DRAFT REGULATIONS ON INFORMATION DATA CENTER SERVICE

The Government is drafting a Decree to amend some articles of Decree 72/2013 on administrating, providing and using Internet services and online information (Draft Decree). The Draft Decree proposes several major changes of Decree 72, one of which is the expansion of the governing scope of Decree 72 to cover the service of information data center (dịch vụ trung tâm dữ liệu). Previously, there is no set of regulations governing this service.

Various new provisions on information data center service are included in the Draft Decree. For instance:

1. Certain definitions relating to information data center service are introduced, e.g.:

(a) Service of information data center (kinh doanh dịch vụ trung tâm dữ liệu) which is defined as a commercial activity to provide computing and storage capacity for technical infrastructure conducted by data centers, including: server rental services (dịch vụ cho thuê máy chủ), service of renting out data center’s space (dịch vụ cho thuê chỗ tại trung tâm dữ liệu), service of renting out data storage space (dịch vụ cho thuê chỗ lưu trữ dữ liệu), and cloud computing service (dịch vụ điện toán đám mây);

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Written by Lawyers VNLaw On In , ,

Offshore Wind Development in Vietnam – Legal Issues Relating to the Use of Sea Area

Vietnam appears to have great potential to develop offshore wind. And recently, many foreign investors are interested in developing large offshore wind farms in Vietnam. Unfortunately, except for regulations on offshore oil and gas development under the Petroleum Law, Vietnam does not have adequate regulations to develop a large offshore infrastructure project such as offshore wind farms. This starts with inadequate legal framework on the use of sea under the Law on Sea 2012 and Decree 11/2021. In particular,

  • The Law on Sea 2012 and Decree 11/2021 allow certain sea areas (khu vực biển) to be allocated for exploitation and use of “sea resources” (tài nguyên biển). While the term “sea resources” is not clear, it appears to include offshore wind farm development. Decree 11/2021 requires a project developer of an offshore wind farm to pay from US$ 125/ha/year to US$300/ha/year for the sea area allocated to the project. Payment for the allocated sea area could be a substantial amount since an offshore wind farm could require significant sea area for not only the wind turbines and the floating sub-station but also the sea area for the undersea transmission line and other protective area/corridor. On the other hand, sea area allocated to offshore oil development is exempt from payment under Decree 11/2021.

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In , ,

Are computer files property under Vietnamese law?

Computer files are the foundation of the digital economy which in turn is the foundation of a modern economy. There are strong arguments to consider computer files being property and qualified as “things” (vật). However, in practice, it is not clear if the courts and other Government authorities will accept such arguments.

Article 105 of the Civil Code 2015 provides that property comprises things, money, valuable papers, and property rights. There is no legal definition of “things”. However, there are strong arguments that computer files are qualified as things:

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In ,

New regulations on e-commerce activities in Vietnam

In September 2021, the Government issued Decree 85/2021 amending and supplementing some articles of Decree 52/2013 on e-commerce (the E-Commerce Decree). Decree 85/2021 will take effect from 1 January 2022 with substantial changes on the conditions applicable to foreign investors in e-commerce sector. We discuss below some notable new provisions under Decree 85/2021.

A pdf version is here.

Adjustment in the scope of application

Several business sectors are excluded from the scope of application of E-Commerce Decree if the specialised laws of such sectors have regulations on e-commerce. Such sectors (the Excluded Sectors) include financial, banking, credit, insurance, and lottery services; trading and exchange of money, gold, foreign exchange, and other payment means; betting services or games of chance; services of distribution, issuance of digital content products, radio and television broadcasting services. The entities and individual having e-commerce activities must be careful when determining whether the relevant specialized laws of its business have regulations on e-commerce.

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In ,