New Amendments To Investment Law, Enterprise Law, Electricity Law, Residential Housing Law and Other Laws

On 11 January 2022, the National Assembly passed a new law amending 09 laws, including Public Investment Law, Public-Private Partnership Law, Investment Law, Residential Housing Law, Tendering Law, Electricity Law, Enterprise Law, Law On Special Consumption Tax, and Law On Civil Judgment Enforcement (Law 03/2022). Law 03/2022 will come into effect on 1 March 2022. In this post, we will discuss some new key points of Law 03/2022.

1) Enterprise Law 2020

Change of the term “members of the Members’ Council” into “members of the company”

As discussed before, the Enterprise Law 2020 (Articles 49 and 50) only provides for the rights of members of the Members’ Council, but not the rights of the members of the LLC. And many rights of the members of the Members’ Council should be the rights of the members of the LLC such as rights to subscribe for new capital increase or to receive dividends paid by the LLC. The change of the term “members of the Members’ Council” into “members of the company” in Articles 49 and 50 has successfully resolved this problem, although in other provisions, the Enterprise Law 2020 still does not distinguish between the positions of members of the LLC and members of the Members’ Council of the LLC.

Removal of requirement on signatures of dissenting members on meeting minutes; personal liability of the chairperson and the person writing the minutes

The requirement that meeting minutes of the Members’ Council must include signatures of members who disagree to pass such meeting minutes is now removed.

In addition, in the event that the chairperson of the meeting of the Members’ Council/Board Of Directors or the person writing the minutes refuses to sign the meeting minutes, for such minutes to be effective, the Enterprise Law 2020 no longer requires all attending members of the meetings to sign, and only the signatures of the attending members who agree to pass the minutes are necessary. Also, in such event, the chairperson or the person writing the minutes who refuses to sign such minutes must bear personal liability for any loss arising to the company due to their refusal.

Read MoreInfo
Comment
Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In , , , ,

The Institutional Representative of the State in a Vietnamese State-owned Enterprise (SOE)

Decree 47/2021 implementing the Enterprise Law 2020 and Decree 10/2019 implementing the Law on Management State Capital 2014 provide helpful clarification on (1) the entities who can act as the owner representative agency (cơ quan đại diện chủ sở hữu) of the State in a SOE, and (2) calculation of State shareholding in an enterprise. In particular,

  • Under Decree 10/2019, the Institutional Representative only include (i) the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC); (ii) Ministries, Ministry-equivalent agencies, Governmental agencies, provincial People’s Committee; and (iii) the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC). Accordingly, other SOEs such as EVN or PVN are not regarded as an Institutional Representative. In the past, it is not clear an SOE can be regarded as the Institutional Representative in another SOE.

Read MoreInfo
Comment
Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In ,

Transfer of capital contribution in private universities that have not been restructured

1. The Law on amending the Law on Higher Education dated 19 November 2018 (Amendment Law 2018) provides for various new points compared to the Law on Higher Education dated 18 June 2012 (Higher Education Law 2012). One of important new points is the change in the organizational structure of private universities. Accordingly, the Amendment Law 2018 requires private universities to have an university council (hội đồng trường) (similar to public universities) instead of a board of directors (hội đồng quản trị) as previously provided in the Higher Education Law 2012.

2. Thus, whether investors in a private university that has not been restructured under the Amendment Law 2018 (Non-restructured University) can transfer their capital contribution in that university and if so, what procedures must be followed?

Read MoreInfo
Comment
Written by Lawyers VNLaw On In

No clear exemption from obtaining Investment Registration Certificate in case of acquisition of a Vietnamese company under Decree 31/2021

A change in Decree 31/2021 implementing the Investment Law 2020 has raised confusion as to the need to obtain an Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) or investment policy approval (IPA) for the existing investment project(s) after a foreign investor acquires control of an existing Vietnamese company (the Target Company).

Previously, Article 46.4 of Decree 118/2015 implements the Investment Law 2014 specifically exempts the Target Company from obtaining a new IRC or IPA or amending existing IRC or IPA for the investment project(s) of said Target Company which has already been under implementation before being acquired by a foreign investor.

Read MoreInfo
Comment
Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In ,