Asia Counsel Insights provide readers an update on legal and business developments in Vietnam. In this special Tet 2023 edition we provide an update on the key renewable energy policies in Vietnam, a summary of the new Anti Money Laundering law and data location requirements. We want to wish everyone a happy and prosperous lunar new year of the cat.

1. ASIA COUNSEL INSIGHTS
Tet January 2023
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.
Asia Counsel Vietnam would like to wish all a
happy lunar new year 2023 of the cat.
Anti-money Laundering
On 15 November 2022, the National Assembly passed the Law
on Anti-money Laundering No. 14/2022/QH15. The AML law
will take effective from 1 March 2023.
Unlike the former AML law which defines money laundering
into three acts, the new AML law generally defines as any act
which can be considered money laundering if the purpose is
to legalise the origin of the assets resulting from a crime.
The new AML law has additionally included intermediary
payment providers, securities brokers and securities
investment consulting service providers into the scope of
financial institution subject to money laundering reporting
(“Reporting Entity”). The Reporting Entity must conduct money
laundering risk assessment and report the result (and its
update) to the State Bank of Vietnam and relevant authority
within 45 days from its issuing date.
The new AML law adds the following suspicious transactions
that must be monitored.
▪ customers using personal bank accounts to make
transactions relating to activities of organisation or transact
on behalf of other individual.
▪ online transactions via bank accounts constantly change
on login devices or IP addresses abroad.
▪ customer's bank account suddenly receives or transfers an
unusually large amount of money.
▪ foreign investors residing in countries or territories with high
risk of money laundering contribute capital to establish
securities investment funds or securities investment
companies in Vietnam.
Foreign Remittances
The State Bank of Vietnam promulgated Circular No.
20/2022/TT-NHNN providing guidance for one-way
international money transfer and current transactions
payment and remittance which takes effect on 15
February 2023. This Circular refers to cases where residents
being Vietnamese citizens are permitted to transfer
money from Vietnam to overseas.
Specifically, individuals may purchase and transfer
foreign currency in case of study, medical treatment,
business travel, payment of fees and charges in a foreign
country, family allowances, transfer of inheritance
money, or for settlement purposes.
The threshold of foreign currency to be
purchased/transferred abroad for each case is generally
based on the expenses specified in relevant notices,
documents, such as: notices of tuition fees, medical
treatment, payment of fees issued in foreign countries, or
the documents related to inheritance.
In case for settlement purposes, the threshold is based on
the value of the individual’s assets formed in Vietnam
before the acquisition of foreign nationality or being
allowed to reside abroad for settlement purposes
according to the regulations of the host country.
In other cases, the commercial banks are allowed to
decide the threshold of foreign currency on the basis of
reasonable needs of individuals and their purpose of
foreign currency transfer.
About Asia Counsel
Asia Counsel is a dynamic international corporate and commercial law firm dedicated to serving clients in Vietnam. Our partners have over 14 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
Partner
E christian@asia-counsel.com
Minh Duong
Managing Partner
E minh@asia-counsel.com
Asia Counsel Vietnam Law Company Limited, Unit 9.10, Level 9, Deutsches Haus, 33 Le Duan Boulevard, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Ross Macleod
Partner
E ross@asia-counsel.com

2. ASIA COUNSEL INSIGHTS
Tet January 2023
Power Development Plan VIII
The MOIT submitted a proposal No. 7194/TTr-BCT dated 11
November 2022 to the Prime Minister to propose power
development plan for 2021-2030 with a vision to 2050 (“PDP
VIII”). Some notable points are highlighted below:
Coal-fired power plants
▪ After 2030, no coal -fired power plants will be newly
established.
▪ The coal-fired power plants will burn biomass fuel or
ammonia after 20 years of the operation.
LNG-fired power plants
▪ After 2035, no new LNG-fired power plants would be
approved.
▪ LNG-fired power plants are gradually switched to hydrogen
fuel after 10 years of operation, and hydrogen would be
the predominant fuel for most gas-fired power plants by
2050.
Solar power plants
▪ Only 11 solar power projects whose investors have been
approved have been proposed by the MOIT to continue
developing from now until 2030.
▪ The development of roof top solar projects is encouraged
for self-consumption rather than for selling or generation
onto the national grid.
▪ The electricity price of the projects may reduce to
5.5UScents/kWh by 2030 and 3.4UScents/kWh by 2050.
Wind power plants
▪ By 2030, the onshore wind power capacity may reach
21,480 MW, and the offshore wind power capacity will be
7,000 MW.
▪ The electricity price of onshore wind power projects may
reduce from 7.74UScents/kWh in the period before 2025 to
(i) 6.35UScents/kWh by 2030, and (ii) 5.3UScents/kWh by
2050.
▪ The electricity price of offshore wind power projects may
reduce from 10.1UScents/kWh as of today to (i)
8.4UScents/kWh in 2030, and (ii) 5.2UScents/kWh by 2050.
Renewable Energy Policies
General update on energy development in Vietnam
Vietnam is aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050.
Decision 888/QD-TTg issued by the Prime Minister on 25
July 2022 sets several goals for the energy transition: (i) no
new coal-fired power plants to be developed after 2030,
(ii) an increase in renewable energy sources, and (iii) an
improvement of the transmission and distribution
infrastructure of the national electricity system.
In 2022, Vietnamese Government has also issued some
notable renewable energy-related policies.
Price framework for transitional solar and wind power
plants
According to Circular No. 15/2022/TT-BCT issued by the
Ministry of Industry and Trade (“MOIT”) on October 2022
(“Circular 15”), tariff of (i) any solar power plants and (ii)
any wind power plants were under development at the
time that FIT of such plants is expired (i.e., 31 December
2020 for solar power projects, and 31 October 2021 for
wind power projects), will be subject to tariff ranges of
transitional power plants (“Transitional Plants”). These
ranges are determined in VND and are possibly not
allowed to be adjusted with fluctuation of the exchange
rate.
On 7 January 2023, the MOIT issued Decision No. 21/QD-
BCT (“Decision 21”) for the establishment of ceiling
electricity tariff for the Transitional Plants. On the basis of
pricing framework in this Decision 21 and methods for
formulation of the tariff ranges applied for the Transitional
Plants in Circular 15, EVN and the Transitional Plant
investors will directly negotiate tariffs on a bilateral basis
with the agreed tariff being within the relevant tariff
range.
New Regulations on Bank Guarantees
The State Bank of Vietnam (“SBV”) issued Circular No. 11/2022/TT-NHNN dated 30 September 2022 regulating bank
guarantees (“Circular 11”). Circular 11 will take effect from 1 April 2023 and the key changes are below.
• Circular 11 provides that a bank guarantee can be entered into by electronic means instead of under wet ink. The
implementation of electronic guarantee activities must ensure security, safety, data message protection, and
information confidentiality in accordance with the provisions of the law on money laundering prevention, electronic
transactions, SBV’ guidance on risk management in e-banking activities, and other relevant legal documents.
Furthermore, the guarantee commitment entered electronic must not exceed VND4 billion for individual customers and
VND45 billion for corporate customers.
• Credit institutions and foreign bank branches are now expressly not allowed to provide guarantees for bond payment
obligation of enterprises for the purpose of (i) restructuring its own debts; (ii) contributing capital, buying shares in other
enterprises; and (iii) increasing the size of operating capital.
• Circular 11 also expressly provides that a guarantee contract for off-plan houses will take effect from the signing day
until: (i) the guarantee obligations of all guarantee letters given to the buyer cease to have effect; and (ii) the investor
has fulfilled all of its obligations to the commercial bank under the guarantee contract for off-plan house.

3. ASIA COUNSEL INSIGHTS
Tet January 2023
Vietnam Fact Box
On 1 January 2023, the VAT rate
at 8% applicable to
establishments operating:
• telecommunications,
financial activities,
banking, securities,
insurance, real estate,
metals and prefabricated
products, mining products
(excluding coal mining),
coke, oil refined mines,
chemical products;
• goods and services
subject to excise tax; and
• information technology,
must revert to 10%.
Tax Reporting on E-commerce Traders
On 30 October 2022, the Government issued Decree No.
91/2022/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of
articles of the decree guiding the Tax Management Law,
taking effect on the same date (“Decree 91”).
Decree 91 introduces a new reporting obligation of local e-
commerce platforms. Accordingly, local e-commerce
platform is required to provide General Taxation Department
(through the Department’s website) with information of
traders, conducting, partly or wholly, the sale of goods and
services provision on such e-commerce platform, including:
(i) name, tax code of organizational traders, or personal
identification number with respect to individual traders;
(ii) contact details (i.e., address and phone number); and
(iii) revenue of sale generated through the online order
function of the e-commerce platform.
The information must be submitted online via the national
portal of the General Tax Department on a quarterly basis by
the last date of the first month of the next quarter.
Additionally, Decree 91 officially provides that as from the
beginning of 2023, securities companies, banks and fund
management companies must made tax declaration and
payment on behalf of individuals receiving dividends and
bonuses in the form of shares. Further, Decree 91 provides
that if the deadline for making tax declaration, payment
and other tax administrative work falls on a holiday, then the
deadline will be extended to the next working day.
Data Localisation Requirements
Decree No. 53/2022/ND-CP (“Decree 53”) of the Government which elaborates on the
implementation of a number of Articles of Law on Cyber Security took effect from 1
October 2022. Decree 53 provides the matters below.
• Types of data that are subject to localization include (i) personal data of services
users in Vietnam, (ii) data generated by services users in Vietnam, and (iii) data on
the relationships of service users in Vietnam, including friends and groups with which
the users connect or interact.
• All local enterprises (including foreign-invested companies established in Vietnam)
are required to localize data regardless of their business lines.
• Foreign enterprises which provide one of the services as specified under Decree 53
including e-commerce services, online payment services, social networking
services, etc. are required to localize data and establish their branches or
representative offices in Vietnam if their services had been used to commit a breach
of cybersecurity laws, but they failed to fully comply with the instructions of, hindered
or disabled the security measures imposed by, the competent Vietnamese
authorities.
• The enterprises can decide their forms for data localization.
• While there is no provision on minimum data storage applied for local enterprises,
foreign enterprises are required to localize data for the time period as requested by
the Minister of Public Security which must be at least 24 months.
Regulations on private offering of corporate bond
Decree No. 65/2022/ND-CP (“Decree 65”) on private
placement and trading of privately placed corporate
bond in domestic market and corporate bond offering to
international market came into effect on 16 September
2022. Decree 65 tightens the rules on bond issuance and
trading.
While Decree 153 allows voluntary redemption of bonds
upon the investors’ request, Decree 65 adds cases where
the early redemption of bonds is compulsory when the
issuer commits violations against the regulations of offering
and trading of corporate bond or fails to comply with bond
issuance plan.
Decree 65 also shortens the period for bond offering and
bond distribution in multiple tranches. The maximum time
period for bond distribution in each tranche is reduced from
90 days to 30 days from the date of the disclosure of
information before the offering. The total duration of bond
offering in multiple tranches is reduced from 12 months to 6
months from the issue date of the first tranche.
Further, Decree 65 limits the investors entering into the bond
market by increasing the par value of corporate bonds
offered to the domestic market. The par value of bonds is
now VND100,000,000 (c. USD4,264) or a multiple of
VND100,000,000.
In addition, Decree 65 supplements term of identification of
professional securities traders who are eligible to purchase
privately placed corporate bonds. Accordingly, the
identification of an individual being professional securities
trader is valid within 3 months from the date of
identification.