New legal documents come into effect from June 2015

08/06/2015
There are several legal documents of the Vietnamese Government, the Prime Minister and ministries coming into effect from June 2015, as follows:

1. Decree No. 36/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government dated 17 April 2015  stipulating criteria on the establishment of a provincial level customs department as well as its organization and tasks will come into effect as from 10 June 2015.

According to the Decree, the customs department has to meet two out of three criteria, including the locality’s import and export turnover higher than 30% of the nation’s average export and import turnover, holding an international border road, airline or key harbor or possessing an industrial park or an economic zone.

2. Decree No. 37/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government dated 22 April 2015 defining detailed regulations on construction contract will take effect as from 15 June 2015.

The Decree shall be applied to all organizations and individuals related to the establishment and management of the construction contracts including the construction contracts between the investors launching BOT, BTO, BT and PPP projects and contractors of the projects.

3. Decree No. 38/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government dated 24 April 2015 on waste management will take effect as from 15 June 2015.

Under the Decree, waste management includes hazardous waste, solid and liquid waste, industrial solid waste, waste water and industrial emissions.

4. Decree No. 39/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government dated 27 April 2015 on assistance policy applied to ethnic minority and poor women who comply the population policy will take effect as from 15 June 2015.

According to the Decree, a woman, who is ethnic minority and poor, will be financed VND2 million per month when she follows the population policy. A poor, ethnic-minority woman is not allowed to have more than three children. If she gets the financial aid and still wants more children than permitted, she will be forced to return the money.

5. Decree No. 40/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government dated 27 April 2015 amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 157/2013/NĐ-CP dated 11 November 2013 on penalties imposed on administrative sanction in respect of forest control, forest development, forest protection and forest product management will take effect as from 20 June 2015.

One of new provisions of the Decree is that the pecuniary penalty up to VND50 million shall be imposed for violators who violated the regulation on forest environment service.

6. Decree No.  44/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government dated 6 May 2015 on detailed regulations on construction planning will take effect as from 30 June 2015.

According to the Decree, the content of construction planning includes the establishment, assessment and approval of construction planning, management of construction planning and license for planning.

7. Decree No.47/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government dated 14 May 2015 providing for organization and operation of the inspection of the agriculture and rural development will come into effect as from 30 June 2015.

Accordingly, agencies performing inspection function of the Agriculture and Rural Development sector include Inspectorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Inspectorates of the provincial level Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, and agencies assigned to perform the function of specialized inspection.

8. Decision No. 11/2015/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister dated 3 April 2015 on land use levy reduction and exemption took effect as from 1 June 2015.

According to the Decision, households and individuals living in extreme difficulty-hit areas, border areas and islands will be exempted from land use levy for land areas within the land allocation limits, while those living in areas with socio-economic difficulties will enjoy a 50-percent land use levy reduction specified at Point c Clause 1 Article 8 of Decree No. 45/2014/ND-CP, providing the collection of land use levy.

9. Decision No. 12/2015/QĐ-TTg of the Prime Minister dated 16 April 2015 on policies attracting socialization model for passenger car station investment and exploitation took effect as from 1 June 2015.  

The Decision allows the minimum financing of 20% of the interest rate from credit organizations for projects investing, upgrading and expanding passenger car stops in form of socialization and exemption of land tax for bus stops at poor districts.

10. Besides, other legal normative documents also come into effect from April 2015, including:

- Circular No. 04/2015/TT-BTP dated 15 April 2015 of the Ministry of Justice guiding the notary’s apprenticeship in Vietnam, which took effect as from 1 June 2015;

- Circular No. 53/2015/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated 21 April 2015 amending the Circular No. 127/2013/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated 6 September, 2013 on collection, payment, management and use of fees for registration documents and registration plates of motor vehicles, which took effect as from 6 June 2015;

- Circular No. 56/2015/TT-BTC dated 23 April 2015 of the Ministry of Finance on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular no. 150/2012/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated 12 September 2012 on providing guidance on annual knowledge update for auditors applying for the license to practice audit, which will take effect as from 8 June 2015;

- Circular No. 05/2015/TT-NHNN dated 4 May 2015 of the State Bank of Vietnam guiding credit institutions to collaborate with credit guarantee fund in offering secured loan of credit guarantee fund as stipulated under Decision No. 58/2013/QD-TTg dated 15 October 2013 of the Prime Minister, which will take effect as from 18 June 2015;

- Circular No. 72/2015/TT-BTC dated 12 May 2015 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the application of priority policy in customs procedures, customs inspection and supervision for exported and imported goods of enterprises, which will take effect as from 19 June 2015.

- Circular No. 63/2015/TT-BTC dated 6 May 2015 of the Ministry of Finance amending the export taxes on the manioc commodities in the Heading 07.14 at the Export Tariff issued with the Circular No. 164/2013/TT-BTC dated 15 November 2013 of the Minister of Finance, which will take effect as from 20 June 2015.