Regulations on price negotiation from July 1, 2024 in Vietnam

Price negotiation from July 1, 2024 is specifically regulated in the Law on Prices 2023 (taking effect on July 1, 2024) with the following contents:

Criteria for goods and services subject to price negotiations in Vietnam

- Not being included in the list of goods and services priced by the state; not falling into cases subject to bidding or auction according to laws on procurement and auction.

- Being exclusive in purchase or sale, in which sellers and buyers must be irreplaceably dependent on each other.

Regulations on price negotiation from July 1, 2024 in Vietnam (Internet image)

Price negotiation principles, competence, and responsibilities in Vietnam

(1) Price negotiation principles:

- Those that request price negotiations must be organizations that provide goods and services purchasing or selling goods and services meeting the criteria prescribed in Article 25 of the Law on Prices 2023;

- The receipt and organization of price negotiations must be performed voluntarily and equally in terms of rights and obligations; sellers and buyers must have written requests for price negotiations;

- The price negotiation process must ensure objectivity, publicity, transparency, and respect for the rights to pricing of parties requesting the price negotiation.

(2) Competence and responsibilities for price negotiations:

- Ministries and ministerial agencies shall take charge of price negotiations over the prices of goods and services under fields within their management scope in which the sellers, buyers, or both parties are 100% state-owned enterprises prescribed by laws on management and use of state capital for investment in production and business at enterprises;

- Departments shall take charge of price negotiations over the prices of goods and services under fields within their management scope in which the sellers and buyers do not fall into the case prescribed in Point a of this Clause.

If the seller and buyer are headquartered in 2 different provinces or centrally affiliated cities, they shall make an agreement on requesting either of the provinces or centrally affiliated cities to organize the price negotiation.

If the seller and buyer cannot agree on the host of the price negotiation, the department of specific fields and sectors in areas where the seller registered for business shall take charge of the price negotiation. If the seller is a branch of an enterprise, the department in charge of specific fields and sectors in areas where such branch is registered for operations shall take charge of the price negotiation.

Price negotiation organization in Vietnam

- Upon written requests for a price negotiation of the seller and buyer of goods and services, the price negotiation agency shall review and assess the fulfillment of criteria of goods and services following Article 25 of the Law on Prices 2023.  In case of necessity, the price negotiation agency shall request related parties to provide additional information on goods and services in writing.

- The price negotiation agency shall organize a price negotiation conference for the seller and buyer to negotiate over the price based on the cooperation and beneficial balance between parties. The seller and buyer shall appoint representatives to participate in the conference in writing.

- At the price negotiation conference, the price negotiation agency shall be the intermediary between the buyer and seller for them to negotiate over the price and not interfere in the negotiated price.

- At the price negotiation conference, if the seller and buyer agree on the price, the conference ends, and the price negotiation agency shall prepare a minute on the negotiation result for related parties to sign.

The negotiated price shall only be applied to the purchase, sale, and quantity of goods and services as agreed by parties in the written request for the price negotiation; the negotiated price does not hold any value for other cases. The seller and buyer shall take responsibility for their negotiated price.

- If the seller and buyer fail to agree on the price and continue to request the price negotiation agency to determine the price, the agency shall prepare a minute on such content. The price negotiation agency shall continue to determine the price for the 2 parties to implement.

The document determining the price of the price negotiation agency shall only be applied once for entities that request the negotiation for the intended purchase, sale, and quantity of goods and services as agreed by parties in the written request. The determined price does not hold any value for other cases. The seller and buyer shall comply with the price determined by the agency.

Mai Thanh Loi

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