On January 23,2018, the government issued Decree No.13/2018/ND-CP namely provided and the solution to implement the Law Access to information. This Decree took effect since July 01, 2018.
Accordingly, Decree No.13/2018/ND-CP clearly provides solutions for granting favorable opportunities for the disabled and those who reside in border regions, islands, mountainous regions, areas faced to extremely difficult social and economic conditions to practice their right of access to information. At the same time the Decree also provides about accessing to information of citizens via organization, enterprises and a form of requesting for information and solutions to implement Law on access to information. Specifically:
By issuing Decree No.13/2018/ND-CP, the Government has created a specific legal framework to support all citizens, especially those living in remote areas, people with disabilities have access to information more easily and conveniently. Thereby contributing to better protection of citizen rights and human rights in the spirit of the 2013 Constitution.
On April 06, 2016 the National Assembly issued the Law No.104/2016/QH13 Law on access to information. This Law took effect since July 01, 2018.
Accordingly, Law on access to information No.104/2016/QH13 has remarkable new regulations as following:
This law provides for the exercise of the Vietnamese citizens’ right of access to information of state agencies, foreigners who residing in Vietnam have right on requirement to access to information directly relate to their rights and duties. However, people cannot access all of information, the Law clearly provides the inaccessible information and conditional accessible information in the following cases:
– Classified information associated with politics, national defense and security, foreign relations, economics, science, technology and other fields as regulated by the law. Once classified information is declassified, citizens may access to it as regulated by the decision of the competent state agencies.
– Information the access to which is considered as harming the national interests, causing adverse influence on the national defense and security, international relations, social order and security, social ethics and the community health; harming human life, living or property of others; information classified as working secrets; those concerning internal meetings of state agencies; documents drafted by state agencies to serve their internal activities.
– Information relating to a trade secret may be accessible if the trade secret holder has assented to the access to such information;
– Information relating to secrets and privacy of an individual may be accessible if such individual grants an assent; information relating to family secrets may be accessible if there is an assent granted by all members of that family.
In addition, Law on Access to information also provides Heads of state agencies may, during the execution of their functions, tasks and powers, and where necessary, decide the provision of information concerning trade secrets, personal secrets and privacy or family secrets for the purpose of protecting interests and health of the community as regulated by relevant laws without asking for the assent of relevant entities.
On the other hand, the citizens have right of access to information in two methods:
Two above-cases, applicants for the provision of information must pay fees incurred from printing, photocopying, duplication, sending information (if any).
Therefore, it can be seen that Law on access to information No.104/2016/QH13 is necessary and suit to the trend of expending the democratic freedom rights of citizens and commitments to implement human rights that Vietnam has signed or acceded to.
On July 3, 2018, the Prime Minister issued Decision No.807/QD-TTg approving the target program to thoroughly handle the establishments causing serious environmental pollution in the public utility sector in the 2016-2020 period. This Circular took effect from the date of its promulgation.
Accordingly, Decision No. 807/QD-TTg regulates measures to thoroughly handle the establishments causing serious environmental pollution in the public utility sector as follows:
Through specific measures, Decision No.807/QD-TTg expresses the Government’s determination to restore polluted environments to ensure public health and to contribute to sustainable development of the country.
On June 02, 2018, the Prime Minister issued Decision No.800/QD-TTg amending and supplementing some contents of the National Strategy on Gender Equality during 2011-2020. This Decision took effect from the date of its promulgation.
Accordingly, Decision No.800/QD-TTg has revised some objectives of the National Strategy on Gender Equality, specifically as follows:
In addition, Decision No.800/QD-TTg also amended and supplemented a number of key measures for the implementation of the Strategy, including: formulation, approval and implementation planning work which is linked to the work of arranging, using, evaluating, training and compensating female cadres, civil servants and officials for positions and titles of leaders and managers at state agencies with specific targets and feasible solutions; to annually review, adjust and supplement the plannings.
It can be seen that, through the Decision No.800/QD-TTg, the Prime Minister has made specific and timely adjustments on gender equality in line with the socio-economic development in new stage, from which to enhance the understanding of the people, enhance the sense of responsibility in building a civilized and progressive society.
On June 26, 2018, the Government issued Decree No.91/2018/ND-CP on granting and management of sovereign guarantees. This Decree took effect since July 1, 2018.
Accordingly, the eligibility for sovereign guarantees and limit on sovereign guarantees are as follows:
– It has legal status, established lawfully in Vietnam and operated for at least 3 consecutive years prior to the date of submission of the dossier of request for approval of the guarantee or guaranty policy;
– It has not incurred loss for the last 3 consecutive years according to the audit report, except for the loss incurred due to adoption of state policies as approved by competent authority;
– It has no overdue debt when the application for a sovereign guarantee is submitted, including overdue debts with re-lending agencies, overdue debts with Debt Repayment Fund, overdue debts with the lenders for sovereign guarantees loans and overdue debts with other credit institutions.
– It has a feasible financial plan finalized by the Ministry of Finance and reported to the Prime Minister for approval;
– It has a minimum percentage of owner’s equity in the project of 20% of the total investment capital of the project approved by the competent agency, enclosed with the plan of allocating specific owner capital according to the progress of the project implementation;
– In case of issuance of bonds, the enterprise must satisfy the conditions for issuance of securities for notarization in accordance with the laws on securities and securities market.
– It has established and operated as per the law and raised funds in accordance with its charter promulgated by the competent authority;
– The guarantee amount is within the annual guarantee limit approved by the Government;
– The sovereign-guaranteed loan shall be used to carry out the state credit program as prescribed by the Government.
– For projects approved by the National Assembly or the Government for investment policies, the guarantee level shall be the original value of the loan or bond issue at maximum 70% of the total investment amount according to the investment decision of the authorized level.
– For projects approved by the Prime Minister for investment decisions, the guarantee level shall be the original value of the loan or bond issue at the maximum of 60% of the total investment amount according to the investment decisions.
– The Government guarantee for bonds issued by the policy bank is 100% maximum of the limit for issuance of government guaranteed bonds approved by the Prime Minister.
With specific and detailed regulations, Decree No.91/2018/ND-CP has been tightened in terms of both eligibility for sovereign guarantees and limit on sovereign guarantees as compared with previous documents, in line with the policies set by the Party and the State in the budget expenditures at the beginning of the year.
On June 20, 2018, the Ministry of Justice issued Circular No.08/2018/TT-BTP guiding the registration, provision of information, contract and exchange of information on registration of security measures in the Center for registration of transactions and assets. This Circular took effect since August 4, 2018.
Accordingly, the Circular No.08/2018/TT-BTP provides some new highlights as follows:
– A property lease with a term of one year or more or a contract with a lease term of less than one year, but the contracting parties agree on the extension and the total leasing term (including extended term) for one year or more;
– The financial leasing contract in accordance with the law on financial leasing;
– Contracts for the transfer of the right to reclaim the debt, including the right to reclaim an existing debt or the right to reclaim a future debt;
– Change, correct errors, delete registration of contracts registered in the above contracts.
Cases are excluded: contracts for the purchase of civil aircraft, financial leasing contracts for aircraft, contracts for the purchase of sea-going vessels, financial leasing contracts for sea-going vessels, contracts related to rights of using land and assets attached to land.
– Mortgage of movable property, except aircraft and sea-going vessels, including future mortgages;
– Reserve ownership in the case of sale and purchase of movable property, except for aircraft and sea-going vessels with reservation of ownership;
– Modify, correct errors, delete registration of security measures in the two cases above.
– A written notice on the disposal of the security property for the registered security measures.
As such, the Circular No.08/2018/TT-BTP specifically regulates the types of contracts that are registered for security measures upon request, thus providing the basis for the application and enforcement of the law on secured transactions are consistent and transparent.
Research on the current situation of Vietnam-Korea economic cooperation in several key areas shows that Korea is one of the most important trade and strategic partners of Vietnam. Over the past 22 years, economic relation between the two countries has developed rapidly across many sectors. These achievements were reiterated and reconfirmed in the signing of the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA) on 5 May 2015 in Hanoi. This event also marked a new milestone in bilateral economic ties in the coming time. Besides, the Vietnam-Korea economic relation will also be influenced by various factors of global, regional and national nature. The favorable and unfavorable factors can be summarized as follows:
Favorable conditions
The overall trend of regional and international cooperation has also created many favorable conditions for the development of bilateral ties between Vietnam and Korea. The achievements in the cooperation between the two countries in recent years are the combined result of Vietnam’s active foreign policy of “befriending all countries in the world” and Korea’s “look south” policy as well as a peaceful and cooperative environment, of which East Asia economic integration is one salient factor.
Vietnam and Korea are two East Asian countries with long-established traditions characterized by a sense of patriotism and abundance source of labourers who are industrious and avid for knowledge. Both countries were devastated by wars and both have industrialized on the basis of a mostly agrarian economy. Relations between Vietnam and Korea have a long history. Although in the past Korean troops fought in the Vietnam War, both countries nowadays want to “put aside the past and look to the future”. They have a shared determination of furthering the cooperation on the basis of mutal respect for the national independence and sovereignty in the long-term interest of both peoples, striving for stability, cooperation and prosperity in the region and the world.
Vietnam-Korea cooperation is still based on most immediate and complementary needs which are conducive to the economic development of each country. This is reflected in the statement made by late President Roh Moo-huyn on a visit to Vietnam: “Vietnam has abundant resources and labour while Korea has advanced technology and investment capital.” As companions who share strategic interests, the development of such a relation is highly beneficial.
In recent years, thanks to accelerated exchanges in the field of education, the two countries have been able to generate a good batch of labourers who know the language and understand the culture of the partner country. They will be the main forces to accelerate cooperation between the two countries.
Currently, with the open-door policy and increasing integration into the region and the world, Vietnam boasts a rapidly changing investment and business environment. Vietnam has established relations with multiple international organizations and countries around the world. The prospect of signing Free Trade Agreement with other countries and the amendment of the Law on Investment, Law on Enterprises, aided by the advent of the ASEAN Community at the end of this year, will create new opportunities for investors and businesses of both Vietnam and Korea.
The signing of VKFTA in 2015 after nine rounds of continuous negotiation since 2012 is a highlight in bilateral ties. Similar to commitments with WTO and other FTAs in which Vietnam is either already a member or in the process of negotiating, the signing of VKFTA will help further improve the business environment, allocate and use social resources in a more effective manner in order to speed up the process of restructuring the economy along the line of increasing added values and sustainable development. Under this Agreement, Vietnam’s exports will have more market opportunities as Korea opens wide its market according to commitments. Korea pledges to assist Vietnam in improving the capacity to formulate and enforce policies, better the competitiveness of the areas Korea is good at and Vietnam is in need of, in order to export sustainably agriculture, fishery and forestry products; electronics industry, oil refinery industry, supporting industry, etc. In an optimistic scenario, the VKFTA is expected to generate positive social benefits by creating more jobs for Vietnamese labour force, improving their incomes and eradicating poverty in the rural area.
Difficulties and challenges
Besides the foregoing favorable conditions, the economic relation between Vietnam and Korea also faces multiple challenges. Specifically:
Bilateral economic relation cannot be divorced from political relation. The two countries need to reiterate their policy to support each other in relevant international issues in a fast-changing and unpredictable regional and global context. The rise of China and the changes in its strategy and method of development, for example its increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea/East Sea have posed serious challenges to some Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, in terms of sovereignty over the archipelagoes and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in this sea area. Vietnam appreciates Korea’s view, as a strategic partner of Vietnam, to solve all disputes peacefully on the basis of international laws. Besides, Vietnam also needs to share experience with and support Korea’s efforts to bring about peaceful reunification on the Korean Peninsula.
Vietnam and Korea have different political, economic and social regimes and the types of ownership of capital goods. Once FTA has been officially implemented, it requires greater and more concerted efforts from the goverments and the ministries, departments and businesses from the Vietnamese part. If it fails to reform its current administrative system, it will not be able to live up to the commitments regarding the creation of favorable conditions for transactions and delivery of public services. A more transparent and less cumbersome legal environment will encourage greater investment from Korea in Vietnam, which entails high technology, advanced management level, and accessibility to a third market. Moreover, confronted with fierce competition in the trend of liberalizing trade, Vietnamese businesses particularly small and medium ones will lose their markets or go bankrupt unless they innovate quickly and improve their governance. In addition, Vietnam still has many difficulties in training and using the human resources to serve development needs. Compared with their counterparts in many regional countries, Vietnamese enterprises still have relatively limited understanding of the global market and little experience to respond effectively to the current trends of international cooperation.
Conclusion
The rapid development of economic relation between Vietnam and Korea in recent years shows that both countries have built on their competitive advantages. Over the past 20 years, the relation between the two countries have taken long strides and become a model of an international relation in which two countries are determined to put aside issues of the past to look to the future, and thus made remarkable achievements. From very low rungs of the ladder, the relation between Vietnam and Korea has moved up to higher places almost at full speed. With the political will of the two governments and the aspirations of the two peoples, we have all reasons to believe that the friendly relations between two “in-laws” countries will continue to develop robustly and profoundly in the coming time.
Source: cefia.aks.ac.kr
EU yellow card matter dominates seafood businesses
Cao Thi Kim Lan, director of Binh Dinh Seafood Joint Stock Company (Bidifisco) says a sense of deep loss has been felt throughout the company since EC issued a ‘yellow card’ warning against Vietnam. In the six months since the warning was deliviered, Vietnam’s seafood industry has faced a number of difficulties when seeking entry to the EU market.
Every year, the company exports aquatic products worth about US$60 million (tuna makes up 75% of the total output), with 70% exported to the EU market. Vietnamese businesses have suffered heavy losses from the warning. So far, the company has committed to saying no to trading in illegally exploited seafood products, says Ms Lan.
Ms Lan notes that businesses find it difficult to access the fishing logs of fishermen, leading to late confirmations, and causing difficulties in the preparation of documents for export. State agencies stipulate that fishermen submit their fishing logs to the fishing port, she says.
Nguyen Hoai Nam, vice general secretary of VASEP says, the issuance has affected the export situation. The US Department of Agriculture’s supervision program has applied to 13 types of products. In 2019, the program will apply to shrimp and Vietnamese shrimp will face a number of challenges and risks from the program, notes Mr Nam.
Several seafood processing businesses also shared the viewpoint and highlighted the efforts at all levels and associations having the yellow card withdrawn. Vietnam’s seafood industry expects that the yellow card will be rescinded as scheduled or in the short-term.
Efforts to withdraw the EU yellow card
According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Vietnam has recently focused on taking drastic measures in accordance with 9 EU recommendations, under which businesses will gradually develop the fishing industry in a responsible and sustainable manner, following international regulations.
The Government has agreed to set up an inter-disciplinary working group and assign the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to direct localities and related parties in implementing national action plans to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, emphasizes Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong.
In fact, during the implementation of EC recommendations, relevant agencies have gradually perfected the legal framework towards the sustainable management and exploitation of fishing resources by improving the supervision of fishing vessels, organizing patrols and controls at sea to reduce and abolish IUU fishing in territorial waters abroad.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan says, Vietnam has made great strides to secure the rescission of the EU yellow card within six months or in the short-term future, noting that the country will not let the incident affect Vietnam-EU relations in the coming time.
Mr Tuan says a high-level delegation from the EU will arrive in Vietnam to carry out an assessment of the exact situation. Therefore, businesses are urged to respond to the warnings and act on the recommendations set forth by the EC, especially in the implementation of the rule of origin and eliminating illegal fishing.
According to information from Vietnam Television, all of the seafood products from a vessel owned by Mr Vu Dieu Hien in Lap Le commune of Thuy Nguyen district in Hai Phong have been consumed on the domestic market. Mr Hien says if Vietnamese seafood is not permitted for export to the EU, all fishermen will be affected. All fishery products will be sold on the domestic market, leading to a sharp decline in the price of seafood products. Therefore, fishermen are urged to take responsibility in the effort to overcome the limitations when exploiting aquatic products in a manner which will avoid further warnings.
In Thanh Hoa province, three representative offices have been set up at the fishing ports of Hoa Loc, Lach Hoi, and Lach Bang to inspect and control the fishing boats’ activities. The offices will conduct the inspection and management of fishing vessels when leaving and returning to the ports.
In addition, many of the owners of fishing vessels have increased their efforts to keep detailed records and provide fishing logs to the relevant agencies when docking at Tho Quang fishing port.
Source: VOV
At the Conference on publicizing Decree 51/2018/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles in Decree 158/2006/ND-CP stipulating the Commercial Law on commodity trading through Mercantile Exchange held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on 9th May in Hanoi, Mr. Nguyen Loc An, Deputy Director of Domestic Market stated that the model of the Mercantile Exchange in Vietnam has been implemented for many years.
However, until now, few Mercantile Exchanges have been established in the country. Commodities traded in Mercantile Exchanges are still not diversified and are mainly agricultural products, typically coffee and products such as steel are still negligible. In addition, commodity trading through the Mercantile Exchange is still weak and has not attracted many investors, leading to the low liquidity.
Regarding legal framework, Mr. An said that previously, Vietnam has no regulations on the commodity trading through the Mercantile Exchange from foreign countries; the capital contribution by foreign investors to establish the Mercantile Exchange in Vietnam; buying shares and capital contribution; and regulations on the list of goods permitted to be traded through the Mercantile Exchange, which is time-consuming for enterprises to apply for each additional license.
In order to develop the model of the Mercantile Exchange, on 9th April, the Government issued Decree No. 51 /2018/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of Articles of the Government’s Decree 158/2006/ND-CP dated 28th December stipulating the law on Commercial Law on Commodity trading through the Mercantile Exchange.
Regarding new contents in Decree 51, the representative of the Legal Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Decree 51 expanded the form of trading orders. Besides written orders, other forms such as telex, fax, data and other forms as prescribed might be accepted, allowing Mercantile Exchanges to connect with each other in the country and abroad. In addition, the Decree 51 also expanded the List of commodities listed in the Mercantile Exchange.
Decree 51 has supplemented a key content related to regulations on foreign investors who are permitted to contribute capital to establish the Mercantile Exchange in Vietnam; buy shares and contribute capital to the Mercantile Exchange in Vietnam with a rate of not more than 49% of the charter capital.
Mr. An assessed that Decree 51 removed the shortcomings in the operation of the Mercantile Exchanges over the past years and created a more favorable legal framework for enterprises and farmers.
Mr. Nguyen Viet Vinh, General Secretary of the Vietnam Coffee – Cocoa Association said that “according to Decree 51, Vietnam connected the exchanges in the country with each other (if any) and towards connecting with the foreign exchanges. This will create favorable conditions, typically enterprise will grasp information on volume of exported goods and price. Thereby, evaluation on the market is more effective”.
“Although mechanisms are provided in Decree 51, the most important thing is effective operation of the Mercantile Exchanges . For example, issues related to infrastructure, information dissemination and capacity must be ensured. Currently, commodities listed on the Mercantile Exchanges are not restricted. Therefore, the Mercantile Exchanges need to apply standards to have a basis to evaluate the goods before being listed by an enterprise”. Mr. Vinh said.
Source: Customs News
Vietnam is now home to more than 80,000 foreign workers, according to Le Quang Trung, deputy head of the Department of Employment under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).
They come from over 100 countries and territories and work as mangers, managing directors, experts and technical workers, Trung said at a meeting on communication work on employment hosted by the ministry in the southern province of Binh Duong on May 10.
Ninety-five percent of eligible foreign workers in Vietnam have been granted work permits, he said, adding that they provide a significant contingent of skilled, experienced and professional workers for Vietnam.
However, he noted that there is a lack of close, timely and comprehensive coordination in managing foreign labourers among local authorised agencies while violations have not been strictly handled.
The sense of law observance of some contractors, businesses and foreigner workers in recruiting, employing labourers and following work permits remains limited, even some foreigners enter Vietnam before applying for work permit, he said.
The increasing number of foreign workers in Vietnam requires the improvement of the legal system to ensure the rights of migrant workers, especially social security. Social insurance authorities in the country have developed a compulsory social insurance scheme for foreign workers in the country, citing the need to follow international practices as the country deepens its integration.
The 2014 Law on Social Insurance requires compulsory enrollment of foreign workers in the social insurance scheme, starting in 2018, to ensure their equality and welfare. However, to date, it has not yet been realised due to a lack of guiding documents.
A MoLISA draft decree also proposed requiring foreign workers to take part in all five social insurance programmes – pension and insurance for sickness, maternity, vocational injuries, disease, and death.
Source: VNA
