Application of investment treaties for a Japanese investor in Vietnam

Under Decree 58/2012, if an international treaty has provisions regarding foreign ownership limit (FOL) in a public joint stock company then the provisions of the international treaty will apply. Under Decree 118/2015, if a foreign investor is subject to multiple international treaties on the same industry or business line then the foreign investor is entitled to select one of the applicable international treaty. And if the foreign investor has selected to follow one international treaty then the investor will need to comply the provisions of such international treaty as a whole.  

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In ,

New “Government protection measures” against investor claims in Vietnam

To mitigate or avoid the risks of investor claims, the Government of Vietnam has introduced various measures under various new laws issued in 2014 and 2015. These measures certainly make it more difficult for foreign investors to use Vietnamese law against the Government of Vietnam in case of an investment dispute. Below are some of these measures:

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In ,

New sources of law in Vietnam - Court precedents and equity

From 1 January 2017, court precedents and “equity principles” (lẽ công bằng) will be the new sources of laws to govern civil relations in Vietnam. Under the new Civil Code 2015, court precedents and equity principles are now expressly allowed to be used to apply to a civil relation if there is no law or customs governing the same. Court precedents are judgements which are selected and announced by the Supreme Court so that lower courts can study and apply when hearing cases. Under the new Civil Procedure Code 2015, equity principles are determined based on rightful principles which are accepted by the society, and consistent with principle of humanity, principle of impartial and equality in terms of rights and obligations of the parties to a dispute.

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In ,

Implementation of international investment treaties in Vietnam

Under Decree 118/2015, if a foreign investor is subject to multiple international treaties on the same industry or business line then the foreign investor is entitled to select one of the applicable international treaty. And if the foreign investor has selected to follow one international treaty then the investor will need to comply the provisions of such international treaty as a whole. In other words, under Decree 118/2015, a foreign investor may not be able to cherry pick the most favourable provisions of different international treaties in its favour.

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In , ,