Major Changes To The Implementing Rules of Law On Real Estate Business in Vietnam

On 6 January 2022, the Government issued Decree 2/2022 on implementation of the Law on Real Estate Business 2014. Decree 2/2022 will take effect from 1 March 2022 and replace Decree 76/2015. This post will summarize some notable new regulations introduced by Decree 2/2022.

This post is written by Nguyen Hoang Duong and edited by Nguyen Quang Vu.

New definitions

Decree 2/2022 introduces definitions for various vague legal terms which are frequently used in the Law on Real Estate Business 2014, such as real properties made available for sale (bất động sản đưa vào kinh doanh), real estate project (dự án bất động sản), or contracts for real estate trading (hợp đồng kinh doanh bất động sản). The new definitions could facilitate a more consistent of the interpretation of various regulations of the Law on Real Estate Business 2014 and Decree 76/2015.

Disclosure requirement by a real estate developer

Under Decree 2/2022, a real estate developer will have to make various public disclosure about its real estate projects. In particular, the following information must be made available on website of the developer, at headquarter of project management board (in case of investment project of doing real estate business), or at real estate trading floor (in case of doing real estate business via trading floor):

· information as to real properties made available for sale;

· information as to mortgage of house, construction works, and real properties made available for sale (if any); and

· information as to quantity, type of (1) real properties available for sale, (2) real properties that have been sold, transferred, leased, and remaining real properties available for trading; and

· any change to the above information.

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New measures to control greenhouse gas emissions in Vietnam

In this January 2022, three new legal documents have been issued regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and protection of the ozone layer, including:

· Decree 6 of the Government dated and effective from 7 January 2022 (Decree 6/2022);

· Circular 1 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) dated and effective from 7 January 2022 regarding response to climate change (Circular 1/2022); and

· Decision 1 of Prime Minister regarding issuance of list of greenhouse gas emitting sectors and establishments subject to greenhouse gas inventory dated and effective from 18 January 2022 (Decision 1/2022).

The legislation seems to a step to implement Vietnam’s commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in the COP26.

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Guarantee for obligations of a non-resident by a Vietnamese individual

It is not entirely clear under the foreign exchange (FX) regulations of Vietnam if a Vietnamese individual can provide guarantee for a non-resident (i.e. guarantee for the performance of obligation of such non-resident) (Non-Resident Guarantee). While the FX Ordinance 2005 provides that “economic institutions [established in Vietnam] are permitted to provide offshore loans, except for the export of goods and services on deferred payment, and to provide guarantees for non-residents when the Prime Minister so permits”, there is no similar clause applicable to Vietnamese individuals. Due to this ambiguity, one can take different views on this issue.

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“Seat of arbitration” and “venue of arbitration” – What do they mean under Vietnamese law?

In international arbitration, determining the “seat of arbitration” is important since the law of the country where the seat of arbitration is located will usually govern the arbitration proceedings. In addition, international arbitration rules distinguish the seat of arbitration from the venue of arbitration which is the physical place where hearings take place. In Vietnam, the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010 does not have a clear definition of “seat of arbitration” and “venue of arbitration”.

Article 3.8 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010 provides that:

“Dispute resolution place means the place where the arbitration tribunal conducts the dispute resolution as agreed by the parties, or as decided by the arbitration tribunal if the parties do not have such an agreement. If the dispute resolution place is within the territory of Vietnam then the award is deemed to be made in Vietnam regardless of the location where the arbitral tribunal conducts the hearing to issue the award”

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