Vietnam Airlines Equitisation Plan
This week, the Prime Minister approved the equitisation plan for Vietnam Airlines, the national carrier. It is planned that:
Potential restriction on foreign investment in printing business
Under the commitments of Vietnam to the WTO (WTO Commitments), printing service is considered as a part of services incidental to manufacturing (CPC 88442). Accordingly, under the WTO Commitments, from 11 January 2015, a foreign investor should be allowed to set up a wholly owned printing subsidiary in Vietnam.
However, under Decree 69/2014, a company involved in the printing of newspapers, statutory forms issued by the State authorities, anti-counterfeit stamps, and “financial invoices” must “have Vietnamese owners”. It is not clear if this means that (1) all owners of such printing company must be Vietnamese or (2) at least one owner of such printing company must be Vietnamese. In either case, the restriction under Decree 69/2014 seems to be contrary to the WTO Commitments.
Foreign investment in house/office moving services in Vietnam
In an official letter issued in March 2014, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) took the view that foreign investment in house/office moving services in Vietnam is possible subject to approval by the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In particular, the MPI considers that:
- House/office moving services could fall under CPC 51590 under CPC Classification for construction services;
- There is no specific commitment by Vietnam to open the services under CPC 51590 to foreign investors under the WTO Commitments of Vietnam. That being said, Vietnam has undertook to open services under CPC 515 to WTO members in its WTO Commitments. Therefore, it is not clear why the MPI takes the view that CPC 51590 is not within the WTO Commitments regarding CPC 515; and
- House/office moving services do belong to the restricted or conditional services under Decree 59/2006. Therefore, if the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade agree then a foreign investor may invest in house/office moving services in Vietnam.
Checklist for setting up a Representative Office in Vietnam
To establish a Representative Office (RO) in Vietnam, the Investor would need to submit the application documents to the Department of Industry and Trade of the province where the Investor intends to set up such RO. The application documents should include:
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Document |
Notes |
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1. |
Application for the issuance of a License for the establishment of a RO (the License). |
To be notarised and legalised in the home country of the Investor. |
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2. |
Copy of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Investor |
To be notarised and legalised in the home country of the Investor. |
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3. |
The audited financial statements of the Investor for the latest financial year or any equivalent thereof (to prove the existence and actual operations thereof).
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To be notarised and legalised in the home country of the Investor. |
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4. |
The Charter/Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Investor. |
To be notarised and legalised in the home country of the Investor. |
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5. |
The passport of the head of the RO |
To be notarised and legalised in the home country of the Investor. |
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6. |
Certified copy of the lease contract for the representative office in Vietnam. |
The lease contract itself may need to be notarised in Vietnam. Landlord should provide copies of building ownership certificate and business certificate also. |
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7. |
Notarised Vietnamese translation of documents 2 - 5 |
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8. |
Power of Attorney for the Investor’s agent to submit the RO application |
To be notarised and legalised in the home country of the Investor. |
When companies think about data protection, they usually focus on “visible” data like names, email addresses, or bank details. However, there is a hidden layer called metadata - essentially “data about data” - that often gets ignored.
Under Vietnam’s new personal data protection rules, overlooking metadata is a major risk. If metadata can be used to identify a specific person, it falls under the same strict rules as regular personal data.
What is Metadata? The “Digital Footprint”
Metadata is information that describes the context of a file or a message rather than the content itself. Even if you remove a person’s name from a file, the metadata can still point directly to them.