In the working session on April 6, 2016, the National Assembly voted to pass 4 draft laws.
Article table of contents
The enacted laws include: the Law on Export and Import Tax (amended); the Law on Pharmaceuticals (amended); the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Law on Value-Added Tax, the Law on Special Consumption Tax, and the Law on Tax Administration; the Law on Access to Information.
Ensuring Citizens' Right to Access Information
With a 88.46% approval, the Law on Access to Information, consisting of 5 chapters and 37 articles, has been passed by the National Assembly. All citizens are equal and not discriminated against in exercising the right to access information. Restrictions on access to information must be stipulated by law in cases necessary for reasons of national defense, national security, social order, social safety, social ethics, and public health.
Moreover, favorable conditions are created for people with disabilities, those living in border areas, islands, mountainous regions, and areas with exceptionally difficult socio-economic conditions to exercise their right to access information.
The Law on Access to Information takes effect on July 1, 2018.
Revocation of Professional Certificates for Not Continuously Updating Professional Knowledge
The Law on Pharmaceuticals consists of 14 chapters and 116 articles and takes effect on January 1, 2017.
The National Assembly deputies agreed that the professional certificates are issued once and will be revoked if the professional knowledge is not continuously updated. Additionally, the Law on Pharmaceuticals stipulates state policies on pharmaceuticals and the development of the pharmaceutical industry; pharmaceutical practice, pharmaceutical business, registration for circulation, recall of drugs and medicinal materials; drug information, pharmacovigilance, and drug advertising… This law applies to domestic agencies, individuals, organizations, and foreign organizations and individuals involved in pharmaceutical activities in Vietnam.
New Provisions on Tax
The Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Law on Value-Added Tax, the Law on Special Consumption Tax, and the Law on Tax Administration includes 4 articles and has been passed by the National Assembly.
The amended Law on Export and Import Tax stipulates new regulations on goods not subject to tax such as transited goods, transshipped goods, transshipped via border, humanitarian aid, non-refundable aid, or goods exported from non-tariff zones to foreign countries, goods imported from abroad into non-tariff zones, petroleum used to pay royalties for the State when exported…
Furthermore, the taxable value for export and import tax is the customs value:
- For export goods, it is the selling price of goods up to the border checkpoint, not including international insurance and transportation fees;
- For import goods, it is the actual cost up to the first import checkpoint, in accordance with Vietnamese law and international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.
And many new amendments to the 2005 Law on Export and Import Tax.
The amended Law on Export and Import Tax takes effect on September 1, 2016.
According to the Government of Vietnam Electronic Portal
