On 12 June 2018, the Cybersecurity Bill was ratified by the National Assembly of Vietnam with an approval rate of 86.86%. The Cybersecurity Law is due to take effect on 1 January 2019 and provides regulations on the protection of national security, ensuring social order and safety in cyberspace. It also covers the responsibilities of concerned agencies, organizations and individuals when creating, transmitting, collecting, processing, archiving and communicating information in cyberspace.

Foreign Investors in Vietnam treat education as an attractive sector for investment. Seeing the need for a more effective regulatory legal framework in this field to attract more foreign investment, the Government promulgated Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP, dated 6 June 2018 (“Decree 86”), which will go into effect on 1 August 2018. Decree 86  regulates  foreign  cooperation  and  investment  in  the  education  sector  comprising: education  and  training  in  cooperation  with  foreign  parties;  educational  institutions with foreign invested capital; and foreign educational representative offices in Vietnam.

On 20 April 2018 the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular No. 6/2018/TT-BCT detailing provisions on trade remedies (“Circular 6”).

On 2 February 2018, the Government promulgated Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP guiding some articles of the Law on Food Safety 2010 (“Decree 15”) which took effect on 2 February 2018

Being one of the most noticeable legal documents issued by Vietnam's government at the end of 2017, Decree No. 116/2017/ND-CP dated 17 October 2017 regulates the statutory conditions of vehicle manufacture, assembly, import and warranty & maintenance services ("Decree 116"). These regulations only apply to companies operating in automobile manufacture, assembly, import, warranty, and maintenance services in Vietnam, and for related authorities, organizations and individuals.

On 15 January 2018, the Government has promulgated Decree No. 09/2018/ND-CP detailing the Commercial Law and the Law on Foreign Trade Management on the purchase of goods and related activities of foreign investors and foreign invested companies in Vietnam (“Decree 09”). This new decree took effect from the date of promulgation and replaced Decree No. 23/2007/ND-CP dated 12 February 2007 (“Decree 23”).

The National Assembly of Vietnam passed Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13 (the “New Penal Code”) on 27 November 2015. However, due to technicalities and modifications by the issuance of Law No. 12/2017/QH14 on amendments to the Penal Code on 20 June 2017, the New Penal Code came into effect on 1 January 2018. Among the other changes, the New Penal Code introduced new provisions on crimes of commercial legal entities. 

On 12 June 2017 the National Assembly of Vietnam issued Law No. 04/2017/QH14 on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (the “SME Support Law”) which took effect on 1 January 2018.

The simplification of administrative procedures has now been widely acknowledged as an aim of the Vietnamese government as part of its wider plan to attract more foreign investment.

On 14 September 2017, the Government promulgated Decree No. 105/2017/ND-CP on liquor trading (“Decree 105”) which will take effect as of 1 November 2017 and supersede Decree No. 94/2012/ND-CP dated 12 November 2012 on liquor production and liquor trading (“Decree 94”).

The government recently issued a decree to streamline the procedures and requirements for registration of security measures, and improve information disclosure for secured assets.Decree No. 102/2017/ND-CP on registration of security measures was issued on September 1, 2017 and took effect on October 15, 2017 and replaced Decree No. 83/2010/ND-CP dated July 23, 2010.

The Law on Technology Transfer No. 80/2006/QH11 (the “2006 LOTT”) was issued on 29 November 2006 when Vietnam was preparing for its accession to the WTO. During it’s more than 10 years of implementation, the 2006 LOTT contributed an important role in promoting innovation activities and technology transfers, applying advantages of science and technology in product manufacturing as well as frequently providing improvements in the lives of the people.

Since its promulgation in 2006, Decree No. 89/2006/ND-CP on labelling products (“Decree 89”) is based on legal documents which so far, have been invalidated and replaced by higher level legal documents (presently, the Law on Consumer Rights Protection, dated 30 October 2010, and the Law on Products and Goods Quality, dated 21 November 2007).

The retention of title (reserve of ownership right), a legal concept recognised throughout the world, has now officially become one of security measures for performance of obligations in Vietnam. Civil Code No. 91/2015/QH13 dated 24 November 2015, effective from 1 January 2017 (Civil Code 2015) outlines the regulations.

In a previous article regarding the challenges of resolving “.vn” domain name disputes in Vietnam, we mentioned the recent increase in the number of “.vn” domain names and concomitantly the increase in the number of “.vn” domain name disputes. Although there are four solutions to resolve such disputes, none of them seems good enough to meet plaintiffs’ demands.

On January 16, 2017, Vietnam’s government issued a decree that allows citizens to game at casinos. Decree No. 03/2017/ND-CP on casino business operations (Decree 03) took effect on March 15, 2017. As a three-year pilot scheme, Decree 03 allows Vietnamese citizens residing in Vietnam to access and game at Vietnam based casinos, as long as they are 21 or older, have a regular income of at least VND10 million (US$445) per month and receive no objections in writing from siblings, spouses and/or biological and adopted parents.

The State Bank of Vietnam (“SBV”) recently released Circular No. 41/2016/TT-NHNN, dated 30 December 2016, effective from 1 January 2020 on minimum capital adequacy ratio (“CAR”) for banks and foreign bank branches in Vietnam (“Circular 41”). Under Circular 41, the banks and foreign bank branches in Vietnam shall maintain the minimum CAR of 8% from 2020.

On 1 November 2016 the Vietnamese Government issued Decree No. 145/2016/ND-CP (“Decree 145”) amending and supplementing Decree No. 108/2013/ND-CP (“Decree 108”) on sanctions against administrative violations in the securities market. The issuance of Decree 145 which is effective as of 15 December 2016 is considered as a necessary step to ensure that sanctions cover new violations on the market and to ensure the deterrence as well as the prevention of violations.

After more than 10 years of implementation the Law on Pharmacy No. 34/2005/QH11, dated 14 June 2005 (the “Law on Pharmacy 2005”), was no longer sufficient to reflect the realities of practice, and needed to be revised and supplemented in order to catch up with practices and changes in the state policy in respect of pharmaceutical business. The National Assembly passed Law on Pharmacy No. 105/2016/QH13, dated 6 April 2016 (the “Law on Pharmacy 2016”), which will supersede the Law on Pharmacy 2005 on 1 January 2017.

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