ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

8.31.2016

CAPITAL CONDITIONS IN AIR TRANSPORTATION BUSINESS


Air transportation is the conditional business line and conducted by air transportation enterprises. Air transportation business includes air transportation activity, advertising, marketing and sale of air transportation products on the market for the purpose of making profit.

Therefore, trading in this business line is subject to strict rules of law. The conditional business lines in the field of civil aviation are detailed in Decree 92/2016/ND-CP dated July 1st 2016.
Accordingly, in the field of air transportation, business must meet capital requirements as follows:
The minimum capital requirement to establish and maintain air transportation business:
  • Operating up to 10 aircrafts: 700 billion VND for enterprises engaging in international air transportation; 300 billion VND for enterprises only engaging in domestic air transportation;
  • Operating between 11 and 30 aircrafts: 1,000 billion VND for enterprises engaging in international air transportation; 600 billion VND for enterprises only engaging in domestic air transportation;
  • Operating more than 30 aircrafts: 1,300 billion VND for enterprises engaging in international air transportation; 700 billion VND for enterprises only engaging in domestic air transportation;
The minimum capital requirements to establish and maintain general air transportation business: 100 billion VND.
Air transportation business that has foreign investment must meet the following conditions:
  • The foreign parties take up less than 30% of charter capital;
  • Must have at least one Vietnam individual or legal entity hold the largest part of the charter capital. In case Vietnam legal entity has foreign investment capital, the foreign capital share should not exceed 49% of the charter capital of the legal entity.
The transfer of share and capital contribution of air transportation business without foreign investment to foreign investor shall be made only after 02 years from the date of issuance of the air transportation business license.
Enterprises have to send the share and capital transfer proposal to foreign investor to Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, which includes: The transferee, transfer condition, the number of transferring shares and capital contribution; Development plans for aircraft teams, business plan, development strategies referred to in Paragraph 1, Article 9 of the Decree 92/2016/ND-CP (if any).
Within 05 working days from the date of receiving the proposal from business, Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam will report to the Ministry of Transportation the appraisal results.
Within 05 working days from the date of receiving the appraisal result report of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, the Ministry of Transportation will consider approval or disapproval and clearly state the reasons.
ANT Lawyers is a Vietnamese law firm in Vietnam with English speaking lawyers whom understand the laws of Vietnam within the business and the local culture context.

The firm has been advising and representing foreign companies and individual clients interested in either doing business, or needing legal services or representation in Vietnam who are seeking reasonable and competitive solutions without compromising on service quality.

8.30.2016

Decree 118/2015/ND-CP Guiding the Investment Law 2014

Decree 118/2015/ND-CP was issued on November 12th 2015 by the Government. It takes effect from December 27th 2015 clearly regulates some regulations of the Law on Investment on the application, control, publish investment business condition; measures to ensuring investment, investment incentives, investment procedures, operational implementation of investment projects and state management of investment projects.


Regarding investment conditions in Vietnam:
– In terms of the business investment sectors, investors may invest in conditional business lines when they meet the conditions of license, practicing certificate, certified professional liability insurance or other forms of required documents under the provisions of the covered agreements that Vietnam has signed or specific regulations of the law of Vietnam.
– In addition, investors also have to meet other conditions such as charter capital (for a certain number of business lines); forms of investment; scope of investment activities; Vietnam partners to join the investment execution.
+ Establish economic organization.
+ Capital contribution or share purchase.
+ Business cooperation contract.
+ Receive transfer of investment project.
– Foreign investors when investing in Vietnam in addition to meeting conditions like investor Vietnam, they will have to meet other specific conditions. Particularly for investors that have both Vietnam and foreign citizenships, they will be able to choose to apply the conditions for foreign investor or Vietnam investor.
On the issue of investment incentives, investors will receive incentives from the State in the following cases:
– Projects under the business lines of investment incentives.
– Investing in areas with difficult economic conditions.
– Project with capital from 6000 billion VND and will be disbursed within a period of 3 years.
– Investing in projects in rural areas and use more than 500 employees.
– Investment project in the fields of science and technology.
– For investment projects in Section 3 and 4 above will be entitled to preferential investment projects in areas with difficult economic conditions. The cases that projects simultaneously under both Section 1 and 2 above shall also enjoy incentives according to investment project in areas with difficult economic conditions.
Distinguishes 3 types of projects:
– The investment project that is not subject to the investment policy decision.
– The investment project under the jurisdiction on investment policy decision of the provincial People’s Committee.
– The project that is not subject to the granting of investment certificate.
In particular, for the project’s land that is granted, lease or allow the transfer of land use purposes by the State, it is necessary to deposit to ensure the investment. The deposit rate will be 3%, 2% or 1% depending on the scale of capital is 300 billion VND or above. Depends on the enjoyed incentives that the amount of deposit will be reduced according to different rate (the typical reduction rate is 25% or 50%).
Regarding the transfer of investment project:
Investor is allowed to transfer part or the whole of their investment project to other investor under the provisions of the law on investment (paragraph 1, article 45). In case when the transfer of projects generates income, investors must comply with the relevant tax obligations.
In addition, the Decree 118/2015 also provides details about:
– The procedures for the adjustment of investment projects in the case of division, separation, merger and transformation of economic organization (Article 38);
– The procedures for the termination of investment projects (Articles 41, 42);
– The investment procedures in the form of capital contribution, share purchase and capital contribution of foreign investors.
Decree 118/2015/ND-CP takes effect from December 27th 2015.
Legal Services
ANT Lawyers is a Vietnamese law firm in Vietnam with English speaking lawyers whom understand the laws of Vietnam within the business and the local culture context.

The firm has been advising and representing foreign companies and individual clients interested in either doing business, or needing legal services or representation in Vietnam who are seeking reasonable and competitive solutions without compromising on service quality.

Musician Ed Sheeran faces copyright lawsuit over 'Thinking Out Loud'

Heirs of the composer for Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" sued British musician Ed Sheeran on Tuesday.

Heirs of the composer for Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" sued British musician Ed Sheeran on Tuesday, claiming his hit song "Thinking Out Loud" copies core elements of the late soul singer's 1973 track.
The copyright infringement lawsuit was filed by the heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the lyrics to "Let's Get It On" in 1973 and created its musical composition, according to the complaint filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York.
Representatives for defendants Sheeran, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and Atlantic Records did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit, which asks for damages to be assessed at a jury trial, argues that the harmonic progressions, melodic and rhythmic elements central to "Let's Get It On" formed the structure of Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud."
"The Defendants copied the 'heart' of 'Let's' and repeated it continuously throughout 'Thinking,'" the lawsuit said. "The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of 'Thinking' are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of 'Let's.'"
Grammy Award-winning Sheeran has become one of Britain's top-selling artists in the past two years, and has written and co-written tracks for artists such as One Direction, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.
The lawsuit came two months after California-based musicians sued Sheeran for $20 million over his hit song "Photograph" in an unrelated case.
Gaye's family last year successfully sued R&B recording artists Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copyright infringement in another unrelated case over their hit single "Blurred Lines," winning a $7.4 million judgment.

8.29.2016

VIETNAM TEMPORARY RESIDENCE CARD FOR FOREIGNER

Under the provision of the Law on entry, exit, transit and residence of foreigner in Vietnam, temporary residence card is paper issued by the immigration management agency or the competent authorities under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for foreigner. Accordingly, foreigner is allowed to reside for a definite time in Vietnam and the temporary residence card can replace visa.

The cases that are eligible for temporary residence card granting:
_ Foreigners who are members of diplomatic representative missions, consular offices, representative missions of international organizations under the United Nations, intergovernmental organization in Vietnam and spouse, child under 18 years old and maid are granted the temporary residence card with symbol NG3.
_ Foreigners who are granted visa with the symbol LV1, LV2, ĐT, NN1, NN2, DH, PV1, LĐ, TT shall be granted temporary residence cards with similar symbols with the symbols in their visas
In which the meaning of the symbols in the visa is understood as follows:
_ LV1: Issued to person coming to Vietnam to work with departments, units and agencies directly under the central of the Communist Party of Vietnam; The National Assembly, the Government, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuracy, State Audit, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, agencies attached to the Government; Provincial Committees, Party Committees, People’s Councils, People’s Committees of provinces and cities under the Central Government.
_ LV2: Issued to person coming to Vietnam to work with the political – social organizations, social organizations, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
_ ĐT: Issued to foreign investors in Vietnam and foreign lawyers practicing in Vietnam.
_ NN1: Issued to person who is the head of the representative office, project of international organizations and international non-governmental organizations in Vietnam.
_ NN2: Issued to the head of the representative office or branches of foreign business entity, representative offices of economic, culture and other professional organizations of foreign countries in Vietnam.
_ NN3: Issued to person coming to Vietnam to work with foreign non-governmental organizations, representative offices or branches of foreign business entities, representative offices of economic, culture and other specialized organizations of foreign country in Vietnam.
_ TT: Issued to foreigners who are spouses, children under 18 years of foreigners that are granted visa with symbols LV1, LV2, ĐT, NN1, NN2, DH, PV1, LĐ or foreigners who are parents, spouses and children of Vietam citizen.

For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call +84 8 3520 2779.  To learn more about us, visit www.antlawyers.vn.

BUSINESS LINES THAT NEED SUBLICENSE

In the process of establishing, businesses need to conduct the declaration of registered business lines as prescribed by law. For ordinary professions, businesses only need to encode the professions according to the encoding system in accordance with the law.


However, for some conditional business lines, in addition to the declaration in accordance with regulations, enterprises have to fully satisfy the prescribed conditions such as legal capital or business licenses (sublicense).
Moreover, enterprises need to pay attention to some lines of business that require sublicense during the business registration process, which includes:
No
Business line
Name of sublicense
Licensing authority
01
Travel service business
International travel business license
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
Domestic travel business license
Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism
02
Hotel business
Decision recognizing the star rating for tourism accommodation facilities
Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism
03
Printing service
Printing operation license
Department of Information and Communication – Department of Publication, Printing and Publishing
04
Real estate business: lease for foreigner
Certificate of fire safety
Chamber/Department of Fire Protection, Province/City Police
Certificate of social security
District Police
05
Security service business
Certificate of social security
City Police (PC 13)
06
Real estate trading floor
Real estate trading floor operating announcement
Department of Construction
07
Bottled drinking water production
Certificate of food safety
Department of Health or District Department of Health
Certificate of product standard announcement
08
Food production
Certificate of food safety
Department of Health
Certificate of product standard
09
Restaurant, eateries and coffee shop business
Certificate of food safety
Department of Health
Restaurant business
Fire safety inspection record
District Police
10
Informatics/Language Center
Informatics/Language Center Operating License
Department of Education
11
Veterinary medicament business
Certificates of satisfaction of business condition
City Veterinary Department
12
Veterinary medicament production
Veterinary medicament production license
Department of Veterinary
13
Preschool
Preschool Establishment License
Department of Education

8.26.2016

DECREE 15/2015/ND-CP ON INVESTMENT IN THE FORM OF PUBLIC – PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

With the increasing infrastructure demands, while the budget and ODA resources are limited, the call for private investment in infrastructure projects is seen as viable solution. Thus, the Government issued Decree 15/2015/ND-CP on February 14th 2015, provides for regulations on investment in the form of public-private partnerships (PPP) which will partially solve the real problems when implementing PPP projects in Vietnam.

Decree 15 has some new and notably regulations as follows:
1. Decree 15 provides for forms of project contracts, including build – transfer contract (BT contract); build – transfer – lease contract (BTL contract) and build – lease – transfer contract (BLT contract). Thus, investors do not necessarily have to transfer the work to the State. They can choose different solutions depending on the requirements of the investors and fund lenders of the project.
2. Decree 15 clearly stipulates the form of investment and project classification that can apply the form of PPP. Besides the projects on physical infrastructure such as bridge, road, building…, the works on trade, science, technology, meteorological, economic zone, industrial park, tech park, information technology park; information technology application are also included in the list of projects that can apply the form of PPP.
3. Decree 15 also stipulates that the PPP projects will be classified according to national important projects, projects of groups A, B and C. Thanks to this, small projects will be approved more quickly. Accordingly, the project in group C will not have to carry out the procedures for investment registration issuance.
4. Decree 15 regulates that the state capital in the project implementation process will be used primarily to support the construction of auxiliary facilities, the organization of compensation, site clearance and resettlement. However, the decree does not specify the value of land use rights that have been included in the total cost of investment or not.
5. One of the conditions for the selection of projects is that projects must have a total investment of 20 billion VND or more (excluding O&M projects and a number of special projects). In addition, the project has the ability to recover capital from business activities will be prioritized.
6. In terms of the project proposal contents, beside the contents on project information, technical factors …, the contents on expected risk assessment in the course of project implementation and allocation of risk between the competent state agencies and investors should also be mentioned.
7. Decree 15 also provides for the time of project contracting. Accordingly, investors negotiate and sign off the contract project first, and then they will be granted the investment registration certificate. The final step is the signing of the project contract. Thus, the losses, changes or arising before contracting the project will arise legal consequences or not? This issue has not yet been answered.
8. In terms of the project contract contents, Decree 15 lists the necessary contents in a PPP contract and the necessary attached documents. In addition, the Decree also stipulates open so that ministries and provincial People’s Committees are allowed to propose a different form of contract with the form prescribed in Decree 15 to submit the Government for consideration and decision.
9. Decree 15 allows the transfer of rights and obligations under the project contract, or transfers a part or the whole project. This open opportunity to securitize the project, relieving nervous for donors or banks with the project finance issues, especially when investors are not qualified to continue to perform project.
10. Regarding the applicable law, Decree 15 allows the contracting parties may agree to the application of foreign laws to regulate the project contract in which one party is foreign investor or the contracts that are guaranteed by the Government for performance obligation. This is a major change and allowing the international financial consultants to involve deeply in the project.
11. Decree 15 provides for the obligation to guarantee the implementation of project contract, however, this matter will be resolved by the Law on Procurement. The issue of Government guarantee is not clearly defined and it was handed over to Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Justice to study.
12. For the project enterprise, after being granted the investment registration certificate, investors then establish the enterprises to implement projects that consistent with the objectives and scope of activities as agreed in the contract plan. The establishment of the project is implemented in accordance with the business law.
13. Decree 15 clearly stipulates the obligation to monitor the project contract implementation of investors, project business and competent state agencies. The specific allocation of responsibilities is necessary to ensure that the project is monitored to implement carefully. In terms of prices, cost of goods, services and revenue, Decree 15 respects the agreements of the parties in the project contracts and creates conditions for investors to recover capital and profit. This is an important basis for investors to negotiate the price with the supplier or the buyer of the state if there is any disadvantage binding to investors.
14. Decree 15 also specifies the time limit for project settlement. Accordingly, within 6 months from the completion day of the construction, the investor shall make final settlement of investment capital.
15. In terms of the mortgage of assets and the right to operate the project, Decree 15 specifies that investors and project business can mortgage the property, land use rights and the right to operate the project to the lenders under the provisions of the civil law and the law on land, provided that the mortgage term is not exceed the project contract period.
However, the mortgage term may exceed the project contract period if there is an agreement in the project contract. Regarding the form of mortgage agreement, the mortgage agreement of assets and the right to operate the project must be made in writing and signed by the lending party and the contracting parties of the project. Thus, the interests of the lending party to the project will somewhat be secured.
16. On the use of foreign currency in the project, Decree 15 stipulates the principle of ensuring the balance of foreign currency. Accordingly, investors and project enterprises can purchase foreign currency from credit institutions that are licensed to operate foreign exchange in order to meet the needs of current transactions, capital transactions and other transactions or transfer of capital, profits and proceeds from liquidation of foreign investments under the provisions of law on foreign exchange management.
17. On the issue of dispute resolution, Decree 15 classifies disputes into:
(i) Disputes between competent state agencies and investors or project enterprises and disputes between project enterprises and economic organizations participating in the project implementation;
(ii) Disputes between competent state agencies and foreign investors or project enterprises that established by foreign investors;
(iii) Disputes between the project enterprises and foreign organizations, individuals or economic organizations of Vietnam and disputes between investors.
Accordingly, the dispute settlement body corresponding to the above cases is the arbitration organization or the courts of Vietnam in accordance with the law of Vietnam; The arbitration or the Court of Vietnam or the arbitral tribunal are established upon agreement of the parties and are settled according to the provisions of the Investment Law. Disputes that are resolved by arbitration under the provisions of the project contract and related contracts are commercial disputes. The decision of foreign arbitration is recognized and enforced under the provisions of the law on recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration decisions.
18. Decree 15 stipulates the responsibilities of the concerned ministries and agencies. In particular, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in addition to other responsibilities, shall have to issue, modify and revoke the certificate of investment registration to projects under their jurisdiction; evaluate the State investment capital participating in the project within its jurisdiction; contribute opinion on issues within their functions and competence required by ministries, agencies and provincial People’s Committees. Ministry of Justice, in addition to other responsibilities, shall have to issue legal opinion to the project contract, guarantee document of the Government and the documents relating to the project signed by the state agencies.
19. As for the project contracts that are signed off before Decree 15 takes effect, they will not have to be renegotiated. Thus, the BT projects that are suspended previously can be redone.
To sum up, the changes in Decree 15 on PPP brought many positive signals to investors and sponsor banks. Many PPP projects are continuing to start, especially in the field of transport, showing that this will be the motivation to promote the development and proper management of infrastructure project.

8.25.2016

INFRASTRUCTURE ENERGY PROJECTS IN VIETNAM

At ANT Lawyers, we represent clients in infrastructure, energy and resource projects. We are exclusiveVietnam law firm member of Prae Legal, a global law firm network with more than 150 law firm members globally.  For cross-border transactions, the team coordinates and utilizes relevant Prae Legal member offices to provide necessary advice on local laws, taking into account the client’s needs in Vietnam.  For inbound and domestic transactions, our project lawyers advise on Vietnam laws to review and prepare documentation for licensing application where foreign investors are involved.

We have been involved in several major projects:
  • Telecomunications (Nortel Networks Canada, a contractor in HTC infastructure mobile networks project for Vietnam Mobile opetator) ;
  • Infrastructure (Antara Koh Pte. Ltd, a Singaporean EPC contractor in Dung Quat Oil refinery plant in Quang Ngai province);
  • Energy and power (Shanghai Electric Group Co., Ltd, an EPC contractor in Vinh Tan 2 Thermal Power plant in Binh Thuan province).
Please contact us through email ant@antlawyers.vn, call our office at +84 8 3520 2779 or talk to our partner directly at +84 912 817 823.
Let ANT Lawyers help your business in Vietnam.