Our long-standing GBA board member Dr. Oliver Massmann, Partner at Duane Morris Vietnam LCC, is sharing the most relevant legal updates with you.
- Government convenes law-building session in January
- Protection of rights of vulnerable consumers enhanced under new law
- Digital transformation to drive circular economy
- Decree issued to boost Vietnam-Cambodia trade
Find more details as below:
1. Government convenes law-building session in January
Some highlines are as below:
- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the Government’s session on law-building on January 29 to discuss three draft laws and two law proposals.
- He clarified that the Government held 10 law-building sessions in 2023, and submitted 16 laws to the National Assembly for approval, including important ones such as the amended Land Law, the Law on Real Estate Business, and the Housing Law. The Government also issued 28 resolutions and gave comment on 10 bills. The Government and PM also promulgated 127 legal normative documents.
- In 2024, the Government continues to focus on building and completing the institutions, one of the three strategic breakthroughs outlined in the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, he said.
- The Government continues to implement Resolution No. 27-NQ/TW approved at the 6th plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee in 2022 on continuing to build and perfect the rule-of-law socialist State in the new period; the law and ordinance making program for 2024; submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval of the law and ordinance making program for 2025; and organize the implementation of laws, ordinances and resolutions passed by the NA in 2023.
- It will also conduct a review and amendment to existing legal regulations, aiming to eliminate difficulties, obstacles, and barriers, and to unlock all resources for development; and propose the building of new legal regulations to adapt to the 4th Industrial Revolution, and promote digital economy, green economy, circular economy, and emerging industries, the PM said.
2. Protection of rights of vulnerable consumers enhanced under new law
Some highlines are as below:
- To be effective on July 1, the new Law on Protection of Consumer Rights gives more rights to consumers while providing priority policies toward vulnerable consumers.
- As specified by the Law, vulnerable consumers include elderly people, people with disabilities, children, ethnic minority people and those living in ethnic minority-inhabited areas, mountainous areas, islands, areas with difficult socio-economic conditions and areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions, pregnant women, women currently nursing their under-3-year infants, people suffering fatal diseases, and members of poor households.
- Business organizations and individuals will pay compensation for damage in accordance with the civil law to vulnerable consumers in case of delaying or refusing to receive and process the latter’s requests.
- In addition, the Law specifies more responsibilities of business organizations and individuals toward consumers. Particularly in special transactions such as distance transactions and cyberspace transactions, business organizations and individuals will have to comply with relevant specific regulations.
3. Digital transformation to drive circular economy
Some highlines are as below:
- A programme focussing on digital applications for visualising material cycles and resource efficiency and their role in advancing the circular economy in Vietnam was held on January 24 in Hanoi. It was led by the Resource and Environment Communication Center (RECC) in partnership with Japan’s Environmental Renewal and Material Circulation Bureau.
- In October last year, JICA Vietnam initiated a technical support project to establish regulations for an intelligent eco-industrial park using IT in its management and operation in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. This system can be utilised in JICA’s project to promote the implementation of Decree No.35/2022/ND-CP on the management of industrial parks and economic zones.
- With urbanisation, population growth, and shifting consumption patterns, Vietnam is grappling with an increasing influx of waste that putting strain on its existing disposal infrastructure. The inadequacy of current waste management systems covering collection, transportation, and disposal further compounds the environmental challenges.
- Attendees of the event discussed the challenges inherent in introducing and implementing a smart material circulation system in industrial areas in Vietnam.
4. Decree issued to boost Vietnam-Cambodia trade
Some highlines are as below:
- The Government on January 24 issued Decree 05 on special preferential import tariffs for Cambodian goods, as part of the implementation of the Vietnam-Cambodia trade promotion agreement for the 2023-24 period.
- The decree provides details on special preferential tax rates and conditions for being entitled to those rates, including being on the list in Appendix I to the decree, having C/O form S issued by authorized agencies of Cambodia, and being transported through pairs of border gates stipulated in Appendix III to the decree.
- Besides, the decree also stipulates tariff and import quotas specifically for rice and unprocessed tobacco leaves originating from Cambodia.
- Under the decree, rice products produced with the support of Vietnamese firms, households and individuals in Cambodian provinces bordering Vietnam, upon import into Vietnam, must comply with existing regulations on export and import taxes.
- For rice and unprocessed tobacco leaves originating from Cambodia and imported into Vietnam by Vietnamese enterprises for re-export to other markets, the decree mandates adherence to the temporary import and re-export mechanisms, established by the Vietnamese Government and relevant regional and global agreements signed by both countries.