LEGAL NEWS UPDATE ON MAY, 2020

In May 2020, a number of new legislations were issued, related to many fields including:

i) Decree 35/2020/ND-CP Guiding the implementation of the 2018 Competition Law;

ii) Decree 38/2020/ND-CP of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese laborers working abroad under contracts;

iii) Decree 45/2020/ND-CP of the Government on implementation of administrative procedures in the electronic environment;

iv) Circular 15/2020/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance guiding the printing, issuance, management, and use of stamps for alcohol for production for domestic consumption and imported wine;

v) Decree No. 36/2020/ND-CP stipulating sanctions against administrative violations in the field of water resources and minerals.

I. Decree 35/2020/ND-CP Guiding the implementation of the Competition Law 2018

Decree 35/2020/ND-CP issued on March 24, 2020, provides detailed guidance on the implementation of the Vietnam Competition Law 2018. The Decree provides two important contents including:

- 02 cases of controlling or controlling an acquired enterprise or its business line include:

• The acquiring enterprise acquires ownership over 50% of charter capital or more than 50% of voting shares of the acquired enterprise;

• The acquired enterprise acquires ownership or right to use more than 50% of the acquired assets in the whole or a business line of that acquired enterprise.

- Regulating types of barriers to market entry and expansion affecting competition including:

• The legal barriers created by laws and government policies include regulations on import duties and import restrictions; technical regulations; conditions and procedures for producing and trading in goods and services; regulations on the use of goods and services; professional standards and other administrative decisions of state management agencies.

• Financial barriers include costs of investment in the production and trading of goods and services, access to capital, credit, and other financial resources of enterprises.

• Initial market entry costs that businesses cannot recover when withdrawing from the market.

• Barriers to access and hold supply, essential infrastructure for production and business; distribution network, consumption of goods and services on the market.

• Consumption practices.

• Business practices and practices.

• Barriers related to the exercise of intellectual property rights of individuals and organizations, including copyright and copyright-related rights, industrial property rights, and rights to plant varieties as prescribed by laws on intellectual property rights.

• Barriers to entering and expanding other markets.

Decree 35/2020/ND-CP officially takes effect from May 15, 2020.

II. Decree 38/2020/ND-CP of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese laborers going to work abroad under contracts

On April 3, 2020, the Government issued Decree No. 38/2020/ND-CP detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese laborers going to work abroad under contracts, specifically:

This Decree prescribes the areas and jobs workers must not go to work abroad; licenses, conditions, and procedures for the grant or replacement of licenses for provision of services to send workers abroad; operating conditions for bringing foreigners to work in the territory of Taiwan (China), to practice skills in Japan and to work as domestic servants in the host country of the Middle East; regulations on responsibilities of the relevant agencies.

The decree stipulates that service enterprises that send workers abroad are limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, and partnerships established and operating under the Enterprise Law. to meet the following conditions on capital: The legal capital is not lower than 5 billion VND; have owners, all members, shareholders are domestic investors under the provisions of the Investment Law.

A service enterprise must have an operation plan to send workers abroad. The content of the project must be in accordance with the law of Vietnam and the receiving country.

Decree 38/2020/ND-CP officially takes effect from May 20, 2020.

III. Decree 45/2020/ND-CP of the Government on the implementation of administrative procedures in the electronic environment

The Government has just issued Decree No. 45/2020/ND-CP on the implementation of administrative procedures on the electronic environment, which clearly states: Maximize the steps of implementing administrative procedures on the electronic environment to save time, cost, and effort of organizations, individuals and competent agencies.

The Decree stated that the implementation of administrative procedures in the electronic environment has the same legal value as other forms prescribed by law.

The organization of reception and settlement of administrative procedures in the electronic environment is carried out legally, rationally, and scientifically; ensure equality, objectivity, publicity, transparency, information security, and close coordination between competent agencies in the process of handling administrative procedures. The implementation of administrative procedures in the electronic environment must take organizations and individuals that require the implementation of administrative procedures on the electronic environment as the center, ensuring the language and simple implementation method. understand, easy to implement, contribute to the effective implementation of administrative procedure reform objectives.

Do not require organizations and individuals to declare and return data that administrative procedure-executing agencies are managing or are willing to share by other state agencies. Maximize the steps of implementing administrative procedures in the electronic environment to save time, costs, and efforts of organizations, individuals, and competent agencies.

The implementation of administrative procedures in the electronic environment does not increase charges and fees beyond the provisions of law.

Decree 45/2020/ND-CP officially came into effect on May 22, 2020.

IV. Circular 15/2020 / TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance guiding the printing, issuance, management, and use of stamps for liquor for production for domestic consumption and imported liquor

This Circular details Article 35 of Decree No. 105/2017/ND-CP on printing, issuing, managing, and using stamps for wine produced for domestic consumption and imported wine.

Accordingly, imported wine and domestically made liquor must be bottled (including jars, cans, bags, boxes, boxes). Each bottle is affixed with 1 stamp. In case a wine bottle uses an outer cellophane film, the stamp must be affixed to the bottle before being applied to the outside.

Wine stamps affixed to the place where the wine can be removed on the wine product packaging ensure that when opened, the stamps will tear and cannot be reused. In the case of importing large tanks and tanks for extracting bottles or producing finished wine, the tanks do not have to be affixed with stamps.

For bottled liquors imported through border gates, enterprises shall carry out and bear responsibility for sticking the imported liquor stamps at their establishments and report them to the customs offices where registration of import procedures is carried out. Actual amount used before customs clearance.

For imported finished wine and casks to be bottled domestically, the enterprises shall implement and bear responsibility for sticking the imported liquor stamps at bottling establishments before putting them on the market for consumption.

Organizations and individuals that produce liquor in the country must comply with the stamps for the wine products produced at the production location after the bottles are bottled and before bringing the products to domestic consumption.

Circular 15/2020/TT-BTC officially takes effect from May 7, 2020.

V. Decree No. 36/2020/ND-CP stipulating the sanctions against administrative violations in the field of water resources and minerals

Accordingly, administrative violations in the field of water resources prescribed in the Decree include Violation of regulations on the investigation, planning, exploration, exploitation, and use of water resources; violating regulations on reservoir and reservoir operation; violating regulations on the protection of water resources; violating regulations on prevention, combat and overcoming of harmful effects caused by water; violating regulations on community consultation and other violations.

Administrative violations in the field of minerals include Violation of regulations on mineral exploration and mining; violating regulations on auctioning of mining rights; violating regulations on the use of data and information on the results of geological surveys of minerals and mineral exploration; violating the regulations on the interests of localities and people where minerals are exploited; violating regulations on the protection of unexploited minerals; violating regulations on mine safety engineering and other violations.

Organizations and individuals that commit administrative violations in the field of water and mineral resources shall be subject to one of the main sanctioning forms, such as warning; The maximum fine for an act of administrative violation in the field of water resources is 250 million VND for individuals and 500 million VND for organizations. The maximum fine for an act of administrative violation in the field of minerals is 1 billion VND for an individual and 2 billion VND for an organization; deprivation of the right to use permits to explore, exploit and use water resources, discharge wastewater into water sources; License to practice underground water drilling; Permits for mineral exploration and exploitation are from 1 month to 24 months.

Depending on the nature and seriousness of violations, violating organizations and individuals may be subject to one or many additional sanctions such as deprivation of the right to use permits for exploration, exploitation, and use of water resources, discharging sewage into water sources; underground water drilling practice license; license for mineral exploration and exploitation from 1 month to 24 months. Suspension of activities of elaborating and executing schemes and projects on water resources; suspend activities of exploration, exploitation of water resources, exploration, mineral exploitation from 1 month to 12 months. Confiscation of material shreds of evidence and specimens being minerals and means used for administrative violations.

Decree 36/2020/ND-CP officially takes effect from May 10, 2020.