – Transfer), BTO (Build - Transfer – Operate) and BT (Build – Transfer) contracts (as amended by Decree No. 24/2011/ND-CP dated 5 April 2011); and (b) Decision No. 71/2010/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, dated 9 November 2010, issuing the trial regulations on investment in the PPP form.

On 26 November 2014 the Vietnamese National Assembly passed a new Law on Investment (“LOI”). The LOI appears to make changes to the existing investment structure that will incentivize investment activities and improve the operating environment. The LOI redefines the term of “foreign investor” and offers fewer conditional investment sectors in comparison with the current Law on Investment 2005.

Author:  Nguyen Duong Nguyet Ngan

On 25 November 2014 the National Assembly passed the Law on Real Estate Business No. 66/2014/QH13 (the “New REB Law”) which will take effect on 1 July 2015 and replace the Law on Real Estate Business No. 63/2006/QH11, dated 29 June 2006 (the “Current REB Law”).

On November 26, 2014, the same promulgation day of Investment Law 2014, the National Assembly of Vietnam promulgated a new enterprise law with many positive new regulations and meaningful reforms (Enterprise Law 2014), which will take effect from July 1, 2015 and replace the current Enterprise Law 2005.

On August 11, 2014 the State Bank of Vietnam enacted Circular No. 19/2014/TT-NHNN (Circular 19) guiding the foreign exchange control of foreign direct investment activities in Vietnam. There are several noticeable points which significantly affect the activities of capital contribution, account utilization and overseas remittance for enterprises with foreign direct investment capital (FDI enterprises) and foreign investors (Investors) directly investing in Vietnam.

Vietnam has been ranked 15^th for Internet users internationally, however only 20 percent of those users in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City use the internet for online shopping.

Under the Vietnamese regulations of Internet service and online information, social network is defined as an information system that provides its users with such services as storage, provision, use, search, sharing and exchange of information, including the provision of the service of creating private websites, forums, online chat rooms, audio and video sharing, and other similar services.

On July 17^th, 2014 the Government issued Decree No. 70/2014/ND-CP (Decree 70) guiding the implementation of a number of articles of Ordinance No. 28/2005/PL-UBTVQH11 dated December 13^th, 2005 on Foreign Exchange Control as amended by Ordinance No. 06/2013/PL-UBTVQH13 dated March 18^th, 2013 (Ordinance 28) Decree 70 takes effect from September 5^th, 2014 and replaces Decree No. 160/2006/ND-CP dated 28 December 2006 governing the same matter (Decree 160).

On May 14^th, 2014 the Government issued Decree No. 42/2014/ND-CP on the management of multi-level marketing activities (Decree 42) to replace the previous Decree No. 110/2005/ND-CP, dated August 24^th, 2005, governing the same matter (Decree 110).

Decree No. 44/2013/ND-CP dated May 10^th, 2013, (Decree 44) addresses a number of issues in last year’s Labor Code.

The Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 16/2013/TT-BTC, dated 8 February 2013, guiding implementation of Resolution No. 02/NQ-CP, dated 7 January 2013, of the Government on several remedies for solving the business difficulties, assisting the market and resolving bad debts ("Circular 16"). Remedies addressed by Circular 16 are optional incentives regarding  corporate income tax (CIT), value added tax (VAT), land rent and land use fees.

Law 36/2009/QH 12 dated June 29, 2009, amends and supplements a number of Articles of Law on Intellectual Property 2005 (Law on Intellectual Property) and provides some new amended regulations on establishment of industrial property rights, including, inter alia, regulations on rights to registration of a collective mark, certification mark in respect of the geographical name or other signs indicating the geographical origin of special products from Viet Nam, the first-to-file principle, time limits for examination of the applications for registration of IP objects.