India To Investigate Anti-dumping of Vinyl Tiles from Vietnam

On January 24th, 2022, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India (Directorate General of Trade Remedies) has issued initiation of anti-dumping investigation of imports of “Vinyl Tiles other than in roll or sheet form” originating in or exported from China PR, Taiwan and Vietnam (Case No. AD (OI) -16/2021). Ministry of Commerce and Industry received the allegations that the dumping of the product under consideration from the mentioned countries above is materially retarding the establishment of the domestic industry in India.

 

India To Investigate Anti-dumping of Vinyl Tiles from Vietnam

According to the Initiation notification, the product under consideration for the present investigation is “Vinyl Tiles, other than in roll or sheet form” under the following HS codes: 39181090, 39181010, 39189010, 39189020 and 39189090. However, is only indicative and not binding on the scope of the product under consideration in the present investigation. The period of investigation will be applied for the duration from October 1^st, 2020 to September 30^th, 2021.

According to the affirmation, imported products originating in or exported from the mentioned countries has no significant differences in the products produced by the domestic industry. As per the practice of the authority, the PCN methodology would be decided post initiation after inviting comments from all the interested parties. The interested parties may provide their comments/suggestions for the finalization of PCNs for the purpose of this investigation within 15 days from the date of the initiation of this investigation.

Accordingly, on the basis of proving that the conditions about dumping of the product under consideration originating in or exported from the mentioned countries and prove the damages cause from the causality alleged dumping in accordance with regulations. The Authority initiates an investigation to determine the existence, degree and effect of any alleged dumping in respect of the product under consideration originating in or exported from the mentioned countries and to recommend the amount of anti-dumping duty.

Besides, the relevant parties can send the submission within “confidential” or “non-confidential” and make a mark at the top of each page. The Authority may accept or reject the request for confidentiality on examination of the nature of the information submitted. If the Authority is satisfied that the request for confidentiality is not warranted or if the supplier of the information is either unwilling to public, it may disregard such information.

Therefore, the relevant parties should submit the investigate information to Designated Authority in India 30 days from the date of receipt of the notice as per Rule 6(4) of the Anti-Dumping Rules.

The relevant parties could consult with international trade dispute lawyers in Vietnam whom work with Indian counterparts for assistance in responding to India authorities.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice or potential dispute regarding trade remedies measures including, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard measures or international trade dispute matters, our competition, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty lawyers in Vietnam of International trade and tax practice at ANT Lawyers, a law firm in Vietnam always follow up anti-dumping cases and its development to update clients on regular basis.

 

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What Are Regulation for Automatic Conviction Expungement?

In order to show the spirit of humanity, create conditions for those who have been convicted to reintegrate into the community and stabilize their lives, the Vietnam Penal Code has built a system to automatically have criminal records in Vietnam removed. Accordingly, former convicted persons who have met the prescribed conditions will be considered as unconvicted and they will not have to continue to bear any consequences due to their former convictions. However, the implementation of regulations on the issue of automatically expunging criminal records in practice encounters a number of difficulties and problems.

 

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It can be seen that, the need for recognition of criminal record removal is very obvious. Remission of criminal records will show a more positive recognition of the law for people who have been convicted of crimes and facilitate their participation in work and encourage them to quickly integrate into life. In the case of automatic conviction expungement, there are a number of changes that the former convicts should pay attention.

The natural condition of automatic conviction expungement.

In order to be automatically expunged, a convicted person must satisfy the conditions for automatic criminal record remission according to the provisions of the Penal Code. Accordingly, a person who has been convicted must satisfy the following conditions: (i) have fully served the legally effective conviction of the court or the statute of limitations for judgment enforcement, including the principal penalty, has expired. and additional penalties (fines, damages, court fees…); (ii) not to commit a new offense within the prescribed time limit. These are the basic conditions proving that the former convicted person has fulfilled all the obligations for his/her offense.

The implementation procedure, if an individual who has been convicted has a request for a certificate of criminal record remission.

Accordingly, the agency competent to handle the case is the agency that manages the judicial record database. Therefore, the National Center for Criminal Records – the Ministry of Justice will guide the Department of Justice to directly regulate the Detailed procedures to clear criminal records for cases where criminal convictions are automatically cleared. Individuals who wish to carry out the procedure of automatically expunging their criminal records will only need to prepare a set of documents requesting the issuance of a criminal record card and submit it to the Judicial Records Center or the Department of Justice of a province/ city where convicted person is a residence without having to provide any other documents. After receiving the dossier, the agency managing the judicial record database will be responsible for verifying the automatic conditions for criminal record remission and issuing a criminal record card confirming “no criminal record” if the individual has no criminal record eligible individuals as prescribed by law. Therefore, the provisions of the 2015 Penal Code on criminal record remission have naturally created more favorable and flexible conditions for individuals who have been convicted than in the previous procedure.

Regarding the verification of information about former convicts, the Department of Justice will send a written request for verification to the commune-level People’s Committee or the agency or organization where the convict resides and works after serving the sentence about whether that person is prosecuted, investigated, prosecuted or tried during the criminal conviction period. Commune-level People’s Committees and agencies and organizations will send a written notice of verification results to the Department of Justice. After receiving the written notification of verification results from the commune-level People’s Committees, agencies and organizations, the Department of Justice will handle criminal record remission for citizens.

Contrary to the previous regulations that the court will be the authority to issue a certificate of automatically expunging criminal records for convicts. According to current regulations, the authority belongs to the agency managing the judicial updates database information on the convict’s criminal history and, upon request, issue a judicial record card certifying that he or she has no previous criminal record, if all conditions are met. However, in reality, sometimes the current national database might not be synchronous. Therefore, when a convicted person requests for a judicial record card, the agency managing the judicial record database must take time to coordinate with relevant agencies such as the court, the procuracy, and the public prosecutor’s office… to verify the natural condition to delete the criminal record, which takes much time.

Therefore, at present, the confirmation of criminal record remission for the case of automatically expunging criminal records remission has specific regulations, but the implementation still faces many difficulties and complications affecting the interests of the requester. Hence individuals who have been convicted must keep relevant papers and documents to easily prove their claims are legal and save time and costs.  The individual could authorize a law firm to help with criminal record procedures in Vietnam.

ANT Lawyers - a Law firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

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When Arbitration Could Settle a Dispute in Vietnam?

When Arbitration Could Settle a Dispute in Vietnam?

Under the Law on Commercial Arbitration effective Jan 1^st, 2011, and other guidance, in principle, arbitration could only be used in disputes among parties which arise from commercial activities, disputes among parties at least one of whom conducts commercial activities, and other disputes among parties which are stipulated by law to be settled by arbitration in Vietnam. Lawyer should be consulted for arbitration from drafting arbitration agreement to resolving the arisen dispute.

 

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Arbitral tribunals are entitled to resolve the disputes mentioned above if the concerned parties have a valid arbitration agreement agreed, before or after the dispute arise.

When the court is requested to resolve one of the disputes of the above types which a valid arbitration agreement exists, the court shall examine documents enclosed with the petition to determine and if the court finds that the dispute is under an arbitration agreement and such arbitration agreement is valid the court shall issue a decision to terminate the adjudication, return the petition and documents.

The dispute shall be handled by the court though it is under an arbitration agreement, unless otherwise agreed by the parties concerned or prescribed by law: the court issues a decision to annul the arbitral award or the decision made by the arbitral tribunal; or there is a decision to suspend the arbitral tribunal or arbitration center from resolving disputes; or the arbitration agreement is not viable.

ANT Lawyers - a Law firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

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Extension of time for submitting questionnaire for Anti-dumping case AD16

Extension of time for submitting questionnaire for Anti-dumping case AD16

Extension of time for submitting questionnaire for Anti-dumping investigation on table and chair products from the China and Malaysia (Code of case AD16).

 

On December 06^th, 2021, The Department of Trade Remedies- The Ministry of Industry and Trade (Investigating Authority) issued anti-dumping investigation questionnaire on quantity and value for foreign manufacturers/exporters.

The goal is to facilitate foreign manufacturers/exporters to cooperate to respond the questionnaire, the Investigating Authority decided to extend the time to respond to the questionnaires for the relevant parties in the code of case AD16.

The extent of the response will be the same with the following instructions in official investigation questionnaire dated December 06th, 2021. After the extension period, the Investigating Authority does not receive timely responses from foreign manufacturers/exporters or the information provided is incorrect or incomplete, the Investigating Authority will use information and documents provided by related parties, the information and documents collected by the Investigating Authority or available information and documents for giving the result according to the regulation of Law on Foreign trade management.

The relevant parties must respond to the Investigation Authority before 17:00 January 26^th, 2022 (Hanoi time).

To ensure its rights and interests, the relevant parties need to answer and submit the questionnaire or authorize international trade dispute law firm with experience in anti-dumping area to assist.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice or potential dispute regarding trade remedies measures including, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard measures or international trade dispute matters, our competition, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty lawyers in Vietnam of International trade and tax practice at ANT Lawyers, a law firm in Vietnam always follow up anti-dumping cases and its development to update clients on regular basis.

 

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Some of commodities with growth potential in Vietnam through UKVFTA Agreement

Since 2021, the UKVFTA Agreement is the Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EVFTA) had been come into force.

 

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After the UKVFTA Agreement is signed, some goods in Vietnam, when exported to the UK market, if they meet the conditions, will enjoy tariff preferences from the Agreement, this is a good opportunity to Vietnamese goods are imported to the UK market.

In 2019, the UK imports mainly from Vietnam garment products. In which, the 10 largest garment products exported to the UK include: suits, jackets, blazers for women or girls, outerwear, gowns for women or girl; Jerseys, pullovers, cardigans, men’s or girls’ blouses, shirts and blouses, and other bras. Vietnamese garments entering the UK had to compete with those of other countries with tariff reduction schemes/agreements with the UK such as Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, and Cambodia, however, after UKVFTA takes effect, garment products from Vietnam will enjoy equivalent tariff benefits, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of textile and garment products from Vietnam.

Previously, with a double-digit export turnover for many consecutive years, Vietnam currently ranks 2nd in the world in footwear exports. Footwear export turnover of Vietnam continuously increased in the period 2010 – 2019, from 5.1 billion USD in 2010 increased by more than 3.5 times, reaching 18.3 billion USD in 2019.

Despite ranking 2nd in the world, Vietnam’s footwear exports account for only 8% of global exports. The UK market is a footwear export market with great potential but very competitive. However, compared to competitors such as China, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and Germany, in 2019, Vietnam is still subject to the 2nd highest tariff among the 15 most footwear exporting countries to the UK, with average tax of 6.7%. Since the UKVFTA Agreement is implemented, the tax rate will be reduced according to the schedule and will be down to 0% depending on each item, thereby helping Vietnam’s footwear products to compete with products of other countries.

Besides, the seafood product is Vietnam’s key export industry, we have the advantage of both experience, production capacity and abundant supply. Import demand for seafood products of the UK is quite large, about 4.4 billion USD/year, in which the export value of Vietnam accounts for only about 6.7%. The main seafood export markets to the UK are: China, Ireland, Sweden …

The Covid-19 pandemic changed the trend of consumption and import from the UK. Consumers find seafood products that are easy to consume at home, easy to store, easy to process, convenient and with average low prices. Vietnamese frozen pangasius is a great advantage and a bright spot for the seafood industry to export to the UK today, as a leading supplier with the possible price and processing process of many Vietnamese enterprises is accepted by EU and UK market.

However, in order to bring Vietnamese products into the UK market, Vietnamese goods need to meet high standards of quality, aesthetics, hygiene and environment at competitive prices, ensuring the standards of origin, to be able to take the best use of the incentives provided by the Agreement. In addition, the choice of using the British pound or USD in negotiating and signing commercial contracts requires the company to closely monitor the exchange rate fluctuation between the British pound and the USD, from which to consider, and sign economic contracts that are most beneficial to their businesses.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is equally important as choosing the right products to export to the UK market to compete. It is suggested to undertake the research for the reputation of the company and each shareholders being corporate or individual, obtain public information of the company, and undertake background check for key personnel to access potential risks for cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, save time and costs in business.

 

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Vietnam and United Kingdom signed 26 cooperation agreements

The Vietnam Prime Minister ‘s trip to the United Kingdom on October 31, 2021 is a meaningful trip for Vietnam, especially, during the period when the country’s economy is in the process of recovering from the pandemic. The Prime Minister’s trip has realized many important goals with many activities both on multilateral forums and bilateral contacts, combining meetings with the Vietnamese community and businesses.

 

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With this trip, the Prime Minister participated in 26 billion-dollar cooperation agreements between Vietnam and the UK. Many cooperation agreements of leading Vietnamese enterprises with British partners have just been signed. These cooperation agreements are expected, after being implemented, to bring many economic advantages as well as further promote the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Specifically, with the witness of the Prime Minister, Vietjet Air and Rolls-Royce Group signed an agreement to provide engines and engine services for the wide-body fleet with a total value of 400 million USD. With this agreement, Vietjet’s aircraft engines will be improved in terms of the lowest fuel consumption lifecycle and bring the highest economic efficiency to the aircraft.

In addition, Sovico Group and Oxford University signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate, finance investment in research and education development with a total value of £155 million. In which, the scholarship fund of 7.5 million pounds will be for students in Vietnam and other countries in the region. This is a potential and very valuable source of scholarships for Vietnamese students.

At the ceremony, Affinity Investment Fund and Vietnam’s HDBank also agreed to sign a sponsorship of 300 million USD for the program of sustainable development and combating climate change. This is a cooperation of great significance to the environment as well as showing deep concern for the current state of climate change.

Meanwhile, EMG Education Group signed a memorandum of understanding on comprehensive educational cooperation with Pearson Education Group; Vingroup and a representative of Raphael Labs Company (UK) signed an agreement on cooperation, development, investment, testing and technology transfer for the production of drugs to prevent Covid-19 and respiratory diseases. This agreement is expected to help the parties jointly promote research and find effective vaccine production technologies, contributing to quickly bringing socio-economic life back to normal.

In addition, T&T Group, a representative of Hanoi Medical University and a representative of Hipra Group (Spain) awarded an agreement on cooperation in building a vaccine research center in Vietnam and training human resources. This cooperation will help Vietnam have the opportunity to train human resources, access to advanced Spanish technology.

Moreover, in the recently signed agreements, there is a letter of intent to join the Coalition to reduce emissions through enhanced forestry finance; agreement on cooperation to develop action plans to strengthen linkages between higher education institutions between the two countries; memorandum of understanding on enhancing cooperation in education; agreement on cooperation in building human resource training programs for the Ministry of Planning and Investment and supporting start-ups; cooperation agreement on technology transfer on land management and related human resource training…in Vietnam.

It can be seen that this trip of the Prime Minister is not only an ordinary visit but also an opportunity for Vietnam to promote cooperation with bilateral partners, international organizations and multilateral partners other, seek opportunities to receive financial support, technology, and capacity building for the country.

ANT Lawyers – A Law Firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or services request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

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Why foreign company should undertake policy and regulatory research before entering Vietnam market?

Currently, with Vietnam’s investment attraction policies, annual foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam is constantly increasing, after Covid time. According to the report on foreign direct investment in nine months of 2021 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of September 20^th, 2021, the total newly registered capital, adjusted and contributed capital to buy shares, purchase capital contribution (GVMCP) of foreign investors reached 22.15 billion USD, up 4.4% over the same period last year 2020. Realized capital of foreign investment projects is estimated at 13.28 billion USD, down 3.5% over the same period in 2020.

 

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However, when entering a new market, especially the business environment of a developing country like Vietnam, foreign company always have to be cautious and should undertake research investment environment and target company for M&A, or business cooperation carefully. Besides socio-cultural factors, the differences in political and legal factors are important issues. In particular, it is really necessary to study policies and legal regulations before investing in order to mitigate risks when operating in the Vietnam market.

Each country has its own policies and independent legal system to manage domestic company as well as foreign company. Therefore, when foreign investors wish to invest in Vietnam, they need to learn about legal policies that affect their expected business activities. Specifically, through the study of laws, economic policies… investors will identify constraints as well as incentives for their expected type of investment. Foreign investors will have more proactive preparation steps and have a basis to consider the benefits and potential risks when making an investment in Vietnam.

Firstly, on the legal system related to investment activities, Vietnam has a fairly complete but complex regulatory legal system. Due to too many types of legal documents being issued, overlapping, inconsistent and inconsistent jurisdictions are quite difficult obstacles for foreign investors when penetrating the Vietnamese market. Therefore, studying the regulatory is necessary and really a big challenge for foreign investors.

Specifically, for the investment, Vietnam law only allows foreign investors to do business in a number of industries that satisfy market access conditions. Therefore, foreign investors need to learn specific regulations on conditions of establishment, capital contribution, capital contribution ratio, etc. to have a plan to prepare capital, and to choose the type of investment in accordance with the regulations of Vietnam law and expected investment scale.

In addition, foreign investors also need to learn about the regulations on the organization of different types of businesses in Vietnam. It will be the basis for foreign investors to determine the level of capital contribution, rights and obligations when participating in investment. From there, foreign investors will have reasonable considerations and considerations in line with the investment plan, avoiding passive situations or the establishment and capital contribution not achieving the set goals before investing.

Second, about policies for foreign investors, investors need to study policies related to tax i.e. corporate income tax rates, tax rates for personal income taxes, and policies. avoid double taxation between Vietnam and other countries in order to comply with tax obligations and ensure its interests in the process of conducting investment in Vietnam.

Furthermore, to ensure cash flow transactions, foreign investors need to have an understanding of Vietnam’s foreign exchange policy. Understanding the bank’s foreign currency buying and selling policies will help foreign investors flexible in implementing project activities. Policies and regulatory understanding in international bidding or bidding or goods or service supply service for state owned company are also matter of concern.  Labor policy is also an information that foreign investors need to know to ensure that the recruitment and payment of salaries and benefits are consistent with the policies of the state. Economic and financial policies are regulated by the State in each period such as policy on funding or lending capital, tax policy of the State, economic policy on foreign relations, foreign policy.

Policies, laws and politics have a great influence on investment activities in Vietnam. Through legislation, the state institutionalizes economic undertakings and policies into law, with provisions that are universally binding for all business activities. The legal regulations and policies related to foreign investors in Vietnam are very complicated and changing over different periods. Therefore, before investing in Vietnam, investors need to learn, check the information and the authenticity of the information collected to ensure the authenticity and validity of those regulations and policies.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

ANT Lawyers – A Law Firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or services request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

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Vietnam and Japan cooperate for mutual development

On November 25^th, 2021, within the framework of Japan visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister – Mr. Pham Minh Chinh, the Prime Minister met the President of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). During the meeting, the Prime Minister met leaders of many large Japanese corporations, businesses and banks and signed many investment cooperation agreements between Vietnam and Japan.

 

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The parties highly appreciated JETRO’s practical and effective contributions to Vietnam in recent years in promoting investment cooperation. In the 10 months of 2021, Japan ranked 3rd among countries making investments in Vietnam, with a total registered investment capital of nearly USD 3.4 billion. Up to now, Japan is the second largest investor in Vietnam with over USD 63.9 billion (accounting for 15.8% of total FDI investment).

Vietnam encourages Japanese businesses to invest and set up company in Vietnam, apply investment registration certificates in Vietnam, expand investment cooperation in infrastructure, energy, manufacturing industry, high-quality agriculture, information technology, smart cities, financial and banking services, and banking, innovation. The Government is committed to accompanying the business community, supporting and creating all favorable conditions for business investment activities on establishment of company in Vietnam, bringing about more benefits for the parties, contributing to bringing Vietnam-Japan relations to a new level.

During this visit, the two countries signed more than 40 cooperation agreements with a total investment value of more than USD 3 billion. In addition to investment commitments, during this visit, there were many cooperation agreements on human resource training or other environmental protection solutions signed between ministries, sectors and businesses.

In the meeting, the Prime Minister of Vietnam also met and discussed with leaders of Nippon Foundation, MUFG Group, INFRONEER Group, JBIC Bank, Idemitsu Group and Mizuho Bank on market development, business, human resource training.

The Prime Minister shared with the difficulties of Japanese businesses in Vietnam over the past time, he said that Vietnam has changed to a safe and flexible adaptation, effectively controlling the epidemic. The competent authorities at all levels must discuss with businesses and citizen to deploy solutions appropriate to the situation, bring life back to normal, both open production and business, and effectively prevent epidemics. Vietnam also suggested that Japanese businesses corporate with Vietnamese in epidemic prevention and control, continue to contribute to improving institutions, training human resources, investing in hard and soft infrastructure, and cooperating in areas such as: climate change response, digital economy, green economy, circular economy…

In addition, to ensure investment and trade, Vietnam is expected to start reopening international flights in early December, including flights to Japan. This will make it easier for Japanese investors to make investment, market surveys, and deploy their investment projects.

By the visit, Vietnam wishes to further develop cooperation in investment, human resources and diplomacy with Japan, thereby creating favorable conditions for investors of the two countries to expand their business, form company in Vietnam and contribute to national economic development.

ANT Lawyers – Law firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

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The Need for Commercial Mediation in the Performance of International Contracts

In contract dispute resolution, the average time to resolve a commercial contract dispute at the Court in Vietnam, even with the help of dispute lawyers in Vietnam whom know well the process would take long time through multiple proceedings. This period will last longer if there is a foreign party in the dispute, including service of notarization, legalization, authentication (or apostille) the documents. According to World Bank statistics, the cost of resolving a commercial dispute at the Court accounts for about 29% of the contract value (including attorneys’ fees, court fees, judgment execution fees).

 

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The practice of resolving the dispute case at the Court appears to face many challenges of time lengthening and possible effective enforcement leading to cost of time and money. Therefore, the selection of dispute resolution in the mediation center is a possible option to resolve this issue.

Vietnam authorities and international agencies have taken active measures needed to promote the application of commercial mediation in international contracts, in order to resolve issues more quickly and effectively in international trade disputes. The application of commercial dispute resolution at mediation centers in Vietnam will save time and costs for dispute resolution. In addition, the dispute resolution at the mediation center will also help the parties maintain the relationship for future business transactions.

Until Aug 2019, in Vietnam, there are 7 commercial mediation centers licensed by the Ministry of Justice with a team of domestic and international certified mediators and lawyers who can contribute to resolving disputes in international trade contracts. The use of mediation centers in the settlement of disputes in Vietnam with the help of lawyers in Vietnam will help the parties to find common grounds and together save cost, time, keep confidentiality of the dispute and could continue to do business with each other.

We help clients overcome cultural barriers and achieve their strategic and financial outcomes, while ensuring the best interest rate protection, risk mitigation and regulatory compliance. ANT lawyers have Dispute Attorneys in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang, will help customers conveniently drafting contracts and assist in resolving contract disputes in Vietnam.

 

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What Are New Conditions on Real Estate Purchase and Sale in 2022?

Real estate business activities have a great influence on socio-economic development.  Accordingly, in order to ensure the legal framework for the current real estate business activities, the Government has issued Decree 02/2022/ND-CP detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Real Estate Business (“Decree 02/2022/ND-CP”) in order to promptly amend and supplement inadequate regulations to be consistent with reality. In which, conditions for the transfer of contracts of purchase and sale, lease-purchase of houses and construction works are mentioned.

 

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The demand for the transfer of purchase and sale contracts, lease-purchase of houses, real estate, construction works on the market is at a high level, although there are no regulations on the transfer of contracts for the sale of non-residential real estate not to be formed in the future. Therefore, there is no legal basis to carry out these transactions in reality. Therefore, Decree 02/2022/ND-CP has had a number of amendments and supplements and has overcome some limitations compared to the past, which is expected to solve problems and inadequacies.

Accordingly, Decree 02/2022/ND-CP has combined conditions for transfer of contracts for purchase and sale of future houses and conditions for transfer of lease-purchase contracts for existing houses and construction works with specific regulations.

Firstly, the transfer of the contract requires a purchase and sale contract or a lease purchase contract made in accordance with regulations. Accordingly, these contracts must ensure compliance with the provisions of the transfer agreement form for each transferred real estate object, whether it is a Contract for Sale, Purchase, Lease and Purchase of an apartment, or tourist apartments (Condotel), office apartments combined with accommodation (Officetel)… are valid and allowed to be used for transfer. In addition, for cases where the parties have signed a contract before the effective date of Decree 02/2022/ND-CP, the signed contract must be present. Therefore, when transferring these types of contracts, the parties should pay attention to ensure the legality of the respective contract in terms of form and time of establishment.

Secondly, the transfer contract must be in the category that has not yet submitted a dossier to request a competent state agency to issue a certificate of land use rights, ownership of houses and other land-attached assets. This provision has been mentioned in the previous regulations for the transfer of real estate contracts formed in the future. Up to now, this is still a necessary regulation to ensure that the handling of licensing procedures does not overlap, eliminating the risk that a real estate bears two or more certificates for the same object.

Thirdly, the contract of sale, purchase, lease-purchase of houses and construction works must be free of disputes and lawsuits. Accordingly, the disputed contract will not be used to transfer to a third party. This provision is consistent with the provisions on prohibition of transferring property rights to the disputed property. Therefore, in order to transfer the contract, the parties need to settle the dispute in advance to have a basis for the transfer of the contract.  In many complicated cases, the real estate dispute lawyers need to be consulted for proper dispute solutions.

Fourthly, houses and construction works that are the subject of purchase and sale or lease-purchase contracts must not be subject to distraint or mortgage to secure the performance of obligations as prescribed by law. Recently, the phenomenon of transferring these contracts has increased with seriously violated the provisions of the law, making it difficult for relevant competent authority to handle, otherwise causing damages to the transferee without understanding the legal issues for the transferor in the contract. However, with the principle of respecting the agreement of the parties, the law still allows the assignment of the contract in this case if the mortgagee agrees and this consent must be recorded specifically to avoid disputes later.

It can be seen that the highlight of Decree 02/2022/ND-CP has initially solved the inadequacies in the transfer contract for tourist apartments (Condotel), office apartments (Officetel) that help relevant competent authority have a legal basis to handle the requirements.  Further, Decree 02/2022/ND-CP has contributed to building a clearer mechanism so that the participants can actively comply with regulations on effective real estate business contracts, minimizing the contract disputes in Vietnam, creating a safer and more sustainable real estate market in Vietnam.

 

 

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Vietnam attracts FDI in 10 months of 2021

In 2021, due to the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic in the world, the economic situation has been seriously affected. This greatly affects the investment performance of investors making investment in Vietnam. However, Vietnam government still implements many policies to attract foreign investors to set up company, make investment, in order to realize the “dual goal” of fighting the epidemic and developing socio-economic and achieving economic growth to get the high results.

 

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According to statistics of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of October 20^th, 2021, the total newly registered capital, adjusted and contributed capital to buy shares, and buy capital contributions from foreign investors reached USD 23.74 billion, which is accounted for 1.1% more than the same period in 2020. Realized capital of foreign investment projects is estimated at USD 15.15 billion, accounted for 4.1% over the same period in 2020.

Accumulated to October 20^th, 2021, the Vietnam has attracted 34,266 projects with a total registered capital of over USD 404 billion. The accumulated realized capital of foreign investment projects is estimated at over USD 247 billion, equal to 61.1% of the total valid registered investment capital.

Foreign investors have invested in 18 industries out of a total of 21 national economic sectors. In which, the processing and manufacturing industry leads the way with total investment capital of USD 12.74 billion, accounting for 53.7% of total registered investment capital. Next is the electricity production and distribution industry ranked second with a total investment of USD 5.54 billion, accounting for 23.3% of the total registered investment capital. Followed by real estate, wholesale and retail businesses with a total registered capital of USD 2.12 billion and over USD 803 million respectively.

In terms of the number of new projects, the processing and manufacturing industry, the wholesale and retail trade, and professional and scientific and technological activities are the industries that attract the most projects, accounting for 33.1% and 27.8% respectively, and 16% of total projects.

There are 97 countries and territories have the investors invested in Vietnam in the 10 months of 2021. In which, Singapore leads with a total investment of USD 6.77 billion, accounting for 28.5% of total investment capital in Vietnam. Korea ranks second with USD 4.15 billion, accounting for 17.5% of total investment capital. Japan comes third with a total registered investment capital of nearly USD 3.4 billion, accounting for 14.3% of total investment capital.  Investment amount is followed by China, Hong Kong, Taiwan,…

Foreign investors have invested in 58 provinces and cities in Vietnam in 10 months of 2021. Long An province leads the way with a total registered investment capital of USD 3.68 billion, accounting for 15.5% of total registered investment capital, including a large power project of up to USD 3.1 billion (accounting for 84.2% of total registered investment capital of Long An province). Ho Chi Minh City comes to second place with over USD 2.73 billion, accounting for 11.5% of total investment capital. Hai Phong city ranks third with a total registered capital of USD 2.72 billion, accounting for nearly 11.5% of total investment capital. Next are Binh Duong, Can Tho, Quang Ninh,…

In terms of the number of projects, foreign investors still focus a lot on investing in big cities with convenient infrastructure such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Bac Ninh. In which, Ho Chi Minh City leads in number of new projects (34.1%), number of adjusted projects (17.7%) and capital contribution and purchase of contributed capital (59.4%).

In addition, Vietnam has implemented the selective investment attraction policies (reducing quantity, increasing quality) to eliminate small-scale projects with little added value. This also partly affects the number of projects of small investors planning to invest in Vietnam.

To ensure safety in the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic, Vietnam has applied a policy of restricting entry and implementing long-term isolation, which affects the progress of surveys and implement the procedures of experts and project development groups.

Due to the impact of the epidemic, Vietnam has implemented a factory blockade and restricted the movement of workers in industrial zones, slowing production, reducing capacity and output, and disrupting the supply chain. This affects the psychology of new investors who are planning to invest in Vietnam.

In 2021, many factors affect the investment performance of international investors to Vietnam. However, with many policies to support and attract investment, Vietnam still becomes an investment destination for many big investors in the world. In late 2021 and early 2022, with many policies to attract FDI to revive the economy after the epidemic, Vietnam hopes that international investors can seize the opportunity to make investment, establish company, in order to bring the best economic benefits for their business.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

ANT Lawyers – Law firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

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