What Activities Being Allowed Under Social Isolation in Vietnam in Directive No. 16?

On Mar 31st, 2020, the Vietnam Prime Minister has issued a directive on social isolation to implement some urgent measures to prevent and control Covid-19 epidemic. There have not such incidents in the past therefore it is unclear on enforcement in legal implementation. In our opinions, this directive is more about suggested voluntary actions of each individual.

In summary, according to the directive, social isolation is applied throughout Vietnam from Apr 1st to Apr 15th, 2020. It is not prohibited to go out of the house but it is suggested only people with real needs should go out i.e. to buy food, gas, medicine and other emergencies. Government officer will be working from home. Private enterprises are also suggested to let people to work from home. There are business places allowed to be opened for providing essential products, and services. If the manufacturing sites and offices need to be opened to continue its production or business activities, they have to follow safety instructions i.e. not gathering more than two people, keep the distance of minimum 2m, always wear masks, clean hands frequently, disinfect the work place.

From legal aspects, there will be many unforeseen negative issues and subsequent legal consequences in disputes in labour relations, disputes in contract performance, disputes in business transactions, disputes between individuals and government authorities… arisen due to conflicts resulted from the social isolation. It is suggested that parties refer to the contracts, regulations and prepare for proper actions. In this case, disputed parties consider to negotiate to achieve common grounds with each others. If negotiation fails, disputes lawyers could be referred to for prior consultations and further steps.

To learn more about the directive of the Vietnam Prime Minister, please refer to our translated version below by associates of ANT Lawyers.

DIRECTIVE on the implementation of urgent measures to prevent and control Covid-19 epidemic

The Covid-19 epidemic broke out globally, affecting over 72,000 people, nearly 3.5 million people died in over 200 countries and territories and there was no sign of stopping. In Vietnam, the number of cases is increasing rapidly day by day and there is a high risk of infection in the community. It is predicted that the disease will spread rapidly on a large scale, seriously threatening human life, human health and socio-economic of the country.

In carrying out the call of the General Secretary, President Nguyen Phu Trong, with the spirit of putting great importance to the health and life of the people above all, to continue to proactively prevent and control epidemics, Prime Minister The Government requested ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to concentrate on implementing the proposed epidemic prevention measures, especially Directive No. 15/CT-TTg March 27, 2020, in compliance with the instructions of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 prevention and control, effective implementation of the following urgent measures:

1.To perform social isolation within 15 days from 0:00 on April 1st, 2020 on a national scale according to the principle that the family is isolated from the family, the village is isolated from the village, the commune is isolated from the commune, the district is isolated from the district, the province is isolated from the province, workshops, manufacturing plants must ensure a safe distance, wear masks, disinfect according to regulations. Request people to stay at home, only to go out in case of necessity such as buying food, medicine, emergency, working at factories, production establishments, service-providing establishments and essential goods without being shut down and other emergency cases; strictly observe the minimum distance of 2m when communicating; do not concentrate more than 2 people outside the workplace, school, hospital and in public places.

The Prime Minister asked the entire population to voluntarily abide by the requirements, measures to prevent and control epidemics, actively participate in voluntary medical declaration, to fully implement measures to protect themselves and their families and participate responsibly with the prevention and control activities of functional agencies and the community; the heads of enterprises, production establishments, and goods and service business establishments are responsible for applying epidemic prevention and control measures at their establishments, ensuring the health and safety for employee.

2.The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Security, the People’s Committee of Hanoi City and the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City must be speedy, determined, mustering all resources and all measures to thoroughly handle “outbreak”at Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi), Buddha Bar (Ho Chi Minh City); enlist every hour and every minute to trace and apply appropriate measures to all cases of risk, contact with patients and passers “outbreak”; continue to urge people to go back and forth through these “outbreaks” of medical reports and contact requests for testing. Request the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate with the health sector to make a list of people involved in the activities of Truong Sinh Company at risk of infection to monitor health, supervise, quarantine and promptly handle thoroughly source of the disease.

Relevant People’s Committees of provinces and cities closely coordinate with Ministries and 2 Cities to perform this task well. Carry out family isolation, medical declaration for classification, testing and concentrated isolation if necessary for those who have been to and from Bach Mai Hospital since March 12th, 2020; assign grassroots administrations to organize close supervision at each family.

The Ministry of Public Security and the provincial People’s Committee continue to urgently carry out medical review and examination, update the health status of people who have entered from March 8th, 2020 but have not applied isolation; make a list of people who have direct contact and close contact to classify screening, apply appropriate isolation measures (concentrated isolation, at home, accommodation establishments).

3.State agencies and units shall arrange for officials, public servants and public employee to use information technology working at home; only those cases that are really necessary such as combat duty, duty of the agency, supply of essential goods and services, processing confidential documents and other necessary tasks are required to work at the office; strengthen online meeting organization. The head of the organization is responsible for the infection of officials and employees because of not strictly observing the regulations on prevention and control of epidemics at the workplace.

4.The Ministry of Transport and People’s Committees of provinces and cities shall direct basically stop public passenger transport activities. Minimize the movement from one locality to another; stop moving from epidemic areas to other localities, except for special cases due to official duties and cases of provision of food, foodstuffs, necessities, shuttle buses for workers and experts of businesses, transporting production materials.

5.To assign the Ministry of Health:

a) Direct hospitals to implement strict procedures and management to avoid cross-contamination in hospitals; strictly control, require mandatory medical declaration for patients, family members, caregivers; only one carer per patient; stop visiting patients at health facilities. There are strict rules on admitting patients, not allowing an infected individual to affect the operation of the entire hospital.

b) Propose specific mechanisms and policies to support domestic enterprises in manufacturing medical equipment and instruments, especially ventilators, patient monitors, infusion machines, dialysis machines, reporting Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung directed.

c) Report to the Prime Minister the options, scenarios and emergency response in case of epidemic emergencies in the afternoon of March 31st, 2020.

d) Organize and arrange the continuation of medical examination and treatment at Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi), ensuring safety for health workers, health workers and people at the request of the Steering Committee and the Ministry of Health.

d) Review and handle the recommendations of the Hanoi People’s Committee, support and create conditions for Hanoi to control epidemics in the locality.

6.The Ministry of Health shall synthesize and periodically publish 2 times/day positive test results in localities, ensuring accuracy.

7.Temporarily close the main and secondary border gates for passersby from 00:00 April 1, 2020 on the border lines with Laos and Cambodia. Strictly control the entry through international border gates on road border routes; All immigrants from Laos and Cambodia must be concentrated in isolation for 14 days.

8.The Ministry of Defense shall direct, organize and expand concentrated isolation facilities, separate new and isolated cases which are not isolated; strengthening the management of trails and openings on border routes.

9.The Ministry of Public Security shall intensify directing the assurance of order and security, preventing crimes, especially in rural areas.

10.The Ministry of Finance shall direct the General Department of Customs to handle problems related to the export of cloth masks; Require insurance businesses not to introduce and deploy insurance packages related to Covid-19 epidemics.

11.The ministries, branches, localities and the press agencies continue to promote information and propaganda in support of the people’s health protection policy, rectify a number of headlines that cause confusion and misunderstandings. The person in charge of prevention and control of non-verbal epidemic causes panic among the people.

12.The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the People’s Committees of localities pay attention to ensuring essential commodities, food and foodstuffs for the people.

Signed by Vietnam Prime Minister

Read More

Bac Ninh Land Plots Promise to Create Strong Wave of Investment In 2020

Bac Ninh’s land plot segment in 2019 has many positive changes and there has been no cooling in early 2020. With outstanding economic development and strong investment attraction, Bac Ninh is having all potentials and strengths to develop real estate investment and attract foreign investors to set up company in Bac Ninh.

Bac Ninh fully converges all elements of the weather and favorable conditions with the geographical location favored by nature, socio-economic conditions for sustainable development in all aspects. Along with economic development, the real estate market in general is at the same time hot again.

Over the past years, the whole country has witnessed the remarkable development of Bac Ninh province with the economic development speed and per capita income always in the top of the whole country.

Bac Ninh attracts many large economic corporations in the world such as Samsung (Korea), Hong Hai (Taiwan), Canon (Japan), Microsoft, ABB, Foxconn… forming many large industrial zones. This has pushed the economy of Bac Ninh to develop strongly, the income and living standards of Bac Ninh people in general and people in the district area adjacent to Bac Ninh city in particular have also increased significantly. The quality of life is higher and higher.

In addition, the expansion of large FDI projects in Bac Ninh has satisfied the employment needs for millions of workers and brought a large number of foreign experts to work in industrial parks and high technology zones. The number of employees is increasing but the infrastructure and services in Bac Ninh do not fully meet the strict requirements of experts, technicians, senior management of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan… Therefore, most of them rent houses in Hanoi or choose big hotels to stay. Experts say the shortage of supply is a good signal for real estate investors who want to pour capital into Bac Ninh, anticipating strong profit opportunities with huge customer demand.

Especially, in the development plan, Bac Ninh is planned to become a city directly under the Central Government by 2022. That has made Bac Ninh becoming a magnet to attract many real estate giants coming to hunt for land funds for project development.

Read More

10 Questions to Ask Before Set-up Company in Vietnam

Foreigners are encouraged to make investment in Vietnam through direct investment by Setting up company in Vietnam.

However there are restrictions in some cases in regard to investment capital, investment area, special licenses required. The investor is suggested to consult with a law firm in Vietnam for advice and service offering.

Before setting up business in Vietnam, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Which business should I invest in Vietnam?

There are non-conditional investment areas and conditional investment areas. Establishing company in the non-conditional investment areas are more simple than in conditional investment areas. Investment in IT services, manufacturing, management consulting, business promotion are a few samples of non-conditional investment areas. Example of conditional investment areas are real estate, trading, travel agencies, freight forwarding…which are more complicated with investment conditions. Investment conditions might also be changed over the time depending on the WTO commitments which Vietnam enters.

2. What should I name the business in Vietnam?

The company in Vietnam has to have Vietnamese name, and English name. The company could also have abbreviated name. The name of the company in Vietnam indicates the structure of the company, the business lines, and the name that differentiate against other businesses. For instance, the company could be named Alpha consulting limited liability company.

3. Where should I register the address of the business in Vietnam?

Not every address could be used to register a company. The address has to be an address of a house with leasing agreement or office building which owner has license to operate as office building.

4. What is the legal structure of the company?

Depending on the number of investor contributing capital, company could be set-up as one member limited liability company or two ore more member limited liability company or joint stocks company.

5. How much capital is required to set-up a company in Vietnam?

The investment amount depends on the business plan and is subject to the approval of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment evaluating application dossier. In some business areas like real estate, banking and finance, minimum capital is required. In general for non-conditional investment area, the law does not specify the minimum capital to establish a company in Vietnam however the State agencies that evaluate investment plan could reject the investment project which are not feasible. Bank statement in foreign banks could be used to prove sufficient fund of investment capital.

6. Whom will be legal representative and work permit in Vietnam?

The investor will need to appoint the legal representative in Vietnam to oversee the business performance and take legal responsibility in Vietnam. If the legal representative is an expatriate, whom is a capital contributing member or owner of a limited liability company or a member of the Board of Management of a shareholding company which is registered to operate in Vietnam, he or she will be exempted from work permit in Vietnam. Otherwise, he or she will need to have a work permit to work in Vietnam legally. The work permit holder would then apply for temporary residence card to live in Vietnam as long as the work permit allows.

7. How long does it take to set-up a company in Vietnam?

It depends on what type, scale, and whether or not conditions are required. For a simple minimum capital without conditions to set-up, it would take 30 working days. For setting up company in conditional investment areas i.e. trading company in Vietnam, time would be lengthen due to the involvement of a number of State agencies approving the investment project and it would take 60 working days. For setting up company in other investments in areas requiring conditions to meet, time might be taken depending on the type of conditions and the government agencies evaluating the conditions of investment.

8. Whom will be granting the investment license in Vietnam?

For most of the investment projects, the provincial state agencies with the approval of the Department of Planning and Investment (DPI) will be granting the Investment Certificate in Vietnam. However, depending on the type, scale, and whether or not conditions are required, other Vietnam State agencies might be involved. For the case of trading company, ministry of trade and commerce, ministry of finance, provincial people’s committee will be reviewing the investment application dossier as well.

9. What are the tax liability in Vietnam?

Major taxes in Vietnam are corporate income tax, import and export tax, value added tax, and personal income tax in Vietnam. In some special areas, there are other taxes. The corporate income tax is currently at 22% and will reduce to 20% beginning 2016. Export is mostly encouraged as such the export tax is 0 however there are special cases when export tax is larger than 0. Import tax varies according to tariff. Value added tax is mostly at 10% however in some cases, VAT could be 5% or 0%. Personal Income tax varies according to income level and is applicable from VND 9,000,000 above.

10. What are mandatory reports submissions requirement in Vietnam?

Companies are required to keep accounting books, prepare and submit tax reports on monthly, quarterly and annually. Foreign companies are also required to have financial audit taken before the financial year end. The financial year in Vietnam is from January to December and the deadline to submit financial report is March 30th for the previous year. Other reports are required to be submitted at other State agencies.

Read More

How to Dealing with Trademark Infringement

According to Vietnam law on intellectual property, when detecting the trademark infringement act, the trademark owner has the self-protection right includes (i) apply technological measures to prevent acts of trademark infringement (ii) request organization or individual who commits an act of trademark infringement of the holder to terminate such act, make a public apology or rectification, and compensate damages; (iii) request the competent authority to handle with acts of trademark infringement in accordance with the provisions of laws.

Firstly, to apply the technological measures to prevent acts of trademark infringement measure, infringed party may give our the information related to original of emergence, trademark certificate, protection and duration scope and other information related to the right of trademark owner in order to inform that the infringed trademark are under protection warn the infringing party not to infringe. Besides, the owner of infringed trademark may use the technical means or measures to mark, identify, distinguish and protect the infringed trademark.

Secondly, the owner could also request organization or individual who commits an act of trademark infringement of the holder to terminate such act, make a public apology or rectification, and compensate damages. In particular, the trademark owners may themselves or authorize to individual or organization, IP attorney in Vietnam to send to the infringed party to stop the the infringement by indicating the information regarding origin of infringement, trademark certificate, protection scope, protection duration and set a reasonable period of time for the infringer to terminate the act of infringement. In addition, depending on the case and level of infringement, the written request will bear different content. It can be said that this is a prior-should-use measure before taking other measures including application of technological measures. If the violating party cooperates and stops the infringement, it will save time and money of both parties when not taking other stronger measures.

Thirdly, owner of trademark could request the competent authority to deal with acts of trademark infringement in accordance with the provisions of laws. When the trademark owner sends the request as mentioned above to infringing party, and, the violated party does not cooperate and continue the infringement, infringed party may sent a request to competent authority with the information such as: date of making the request; name and address of infringed party or their legal representative; name of receiving request authority; name and address of infringing party; name and address of the suspected violator in the case of request for temporary cessation of customs clearance for exports or imports suspected of infringement; brief information of infringed trademark and infringement; proposed measures to handle infringement; documents and evidence accompanying the request. Depending on the seriousness of the infringement, the petitioner may submit a request to the relevant authorities to apply administrative, civil, criminal or customs measures. Be noted that if the request is sent to custom authority for temporary cessation of customs clearance for imports or exports suspected of infringement, it is required to provide the additional information on the mode of import or export, country of exportation, mode of packaging, the lawful importer or exporter, features of lawfully imported or exported goods for distinction from infringing goods.

Overall, it is important to protect the intellectual property rights. Further, engaging with IP attorney in Vietnam will help the process efficiently from registration, managing the intellectual properties, protecting the intellectual property from infringement, and handling the disputes against the IP violators in Vietnam through administrative measures, civil litigation or even criminal prosecution.

Read More