Notable policies coming into force at the beginning of April 2018

1. Types of providers of services and counsel on copyrights and relevant rights

According to Decree No. 22/2018/NĐ-CP , which provides guidance on the Law on Intellectual property 2005 (amended in 2009) and comes into force from April 10, 2018, organizations providing services and counsel on copyrights and relevant rights include:

- Enterprises established and operating in accordance with enterprise laws.

- Cooperatives and cooperative associations established and operating in accordance with cooperative laws.

- Public service providers.

- Law-practicing organizations established and operating in accordance with lawyer laws, except for:

+ Branches of foreign law-practicing organizations;

+ Wholly foreign-owned law firms (limited liability companies); 

+ Any limited liability law firm in the form of joint ventures between a Vietnamese law-practicing organization and a foreign law-practicing organization.

2. Cash disbursement by credit institutions

This is a notable content of Circular No. 21/2017/TT-NHNN on methods of disbursement by credit institutions and branches of foreign banks.

According to the Circular, a credit institution may disburse cash in the following cases:

- The client pays the beneficiary (except legal entities) without a checking account at a payment service provider;

-  The client is the beneficiary (except legal entities) that:

+ does not have a checking account at a payment service provider; and

+ has sufficient fund to pay the costs of the business plan/project or plan/project serving personal life for which loan is granted by the credit institution.

The client has to send the lending credit institution the beneficiary’s written commitment that the beneficiary does not have a checking account at a payment service provider.

Other methods of disbursement are specified in Circular No. 17/2018/TT-BTC , which comes into force from April 02, 2018.

3. Responsibility of manufacturers in the construction field to submit environmental protection reports

Circular No. 02/2018/TT-BXD on environmental protection in construction and environmental protection reports in the construction field comes into force from April 01, 2018.

According to the Circular, facilities producing building materials, extracting resources to produce building materials or produce building equipment shall submit environmental protection reports as follows:

- Prepare the annual environmental protection reports according to the specimen in Appendix I enclosed with the Circular and send it to the Department of Construction of the province before December 31.

- Upload the environmental protection reports to http://dulieumoitruong.xaydung.gov.vn.

4. Promulgation of new National Technical Regulations on road traffic

Circular No. 31/2017/TT-BGTVT , which comes into force from April 01, 2018, promulgates some new National Technical Regulations on road vehicle parts. To be specific:

- QCVN 32:2017/BGTVT on safety glazing equipped on vehicles.

- QCVN 34:2017/BGTVT on pneumatic tires for automobiles.

- QCVN 35:2017/BGTVT ON optical characteristics of road vehicle headlamps.

Circular No. 31/2017/TT-BGTVT also annuls Clause 1 and Clause 3 of Article 1 of Circular No. 57/2011/TT-BGTVT and Clause 1 of Article 1 of Circular No. 39/2010/TT-BGTVT .

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