04 Decrees coming into force from the middle of February, 2018

1.  Preschool meal allowance

The Decree No. 06/2018/ND-CP on policies for preschool meal allowance and policies for preschool teachers is coming into force from February 20, 2018.

According to the Decree, the preschool meal allowance equal to 10% of the statutory pay rate/ child/ month shall be granted within a period of 09 months in a school year to preschoolers who satisfy one of the following requirements:

- The child’s parent(s) or childcarer or the child permanently resides at an extremely disadvantaged commune or hamlet in an ethnic minority or mountainous region, alluvial and coastal region, or island as regulated by the Prime Minister.

- The child has no source of funding as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 5 of the Decree No. 136/2013/ND-CP dated October 21, 2013.

- The child is a member of the poor or near-poor family as prescribed by the Prime Minister.

2. Conditions to be satisfied by a foreign investor in provision of logistics services

This is a notable regulation in the Decree No. 163/2017/ND-CP on provision of logistics services promulgated on December 30, 2017.

According to the Decree, in addition to the satisfaction of the requirements specified in Clauses 1 and 2 Article 4 of the Decree, a foreign investor in the country or territory that is a WTO member may provide logistics services if it ensures the prescribed capital contribution ratio and the following requirements:

- For sea transport services: Total number of foreign seafarers working on board the ship flying Vietnamese flag shall not exceed 1/3 of the ship’s manning level; captain or first mate must be a Vietnamese citizen.

- For road transport services: All drivers of the enterprise must be Vietnamese citizens.

Additionally, the foreign investor may establish a commercial presence in Vietnam under a business cooperation agreement in order to provide container handling services and/or customs clearance services which are classified as auxiliary services for sea transport.

The Decree No. 140/2007/ND-CP shall be null and void from the date of entry into force of the Decree No. 163/2017/ND-CP (on February 20, 2018).

3. Giving tax incentives to goods imported to Danang Hi-Tech Park

The Decree No. 04/2018/ND-CP on incentive policies for Danang Hi-Tech Park is coming into force from February 20, 2018.

The following are notable contents of the Decree:

- Goods imported to establish fixed assets of a project located in Danang Hi-Tech Part shall be exempted from import duties. This regulation applies to both new investment projects and expansion projects.

- Raw materials, supplies and components that cannot be domestically manufactured and are imported to serve manufacturing activities of investment projects in Danang Hi-Tech Park shall be exempted from import duties for 05 years.

- Import duties shall be also exempted in the following cases:

+ Specialized machinery, equipment, parts and supplies that cannot be domestically manufactured;

+ Scientific documents and books serving scientific research, technological development, development of technology incubation, science and technology enterprise incubation, and technological innovation in Danang Hi-Tech Park.

4. The Decree No. 161/2017/ND-CP on amendments to Article 12 of the Decree No. 21/2016/ND-CP on specialized inspection by social insurance agencies of contributions to social insurance, unemployment insurance and health insurance funds is coming into force from February 15, 2018.

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