Acquisition Registration in Vietnam – Scope of Application

Under the Investment Law 2014 and Decree 118/2015, an Acquisition Registration will be required:

if a foreign investor or a deemed foreign investor acquires any percentage of ownership interest in a target company, which involves in business subject to a FIE Condition; or
if a foreign investor or a deemed foreign investor acquires ownership interest in a target company, which does not involve in any business subject to a FIE Condition but the proposed acquisition results in (1) the aggregate ownership interest held by foreign investors or Deemed Foreign Investors in the target company being equal to or exceeding 51%; or (2) the aggregate ownership interest held by foreign investors or deemed foreign investors in the target company, which already exceeds 51%, increasing.

Management of e-commerce mobile apps in Vietnam

In December 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) issued Circular 59/2015 which take effect from 31 March 2016 to regulate e-commerce apps in Vietnam. Below are somesalient points of Circular 59/2015:

Working overtime in Vietnam

Some basic rules about working overtime in Vietnam are:

Normal working time is limited to 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week.
The aggregate overtime should not exceed 300 hours per year.
Night working time is from 22:00 to 6:00.
Overtime payment is exempt from personal income tax.

The table below provides for the overtime rate that an employer must pay an employee if the employee is working overtime. The rate is calculated over salary paid during normal working hour.

Vietnam joins the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods

In December 2015, Vietnam decided to join the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) with effect from 1 January 2017. Vietnam reserves provisions regarding formality of contracts under Articles 11, 29 and Section II of CISG. Vietnam is an active trading country. Therefore, from a legal perspective, CISG will have major impact on all international sale of goods involving Vietnam and other countries, which are also CISG members (e.g. Japan, China, and US).

Under Commercial Law 2005, where provisions of CISG are inconsistent with the provisions of the Commercial Law 2005, the provisions of CISG will apply. Therefore, if a sale of goods contract involving a Vietnamese party does not exclude CISG expressly then CISG will presumably apply to such contract. In view of this, one more thing that lawyers practicing in Vietnam have to consider now is whether to exclude or include the provisions of CISG in cross-border sale of goods contracts. In case of inclusion, one should decide which language version of CISG should be used since CISG has many different official texts.

Info

Comment

Vietnam Business Law