On May 14, 2018, the Ministry of Transport issued Circular No.25/2018/TT-BGTVT regulating on crossroads and issuing Permit for construction of essential works within railway land areas. The Circular took effect since July 1, 2018.

Accordingly, Circular No.25/2018/TT-BGTVT regulates the procedures for issuance Permit for the construction of essential works within railway land areas as follows:

1. Competence to grant Permit for construction of essential works within national railway land areas shall belong to the Vietnam Railway Department; competence to grant Permit for the construction of essential works within urban railway land areas shall belong to the agencies under the decentralization and authorization of the provincial-level People’s Committees.
2. An organization which is an investor of a construction project within railway land areas shall make a dossier of application, submit the dossier directly or by post or send through network to the competent authority. Within 10 working days after receiving complete dossiers as prescribed, competent agencies shall grant Construction Permit according to set forms. In case of failure to issue a decision, a written reply must be made, clearly stating the reasons therefor.

With detailed and specific regulations, Circular No.25/2018/TT-BGTVT is expected to support project investors who want to construct works within railway land areas more easily when implementing this activity, thus attracting more investment capital in the field of infrastructure construction.

On May 12, 2018, the Government issued Decree No.65/2018/ND-CP detailing the implementation a number of articles of Railway Law 2017. The Decree took effect since July 1, 2018.
Accordingly, Decree No.65/2018/ND-CP details the list of spare parts, supplies and equipment for railways, including 17 parts for rolling stock and 6 parts for railway infrastructure as well as the expiry date for means of transport on railway as follows:
1. For locomotives, passenger carriages operating on the main lines of national railway, special-use railway or urban railway: No more than 40 years;
2. For freight wagons running on main railway lines of national railway or special-use railway: No more than 45 years;
3. For used imported means of transport on railway: Only used vehicles of 10 years or less may be imported for passenger wagons, locomotives, urban railway wagons and shall not exceed 15 years for freight wagons.
The time for calculating the use duration of a means of transport on railway shall be counted from the time the newly-built means is granted the quality and technical safety certificate by the registry organization or the quality certificate of the manufacturer.
With the detailed and specific regulations, it can be seen that Decree No.65/2018/ND-CP aims to ensure the safety of means of transport on railway, avoiding the use of vehicles which have expired but still put into operation, causing unsafety to the railway.

On May 7, 2018, the Government issued Decree No.64/2018/ND-CP stipulating sanctions against administrative violations in the field of livestock breeds, animal feeds and aquatic products. The Decree took effect since June 22, 2018.

Accordingly, Decree No.64/2018/ND-CP stipulates sanctions against administrative violations in the field of animal feed and fisheries as follows:

1. The administrative violations in the domain of livestock breeds, animal feeds and aquatic products prescribed in this Decree include: Violations the provisions of Decree No.39/2017/ND-CP on management animal feeds and aquatic products, including violations in production, processing of feeds and aquatic products; sale of feeds and aquatic products; importing animal feeds, aquatic products; testing of feeds and aquatic products; Producing, processing, trading, importing animal feeds and fisheries overdue; Using antibiotics, banned substances in production, trading, import of animal feeds and aquatic products; To use banned substances in breeding and aquaculture; Violation regulations on management and conservation of livestock gene sources; exploiting and preserving precious and rare livestock gene sources; assay and expertise of new livestock breeds; Producing, trading, exporting and importing livestock breeds; managing the quality of livestock breeds;
2. For each administrative violation in the field of livestock breeds, animal feeds, aquatic products, organizations or individuals subjected to the principal sanctioning forms shall be warned or fined. The fine level for administrative violation in the field of livestock breeds for individuals is 50 million VND, for violating organizations is 100 million VND. The fine level for administrative violation in the field of animal feeds and aquatic products for violating individuals is 100 million VND, for violating organizations is 200 million VND.

With detailed and specific regulations, Decree No.64/2018/ND-CP plays an important role in preventing and handling processing food for use in breeding and fishery which not ensure food safety, thereby protecting the health of consumers as well as improving the quality of agricultural-forestry-aquatic products exported to the international market.

On March 28, 2018, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No.29/2018/TT-BTC regulating the establishment, management and using funds of Program on development of supporting industries. This Circular took effect since May 11, 2018.

Accordingly, Circular No.29/2018/TT-BTC have some important points as follows:

1. Principles for using funds:

– Funds must be used for the right purposes and in accordance with the regime, subject to inspection and control by competent functional agencies;

– Make the final settlement of funds used according to current regulations.

2. Conditions for financial support:

– Contents of tasks and schemes conformable to standards and regulations;

– Tasks and schemes approved by competent agencies;

– The unit has invested capital or committed to invest sufficient funds to implement the project has been approved by competent authorities;

– The scheme is not supported by any state budget;

– In the two years before the filing date, one of the following cases has taken the lead in supporting the development of supporting industries with the “failing” test results; without the approval of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, to use the funds of the development of supporting industries not according to the current regulations.

3. Contents and levels to be considered for expenditure:

– Connect and support industrial enterprises to become product suppliers for domestic and foreign customers, to attract foreign investment in supporting industries fields: the expense level is from 70% to 100%;

– Support enterprises to apply management systems to meet the requirements of global production chains in corporate governance, production management: the expense level is 100%;

– Support training to improve the quality of human resources to meet the requirements of supporting industries: the expense level is 70%;

– Support research, development, application of technology transfer and renewal in trial production of components, spare parts, raw materials and materials: the expense level is from 50% to 100%;

– Support in the development and release of information on annual supporting industries: the expense level is 100%;

– Expenditure on the management of the program on supporting industries: the expense level is between 1.5% and 4%;

With specific and detailed regulations, Circular No.29/2018/TT-BTC plays an important role in the management and use the State’s funds in support of supporting industrial enterprises.

On April 24, 2018, the Judges’ Council of the Supreme People’s Court issued Resolution No. 01/2018/NQ-HDTP guiding the application of Article 66 and Article 106 of the Criminal Code on conditional parole. This Rsesolution took effect since June 9, 2018.

Accordingly, Resolution No.01/2018/NQ-HDTP regulates some conditions to be released before the deadline for persons serving imprisonment sentences for serious crimes, very serious crimes, extremely serious crimes specificially as follows:

1. The duration of serving the imprisonment sentence has been reduced;
2. Committing the crime for the first time;
3. There are many advances, good sense of improvement reflected in the good observance of the internal rules of prisons, detention camps and temporary custody houses; to study, labor or reform and must have enough time to classify the serving of fine sentences of up to one year in accordance with the provisions of law on execution of criminal judgments;
4. Having a clear place of residence;
5. Having served the additional penalty as penalty money, court costs and obligation to compensate for damage;
6. Having served at least half of the time-limit for imprisonment; at least 15 years for life imprisonment but reduced to termed imprisonment;
7. When considering the release of prisoners before the expiry of the conditional period, careful consideration must be taken to ensure that the release of prisoners before the expiry of the condition does not affect security, social order and safety, with cases of drug offenses, corruption, organized crime, subject matter mastermind, leader, commander, stubborn, opposed, hooligan, dangerous recidivism.

Therefore, Resolution No.01/2018/NQ-HDTP has specified the provisions of the Criminal Code, which is the basis for state management agencies to make decisions on conditional parole transparency. At the same time, the Resolution is also considered as a motive force for those who are serving prison sentences to reform well and soon return to integrate into the community.