New policies effective from mid-February 2015

1.    Standards of valuation lecturers

Circular No. 204/2014/TT-BTC on provision training in valuation will come into force on February 15, 2015.

According to the Circular, every lecturer must:

- Have a bachelor degree or postgraduate degree suitable for the subject being taught;

- Have been working for at least 05 years in valuation research and teaching at a university or training institute; or have worked for a state authority specialized in the field suitable for the subjects of the course.

Lecturers of refresher courses must be valuators who have at least 7 years’ experience in addition to fulfillment of the aforementioned standards.

This Circular supersedes Decision No. 87/2008/QĐ-BTC 

2.    Guidance on food safety at food and drink establishments

The Ministry of Health has recently issued Circular No. 47/2014/TT-BYT providing guidance on food safety at food and drink establishments. The Circular specifies:

- Necessary documents and procedures for issuance, replacement, and revocation of the Certificate of food safety (Certificate);

- The cases in which the Certificate is issued by the Vietnam Food Department of the province or the People’s Committee (or a competent authority) of the district;

- With regard to food and drink establishments without the Certificate of Business Registration:

+ Establishments capable of serving more than 200 rations at a time are under the management of Food Safety and Hygiene Department of the province.

Establishments capable of serving more 50 - 200 rations at a time are under the management the People’s Committee (or a competent authority) of the district.

+ Establishments capable of serving fewer than 50 rations at a time; street food vendors are under the management the medical station of the commune.

This Circular comes into force from February 15, 2015.

3.    Regulations on assessment of science and technology organizations

From February 15, 2015, public science and technology organizations shall be assessed in accordance with Circular No. 38/2014/TT-BKHCN  Accordingly:

There are 02 assessment methods:

- Annual internal assessment;
- External assessment every 05 years by a science and technology authority or an independent assessing organization;

The assessment is carried out according to 10 groups of criteria:

-  Assessment of development orientation and operating plan;
-  Assessment of human resources;
-  Assessment of budget;
-  Assessment of equipment and facilities;
-  Assessment of communication resources;
-  Assessment of scientific outcomes (those announced);
-  Assessment of technological outcomes;
-  Assessment of training results;
-  Assessment of effects of research findings on socio-economic development;
-  Assessment of cooperation potential;

Assessment methods: combination of quantitative and qualitative assessments.

4.    Passengers having lost tickets permitted on board

On December 24, 2014, Minister Dinh La Thang issues Circular No. 78/2014/TT-BGTVT on transport of passengers, luggage, and goods on national railway.  Accordingly:

Passengers who lose their train tickets are still permitted on board without having to buy new ones if the train captain issues a Certification of ticket purchase;

If the ticket purchase cannot be verified, the passenger has to buy another ticket or leave the train at the next station.

In addition, in order to facilitate ticket purchase, the Circular requires that tickets be sold at multiple locations, many days before the departure date, and using multiple methods.

The Circular takes effect on February 15, 2015 and supersedes Decision No. 01/2006/QĐ-BGTVT

5.    Cases of exemption of License to import postage stamps

Importers of postage stamps are exempt from obtaining the License to import postage stamps in the following cases:

- Postage stamps are imported from member states of Universal Postal Union in accordance with Universal Postal Union’s Convention

- The total number of imported postage stamps does not exceed 500 and none of them is banned from export or import;

- Vietnamese postage stamps are printed overseas under a decision of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The said regulations are provided for in Circular No. 26/2014/TT-BTTTT which provides guidance on the Decree No. 187/2013/NĐ-CP on import of postage stamps.

This Circular comes into force from February 16, 2015.

6.    Standard foreign language skills to teach in foreign languages

On February 20, 2015, Decision No.  72/2014/QĐ-TTg on teaching and learning in foreign languages at school and other educational institutions will come into force.

According to the document, foreign language skills of teachers of such programs in foreign languages must satisfy the following conditions:

- A school teacher must have a foreign language certificate that is at least 02 levels higher than the students’ qualifications according to the 6-level framework of reference applied in Vietnam or an equivalent framework;

- A school teacher must have a foreign language certificate of at least Level 5 according to the 6-level framework of reference applied in Vietnam or an equivalent framework;

The said conditions do not apply to those who have undergone full-time higher education or postgraduate education programs overseas.

7. Adjustments to adoption forms

At the end of 2014, the Ministry of Justice issued Circular No. 24/2014/TT-BTP which amends Circular No. 12/2011/TT-BTP on completion, retention, and use of adoption forms. According to the Circular:

- Form TP/CN-2014/CN.07.a is used to seek opinions from the Director of the fostering institution about the adoption, whether domestic or international.

- If the child’s birth parents and adoptive parents reach an agreement on the retention of rights and obligations to the child after the child is adopted domestically, such rights and obligations must be specified.

- The person who fills the adoption registration book must specify the health or special needs of the adopted children in the “Notes” column.

This Circular comes into force from February 11, 2015.

8. Standards of judicial experts in the field of finance - banking

On December 29, 2014, the State Bank issued Circular No. 44/2014/TT-NHNN on judicial expertise in the field of finance – banking. Particularly:

A person shall be appointed as a judicial expert if such person satisfies the criteria provided for in Clause 1 Article 7 of the Law on Judicial Expertise and is not banned from working as a judicial expert.

Such person:

-  “has been working in the trained field for 05 years or longer”, meaning the person has work in that filed for at least 05 years from the day on which such person is appointed as an official or civil servant, or from the conclusion date of the appointment contract.
   
- “is a university graduate”, meaning such person has a Bachelor’s degree or a higher degree.

A judicial expert in the field of banking must have at least a Bachelor's degree in either: banking, finance, accounting, economics, or law.

This Circular takes effect on February 12, 2015.

9. Prohibited acts when providing electronic game services

On December 29, 2014, the Ministry of Information and Communications issued Circular No. 24/2014/TT-BTTTT on management, provision, and use of online electronic game services

According to the Circular, it is prohibited to import, produce, provide, advertise, and use following electronic game services that have:

- Images, sounds, acts of killing, torture that are considered ruthless, frightful, inciting violence or brutality; acts of amputating human parts, etc.

- Images, sounds that depict or incite suicide, use of drugs, use of alcohol, smoking, terrorism; abuse, trafficking of women and/or children;

It is also prohibited to advertise, introduce, provide the electronic games of which the contents, plots are not approved in writing or the service provision is not notified.

Abuse of provision, use of electronic video games to gamble, organize gambling, commit fraudulent acts, run illegal business, or commit other violations against the law is prohibited.

This Circular takes effect on February 12, 2015.

10. Local governments permitted to retain 100% of amount from sale of property on land

On December 17, 2014, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 71/2014/QĐ-TTg to amend regulations on rearrangement and settlement of state-owned real estate.

According to the Decision, the amount collected from sale of property on land transfer of land use right shall be settled as follows (after deducting related expenses):

- Central agencies may retain 100% of the amount from sale of property on land and 70% of the amount from transfer of land use right.

The remaining 30% shall be transferred to the budget of the local government where the real estate is located.

- Local agencies may retain 100% of the amount from sale of property on land and the amount from transfer of land use right.

This Circular takes effect on February 15, 2015 and amends Clause 5 Article 1 of Decision No. 140/2008/QĐ-TTg

11. New regulations on property of spouses

Decree No. 126/2014/NĐ-CP on guidelines for the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 comes into force from February 15.

The Decree provides specific guidance on determination of property of spouses according to law and agreement as follows:

- According to law:

+ Guidance on distinguishing property under private ownership and joint ownership of spouses;

+ Regulations on registration of property under joint ownership and re-registration of divided property under joint ownership.

- According to agreement:

Spouses may reach an agreement on determination of property in one of the following ways:

+ Property includes property under private ownership and property under joint ownership of spouses;

+ All property is under joint ownership of spouses, not private ownership;

+ All property is under private ownership, not joint ownership;

+ Another agreement.

This Decree annuls Decrees 70/2001/NĐ-CP 32/2002/NĐ-CP 24/2013/NĐ-CP and Article 2 of Decree 06/2012/NĐ-CP

12. Cases of replacing driving license without health certificate

From February 15, the following entities may replace paper driving license with PET driving license without having to submit the health certificate:

- Holders of A1, A2, A3 driving licenses;

- Holders of A4 driving licenses; holders of car driving licenses that do not expire within 03 months.

There regulations are provided for in Circular No. 87/2014/TT-BGTVT which contains amendments to Circular No. 46/2012/TT-BGTVT

13. Cases of re-registration of inland watercraft

On December 19, 2014, the Minister of Transport issued Circular No. 75/2014/TT-BGTVT on registration of inland watercraft

Accordingly, the watercraft must be re-registered when the registration agency is changed. Necessary documents include:

- Documents to be retained at the registration agency;

+ The application for inland watercraft registration;

+ Certificate of cancellation of registration issued by the previous registration agency (if the watercraft was a sea-going vessel);

+ 02 pictures (10 cm x 15 cm) of the right side of the watercraft on water;

+ The receipt for payment of registration fee (if the watercraft ownership is transferred and subject to registration fee);

+ Report on safety conditions of the watercraft exempt from inspection.

- Original copies of required documents for the registration agency to check.

This Circular takes effect on February 15 and replaces Circular No. 21/2011/TT-BGTVT