Asia Counsel Insights gives readers a concise insight into legal and business developments in Vietnam. This edition has news on the legislative agenda of the National Assembly for the November sitting, vocational education decree and Supreme Court guidance on penalty interests.

1. ASIA COUNSEL INSIGHTS
3 November 2016
Banking
Customer Relations for Card Users
The State Bank of Vietnam issued
Circular 30/2016/TT-NHNN dated 14
October 2016 amending and
supplementing a number of circulars on
payment services and payment
intermediary services. New provisions on
card operations are below.
 Banks are no longer required to
register, but instead notify to the SBV
its specimen card.
 Banks must maintain at least two ways
of receiving queries and complaints
from cardholders: directly at their
transaction offices and via call
centers. Any query or complaint made
by a cardholder through the call
center must be accompanied by
submission of an official request for
query or complaint.
 Within 5 working days of a submission
of a complaint or settlement of a
complaint, banks must compensate
the cardholder for any loss arising not
due to the cardholder’s fault or a
force majeure event.
Legislation
National Assembly Agenda
In the 2nd session of the 14th
National Assembly from 24
October 2016 to 3 November
2016, the following laws are
proposed to be passed:
 Law on Association
 Law on Worship and Religion
 Law on Auction
 Law on Amendment and
Addition of Some Articles on
Penal Code
 Resolution on the amendment
and addition of Resolution
55/2010/QH12 on exemption,
deduction of tax on farming
land.
The following key laws will be
debated by the National
Assembly:
 Law on Intellectual Property
Transaction
 Law on Foreign Trade
Management
 Law on SMEs
 Law on Tourism.
Asia Counsel Insights provide an
overview of the key trending legal
and business issues in Vietnam and
how they may impact your business.
Please enjoy your read.
Key Dates
 New traffic signs will be installed
nationwide this month.
 25 November: annual reports on
changes to employment, training
and staff development.
Official Law Firm Partner of the
Vietnam Basketball Association
About Asia Counsel
Asia Counsel is a dynamic international corporate and commercial law firm dedicated to serving clients in Vietnam. Our partners have over nine years of
experience in working on complex and challenging matters in Vietnam. We are committed to helping clients achieve their business strategies and providing
outstanding legal services.
If you have any questions on any of the items discussed above, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Christian Schaefer
Managing Partner
E christian@asia-counsel.com
Minh Duong
Partner
E minh@asia-counsel.com
Trade
Anti-dumping Measures
A number of countries have imposed
anti-dumping measures on Vietnam.
 In October 2016, Turkey imposed anti-
dumping tax on Vietnamese
plywood.
 In June 2016, the USA imposed anti-
dumping measures on Vietnamese
circular welded carbon-quality steel
pipes.
 In September 2016, Thailand imposed
anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese
steel products.
 In October 2016, the European Union
imposed anti-dumping duties on
imports of certain types footwear with
uppers of leather or composition
leather from Vietnam.
 In May 2016, the USA decided to
continue applying anti-dumping
duties on imports of polyethylene
retail carrier bags from Vietnam.
Vietnam has also recently imposed anti-
dumping measures on steel products
from China and Korea.
Asia Counsel Vietnam Law Company Limited, Level 5, 18 HBT Building, 16-18 Hai Ba Trung Street, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

2. ASIA COUNSEL INSIGHTS
3 November 2016
Vietnam Fact Box
On 26 October 2016, the World
Bank released its 2017 Doing
Business report, which ranks
economies on their ease of
doing business (from 1 – 190).
This year, Vietnam was ranked
82 out of 190 countries, an
increase of 9 positions from last
year (91 out of 189). This
suggests an improvement to
Vietnam’s business
environment.
The Report cited improvement
in the strengthening of minority
shareholder rights, tax payment
procedures, removal of
environmental protection fees,
and deployment of an
electronic customs clearance
system.
Source:World Bank Report 2017
Education
Vocational education
The Government issued Decree
143/2016/ND-CP dated 14 October
2016 regulating conditions for
investment and operations in
vocational education sector. Under
Decree 143, conditions for
establishment of vocational education
institutions include:
 The establishment of new institution
must be consistent with the plan on
the network of vocational education
institutions by local and central
governments.
 The minimum student numbers is 150
students per year for elementary
level, 250 students per year for
vocational colleges and 500 students
per year for colleges;
 The investment capital (excluding
land value) of VND 5 billion for
vocational education centers, VND
50 billion for vocational colleges and
VND 100 billion for colleges; and
 Infrastructure construction area of
1,000m2 for vocational education
centers, 20,000m2 for vocational
colleges and 50,000m2 for colleges.
Case law
Late payment interest
On 17 October 2016, the Supreme
People’s Court (SPC) issued
Decision No. 698/QĐ-CA
introducing precedents
established in four cases adopted
by the SPC’s Judge Council. Case
No. 09/2016/AL published under
this Decision sets out two
important precedents for
performance of commercial
contracts:
 Interest rate applicable to late
payment of good purchase
prices or service fees will be the
average of late payment
interest rates of at least three
local banks at the time of
payment, unless otherwise
agreed by the relevant parties
or provided by law.
 No interest shall apply on
payment of penalty for breach
and damages for loss payable
by a breaching party.
Courts will apply the above
precedents in subsequent cases
from 01 December 2016.
Corporate
Science and Technology Enterprises
In early October, the Ministry of
Science and Technology published
the draft Decree on science and
technology enterprises (“STE”) for
public comment. STEs are
companies that produces products
and services from new technologies
or scientific research. STEs shall be
issued STE certificates and entitled to
various incentives and supports,
including:
 Import duty exemption for
materials and machinery parts
used for manufacture of STEs for 5
years from commencement of
manufacture;
 CIT incentives as same as
applicable to companies
implementing new investment
projects in high-tech zones;
 Exemption from land rent for the
whole lease term, and registration
fees for land use right and house
ownership registration.
 Free use of state-run technology
incubation space.
Finance
SMEs Development Fund
On 10 October 2016, the Ministry of Planning and Investment issued a draft decision
of the Prime Minister on organization and operations of the SMEs Development Fund
(“Fund”). The Fund came into operation in April 2016 according to the Prime
Minister’s Decision no. 601/QD-TTg dated 17 April 2013. The draft decision aims to
address issues arising from the implementation of Decision 601. Amendments
includes:
 Renaming “entrusted lending” by banks using funds from the Fund as “indirect
lending” to differentiate this activities with bank’s normal entrusted lending
regulated by the State Bank;
 Adopting a number of new methods of supporting SMEs by the Fund, including
direct lending, credit guarantee, venture capital investment & crowdfunding;
 Allowing of new capital mobilization methods by the Fund to have additional
finance sources besides the Fund’s charter capital of VND2,000 billion.