03 New Laws passed at the 2nd Session of the 14th National Assembly of Vietnam

1. Abolishing multiple conditional business lines in Vietnam starting January 1, 2017

This is the content mentioned in Law No. 03/2016/QH14 amending and supplementing Article 6 and Appendix 4 on the list of conditional business lines of the Investment Law. Accordingly:

- Issuing a new list consisting of 243 conditional business lines instead of the current 268 lines.- Adding investment and business activities in fireworks to the list of prohibited business activities;

See details of the list of 243 conditional investment and business lines in Law No. 03/2016/QH14 effective from January 1, 2017. Specific conditional investment and business lines effective from July 1, 2017, include:

- Business in disguising equipment and software used for recording, filming, and locating;- Manufacturing, assembling, and importing automobiles.

1. Recognition of the legal entity status of religious organizations in Vietnam 

The Law on Belief and Religion officially approved by the 14th National Assembly on November 18, 2016, includes many notable new points such as:

- The right to freedom of belief and religion is expanded to be the right of everyone, not just citizens;- The right to freedom of belief is regulated in a separate chapter with many specific provisions;

- Foreigners legally residing in Vietnam are respected and protected by the Vietnamese State regarding their right to freedom of belief and religion;

- It strictly prohibits discriminatory acts, stigmatization due to belief or religion, coercion, bribery, or obstruction of others to follow or not follow any belief or religion;- It recognizes the legal entity status of religious organizations.

The Law on Belief and Religion takes effect from January 1, 2018, replacing the Ordinance on Belief and Religion.

1. Permitting the auction of bad debts and collateral assets of bad debts in Vietnam 

The ​​Law on Property Auction 2016 approved by the 14th National Assembly in its 2nd session allows the auction of bad debts and collateral assets of bad debts:

- The organization with 100% state-owned capital established by the Government of Vietnam to handle bad debts of credit institutions (bad debt handling organization) is permitted to auction bad debts and collateral assets of bad debts of the bad debt handling organization;

- When bad debts and collateral assets of bad debts are auctioned, the bad debt handling organization signs a service contract for the auction of assets with an auction organization or conducts the auction themselves.

At the same time, the Law on Property Auction also specifies prohibited acts for auctioneers, auction organizations, the Asset Auction Council, asset holders, auction participants, successful bidders, and other individuals and organizations involved in auction activities.

The Law on Property Auction takes effect from July 1, 2017 (with Section 4, Article 80 effective from January 1, 2017).

1. Adjusting various administrative penalty levels for invoices from December 15, 2016

According to Circular 176/2016/TT-BTC (effective from December 15, 2016), amending and supplementing several articles of Circular 10/2014/TT-BTC, adjustments of some administrative penalty levels for invoices include:

- Reducing the penalty for printing invoices without a written contract to between 500,000 to 1,500,000 VND (current regulation is 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 VND);

- Adding a penalty of 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 VND for printing invoices when the tax authority has issued a written notice stating that the enterprise is not eligible to print invoices;

- Adding a penalty of 500,000 to 1,500,000 VND for the following violations:

- Submitting notification of information adjustment to the tax authority when the business changes its address later than 10 days from the date of starting to use invoices at the new address.

- Using invoices that have been notified to the tax authority but are not yet in use (5 days from the date of sending the notification of issuance).

1. Suspending the issuance of A, B, C application informatics certificate templates in Vietnam  from December 15, 2016

This is a requirement from the Ministry of Education and Training (GD&T) stated in Official Dispatch 6078/BGDDT-GDTX dated December 13, 2016, enhancing management in organizing exams and issuing application informatics certificates according to Inter-ministerial Circular 17/2016/TTLT-BGDDT-BTTTT. Accordingly:

- From December 15, 2016, the Ministry of Education and Training will suspend the issuance of A, B, C application informatics certificate templates;

- For training courses organized before August 10, 2016, the training programs should be quickly concluded, and exams and certificates should be issued to the learners.

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