Pursuant to Article 49 of the Law on Telecommunications No. 41/2009/QH12, holders of a registered national domain name “.vn” can, in theory, transfer the right to use their domain name, but, this regulation has not been able to proceed in practice due to the lack of specific mechanisms and regulations

On 1 July 2016, the Vietnamese Government issued Decree No. 86/2016/ND-CP (“Decree 86” or “Decree”) regulating the conditions for securities investment and business. The Decree applies to many agencies and entities involved in the Vietnamese securities market including branches in Vietnam of securities business organizations and foreign organizations to own charter capital of a securities business organization in Vietnam. Besides this, Decree 86 solves the problems on implementation of Decree No. 60/2015/ND-CP by supplementing through a number of new contents related to the main problems such as ownership of foreign investors, establishment and operation of a branch in Vietnam of a foreign securities company.

Decree No. 15/2015/ND-CP of the Government on public private partnership investment forms (the “PPP”) went into effect on 10 April 2015 (“Decree 15”), Ministries and other competent authorities of Vietnam have been promulgating legal documents guiding and/or detailing Decree 15 so as to fully establish the legal infrastructure for deploying PPP in practice.

Food safety and hygiene is on red alert in Vietnam. According to local papers and media, food poisoning happens almost everyday, in many different locations, and the result of some investigations shows that, substantially, food poisoning is caused by using substances banned in growing animals and plants, and/or in preparing food products, or by failing to follow regulations for the preservation of food products by farmers, food manufacturers, or food services providers.

On 31 December 2015 the State Bank of Vietnam (“SBV”) promulgated Circular No. 36/2015/TT-NHNN regulating the re-organization of credit institutions, in the form of merger, consolidation and conversion of legal forms of certain types of credit institutions, including only commercial banks and finance companies (“Circular 36”).

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.