Hanoi, Vietnam – Since 1 July 2024, various important Vietnamese laws of a great impact on the social life of the country have come into force. Introduced below are some outstanding provisions of such laws for your further information.

1. Telecommunications Law 2023

– Adjustment scope:

+ Expanding the scope of regulation of a number of new services: data center services, cloud computing services, basic telecommunications services on the Internet to suit the trend of digital transformation and convergence between telecommunications and information technology.

– Telecommunications infrastructure development:

+ Stipulating that telecommunications projects are built and installed on public property;

+ Enhancing the common use of inter-industry infrastructure, such as investors of technical infrastructure construction projects (transportation, construction, …) must notify telecommunications businesses to register for common use;

+ Regulating the responsibilities of investors building apartment buildings, public works, functional areas, etc. in designing, constructing, and arranging premises for construction and installation of telecommunications infrastructure;

+ Additional responsibilities of People’s Committees at all levels and relevant Ministries and branches to handle acts that hinder the legal construction of telecommunications infrastructure.

– Public Telecommunication Service Fund:

+ Supplementing and completing regulations on the fund to overcome inadequacies in the previous period’s operations.

– Auction of telecommunications number warehouses and Internet resources:

+ Specifically regulating types of telecommunications resources granted through auction;

+ The choice of auctioned telecommunications codes and numbers will be decided by the market;

+ Specifying the starting price for each type of code, telecommunications number, and Internet domain name up for auction.

– Handling “telecommunications waste”:

+ Adding the obligation of businesses to authenticate, store and manage subscriber information;

+ Handling SIMs with incomplete or inaccurate information; prevent spam messages, spam calls, and scam calls;

+ Adding the obligation of telecommunications subscribers not to use their personal information to enter into contracts with others unless permitted by law and to take responsibility for the registered subscriber numbers; and

+ Supplementing acts prohibiting the use of equipment and software to send, transmit, and receive information via telecommunications networks to commit acts that violate the law.

– Market management and promoting telecommunications development:

+ Regulating the management of wholesale activities in telecommunications to promote competition, in accordance with international practices;

+ Supplementing regulations on management of telecommunications service provision activities of foreign organizations in the cross-border form;

+ Completing regulations on using mobile subscriber SIM accounts to pay for telecommunications services and information content services on legal mobile telecommunications networks;

+ Supplementing regulations on controlled testing mechanisms for new technologies and new models in telecommunications activities.

– Administrative procedure reform:

+ Restructuring telecommunications licenses to simplify procedures and encourage market entry for some telecommunications services without network infrastructure;

+ Providing for strict licensing conditions for service provision.

2. Law on Consumer Rights Protection 2023

– Rights and obligations of consumers;

– Sustainable production and consumption;

– Protecting the rights of vulnerable consumers;

– Providing additional prohibited acts;

– Specific transactions.

3. Law on Electronic Transactions 2023

– Revising the cases where the Law on Electronic Transactions applies;

– Modify and supplement a number of concepts in electronic transactions

– Revising prohibited acts in electronic transactions;

– Adding format conversion conditions between paper documents and data messages;

– Providing for requirements for a digital signature to be an electronic signature;

– Providing for legal value of electronic certificates.

4. Law on Credit Institutions 2024

– New regulations on the obligation to provide information of shareholders owning 1% or more of charter capital of credit institutions:

Article 49.2 of the Law stipulates that shareholders owning 1% or more of the charter capital of a credit institution must provide the credit institution with the following information:

+ First and last name; personal identification number; nationality, passport number, date of issue, place of issue of foreign shareholders; number of Business Registration Certificate or equivalent legal documents of the shareholder being an organization; date of issue and place of issue of this document;

+ Information about related people;

+ Number and percentage of shares owned by them at that credit institution;

+ Number and percentage of shares owned by his/her related person at that credit institution.

– Prohibiting the sale of optional insurance accompanying loans:

Article 15 of the Law prohibits credit institutions, foreign bank branches, managers, executives, and employees of credit institutions and foreign bank branches from engaging in the sale of products. Insurance products are not required for the provision of banking products and services in any form.

– New regulations on early intervention in weak credit institutions:

The Law specifically regulates early intervention measures for weak credit institutions in Chapter IX, including Articles 156 – 161. Accordingly, the State Bank shall consider and decide to implement early intervention when credit institutions and foreign bank branches fall into one or more of the following cases:

+ The accumulated losses of credit institutions and foreign bank branches are greater than 15% of the value of charter capital, allocated capital and reserve funds recorded in the most recent audited financial statements or according to the results of inspection and audit comments by competent state agencies and violations of the prescribed minimum capital adequacy ratio;

+ Ranked below average according to regulations of the Governor of the State Bank;

+ Violation of solvency ratio for a period of 30 consecutive days;

+ Violating the minimum capital adequacy ratio for 6 consecutive months;

+ Mass withdrawal of money and report sent to the State Bank.

5. Price Law 2023

– Supplementing principles for applying the Price Law to other laws;

– Adding additional criteria to the list of goods and services priced by the State;

– Issued together with the List of goods and services;

– Clearly defining the scope of price negotiation;

– Providing specific regulations on price declaration and price listing.

6. Identity Law 2023

– Officially changing the name of Citizen Identity Card to Identity Card;

– Declaring ID card from 1 January 2025;

– Removing hometown information and fingerprints from the Identity Card;

– Issuing Identity Cards to people under 14 years old from 1 July 2024;

– Providing additional regulations on Identity Certificates;

– Adding the cases where Identity Cards must be changed;

– Shortening the time to reissue Identity Cards.

7. Law on Cooperatives 2023

The Law regulates the establishment, management organization, reorganization, dissolution, bankruptcy and related activities of cooperative groups, cooperatives, and unions of cooperatives; State policies on developing cooperative groups, cooperatives, and cooperative unions.

8. Law on Water Resources 2023

– Encouraging organizations and individuals to participate in restoring degraded, depleted, and polluted water sources; preferential policies for water supply projects in remote areas;

– Additional prohibited acts;

– Regulations on plans for exploiting, using, protecting water resources, preventing, combating and overcoming harmful effects caused by water in provincial planning;

– Regulations on ensuring the maintenance of minimum flow on rivers and thresholds for groundwater exploitation;

– Regulations on reservoir and inter-reservoir operating procedures;

– Policíe on circulating water use;

– Households that drill wells to get drinking water must declare;

– Shortening the term of water resource exploitation licenses;

– Provding the cases where declaration, registration, or water exploitation license are not required;

– Additional regulations on investment priority for water storage;

– Providing the cases of exemption or reduction of fees for granting water exploitation rights;

– Additional regulations on socialization of investment in development, water storage and water source restoration.

9. Law on Forces participating in protecting security and order at the grassroots level 2023

– Providing five standards for participating in forces involved in protecting security and order at the grassroots;

– Stipulating the duties of forces participating in protecting security and order at the grassroots;

– Providing for training and fostering forces involved in protecting security and order at the grassroots;

– Stipulating the allowances for people participating in forces to protect security and order at the grassroots.

10. Civil Defense Law 2023

The Law provides for the operating principles of civil defense as follows:

– Complying with the Constitution, Vietnamese laws and international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member;

– Placed under the Party’s leadership and unified management by the State; promoting the role and participation of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations, unions and the People;

– Organized uniformly from central to local levels; there is division of duties, decentralization, and close coordination between agencies, organizations and forces in civil defense activities;

– Civil defense must prepare early, from afar, prevention is key; implementing the four on-the-spot motto combined with aid and support from the central government, other localities and the international community; proactively assessing the risk of incidents and disasters, determine the level of civil defense and apply appropriate civil defense measures to promptly respond and overcome the consequences of war and incidents, natural disasters, epidemics, protect the People, agencies, organizations and the national economy, minimize damage to people and property, and stabilize people’s lives.

– Combining civil defense with ensuring national defense, security, socio-economic development, protecting the lives, health, and property of the People, protecting the environment, ecology, and adaptation. respond to climate change;

– The application of measures and mobilization of resources in civil defense must be timely, reasonable, feasible, effective, avoid waste and be appropriate to the subjects and levels of civil defense according to regulations. provisions of this Law and other relevant laws.

– Civil defense activities must ensure humanity, fairness, transparency, gender equality and priority for vulnerable people.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].