Notable new policies of Vietnam effective from the end of June 2024

1. Vietnam’s general regulation on economic-technical norms for forest surveys 

On April 19, 2024, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam promulgated Circular No. 05/2024/TT-BNNPTNT on economic-technical norms for forest surveys. 

According to the Circular, the economic-technical norms for forest surveys are as follows: 

- The adjustment coefficient (K) shall be applied to calculate the necessary labor cost for each work item when preparing outlines and estimates based on specific conditions of each location and technical solution.

- The application of economic-technical norms shall comply with the requirements prescribed in technical criteria, standards, regulations, and guidelines promulgated by competent state authorities. 

- Costs and coefficients applied to forest surveys: 

+ Grade-based salary coefficient as per regulation; mobile allowances; allowances for hazardous and dangerous occupations; social insurance; unemployment insurance; trade union fees; 

+ Difficulty coefficient is the coefficient used for adjusting field labor rates when workers perform on-site work with different levels of difficulty;

+ Rates of technical workers that stop or quit working due to the weather of technical field workers.

- Costs of machinery and equipment for forest surveys shall not exceed 5% of costs of labor remuneration, 

- Costs of supplies, tools, power, water, and contact information shall not exceed 5% of costs of labor remuneration. 

- Economic-technical norms for specific types of forest surveys are prescribed in the Appendix enclosed with Circular No. 05/2024/TT-BNNPTNT.

See more details in Circular No. 05/2024/TT-BNNPTNT, effective as of June 22, 2024. 

2. Vietnam’s systems of statistical targets of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authorities 

On May 6, 2024, the Ministry of Labor – War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam promulgated Circular No. 04/2024/TT-BLDTBXH on the systems of statistical targets of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authorities.

According to the Circular, the systems of statistical targets of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authorities includes a collection of statistical criteria that reflect the main results of state management activities of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authorities to serve the assessment, situation prediction, strategy and policy planning, and development of the general socio-economic development plan of Vietnam and Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authorities in each period, and meet the demands for statistical information of organizations and individuals wishing to use the information of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authorities. 

The systems of statistical targets of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authorities includes a list of systems of statistical targets and contents of statistical targets specified in Appendix I and Appendix II enclosed with Circular No. 04/2024/TT-BLDTBXH.

See more details in Circular No. 04/2024/TT-BLDTBXH, effective as of June 21, 2024. 

3. Criteria for qualifications of college-level vocational education lecturers in Vietnam 

On May 10, 2024, the Minister of Labor – War Invalid and Social Affairs of Vietnam promulgated Circular No. 05/2024/TT-BLDTBXH on professional standards of vocational education lecturers. 

According to the Circular, the criteria for qualifications of college-level vocational education lecturers are as follows: 

- Requirements for the qualifications of college-level lecturers shall comply with Clauses 3 and 4 Article 54 of the Law on Vocational Education 2014. 

- Required vocational skill certificates for practical teaching at the college level:

+ Titles of Artisan of Merit, Artist of Merit, Doctor of Merit, or Teacher of Merit or higher; 

+ Degrees of Doctor of Specialist I or higher; Engineer degrees;

+ Bachelor’s degrees or equivalents or higher for the following majors: Art (excluding Art Theory, History, and Criticism; Theater Theory, History, and Criticism; Cinema and Television Theory, History, and Criticism; Dance Theory, History, and Criticism); Sports (excluding Sport Management); Computer and Information Technology; Accounting; Restaurant Management and Food Service; Teacher Training (pedagogical majors concerning English, Russian, French, Chinese, German, Japanese, and Korean; Physical Education; Sport Training); Foreign Language, Literature, and Culture; 

+ College and vocational college graduation diplomas; certificates of vocational practice skills at the vocational college level; practicing certificates or licenses as prescribed by the law; certificates of qualifications of seafarers according to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW Convention);

+ National certificates of vocational skills grade 3; certificates of excellent vocational skills at national vocational skill exams; certificates of worker grade of 5/7 or 4/6 or higher; 

+ Certificates of vocational skills grade 4 according to Niveau 4 DQR of Federal Republic of Germany; diplomas and advanced diplomas of vocational skills of Australia; certificates of national vocational skills level 3 or higher as prescribed in the National Occupational Skill Standard of Malaysia; 

+ Certificates of national, regional, and international prizes; certificates of training students to achieve national, regional, and prizes concerning vocational education; 

+ Other diplomas, certificates, and titles as prescribed by the law. 

See more details in Circular No. 05/2024/TT-BLDTBXH, effective as of June 25, 2024. 

4. Planning for 880-915 MHz and 925-960 MHz frequency bands for IMT public terrestrial mobile communication system of Vietnam 

On May 10, 2024, the Minister of Information and Communications of Vietnam promulgated Circular No. 04/2024/TT-BTTTT on the planning for the 880-915 MHz and 925-960 MHz frequency bands for the IMT system of Vietnam.  

Specifically, the planning for the 880-915 MHz and 925-960 MHz frequency bands until September 15, 2026 is as follows: 

- The 880-915 MHz and 925-960 MHz frequency bands shall be used to implement the public terrestrial mobile communication system in compliance with IMT-2000, IMT-Advanced, and IMT-2020 standards and their next versions following the frequency-division duplexing method (FDD); 

- The 880-915 MHz frequency band shall be used as the uplink frequency band, divided into B1, B2, B3, and B4 blocks with respective 10 MHz, 8,4 MHz, 8,2 MHz, and 8,2 MHz bandwidths;

- The 925-960 MHz frequency band shall be used as the downlink frequency band, divided into B1’, B2’, B3’, and B4’ blocks with respective 10 MHz, 8,4 MHz, 8,2 MHz, and 8,2 MHz bandwidths;

- The maximum limit of the total bandwidth that a licensed organization may use in the 880-915 MHz and 925-960 MHz frequency bands shall be 2x10 MHz following the FDD method; 

- Organizations licensed to use the frequency bands in the 880-915 MHz and 925-960 MHz frequency bands shall cooperate with each other in preventing and handling harmful interference;

- To not cause harmful interference to other radio systems licensed to operate in specific areas within the 880-915 MHz and 925-960 MHz frequency bands, organizations licensed to use frequency bands in the mentioned frequency bands shall adopt technical measures to handle harmful interference following the guidelines of the Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam (Authority of Radio Frequency Management).

See more details in Circular No. 04/2024/TT-BTTTT, effective as of June 24, 2024. 

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