A manager of a State-owned enterprise (SOE Manager) is not a public official who may be “cadre” (cán bộ), “civil servant” (công chức) or “public employees” (viên chức) under Vietnamese law. This is because SOE Manager is not covered by the legal definitions of public officials under Vietnamese law. There are certain specific regulations relating to public officials which are applicable to the appointment, demotion or performance review of certain SOE Managers at a wholly State-owned enterprise.  These managers include:

Article 1 of the Ordinance on State Secrets defines State secrets as “information on cases, affairs, documents, objects, venues, time, speech, carrying important contents in the fields of politics, national defense, security, external affairs, economy, science, technology and other fields, which the State does not publicize or has not yet publicized and the disclosure of which will cause harm to the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”. As a result, regulations on protection of State secrets in Vietnam are very broad and general which may sometimes conflict with certain business transaction or operation.