Re-Authorisation Of Signing Authority By Legal Representative

an the legal representative cum general director re-authorise another person to sign an agreement approved by the Board if he/she is authorised by the Board to sign this agreement?

Though there remain some counter arguments (as discussed below), subject to the provisions of the charter of the relevant company (e.g. there is no specific provision of the charter which prohibits the legal representative from re-authorising his authority to other person), it is arguable that the legal representative can re-authorise his/her signing authority to another person to sign the agreement. This is because:

  • Under Article 138.1 of the Civil Code 2015, an individual or legal entity can authorise other individual and legal entity to establish and perform the civil transaction.

  • Under Article 12.3 of the Enterprise Law 2020, the legal representative must authorise the other person to carry out his/her authorities if he/she is absent from Vietnam. This suggests that the legal representative can re-authority any other person to perform his/her authorities.

  • The representation authority is a default right of the legal representative (Article 12.1 of the Enterprise Law 2020). Therefore, while the Board can approve the agreement, the right to represent the company to sign such agreement should belong to the legal representative.

The Saga Of “Made In Vietnam” Regulations.

Vietnam has promulgated a detailed rules of origin for goods exported from Vietnam to be considered as “made in Vietnam”. These rules include Decree 31/2018 and its implementing regulations. In addition, various international trade treaties to which Vietnam is a party also have their own rules of origin (e.g., ATIGA).

On the other hand, Vietnam has no clear rules in determining whether a product sold in Vietnam market is considered as being “made in Vietnam” (Made-in-Vietnam Criteria). According to Article 2(d) and Article 3(c) of WTO’s Agreement on Rules of Origin, WTO’s members must ensure that the rules of origin that they apply to imports and exports are no more stringent than the rules of origin they apply to determine whether or not a good is domestic and will not discriminate between other members, irrespective of the affiliation of the manufacturers of the good concerned. This means that the rules of origin apply to products manufactured and traded within Vietnam (i.e., Made-in-Vietnam Criteria) such as products of the Project can be:

  • equivalent to those that apply to imports and exports; or

  • more stringent than those that apply to imports and exports. Currently, there are no rules of origin, which are directly applicable to products manufactured in Vietnam and are more stringent than those applicable to imported products.

In other words, products manufactured and traded within Vietnam are always subject to equal or more stringent rules of origin than those applicable to imported products.

Significant Amendments To Law On E-Transactions In Vietnam

1)         Introduction

On 22 June 2023, the National Assembly issued a new Law on E-transactions, which will take effect from 1 July 2024 (LET 2023). The LET 2023 has the following notable points:

  • Unless otherwise clearly excluded, the LET 2023 applies to e-transactions in all areas whether by companies, individuals or Government agencies.

  • A data message converted from paper document or vice versa must have clear marking that it has been converted from paper document and information of the converter.

  • A natural person may not be able to create and use his/her own e-signature and may have to use digital signature for his/her e-transactions.

  • For the first time, trust services are introduced. The service provider must be licensed by the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).

We discuss below each of these new points and some more. This post is written by Nguyen Quang Vu, Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy, Trinh Phuong Thao and Phan Thi Phuong Mai.

Vietnam Securities Depository Center becoming Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation and its implication

In December 2022, the Prime Minister decided to establish VSDC by converting Vietnam Securities Depository Center (VSD) being a Government agency under the State Securities Commission (SSC) into a single limited liability company under the Enterprise Law 2020. The Minister of Finance will act as representative of the State capital in VSDC.

The conversion of VSD into VSDC could have the following legal implications:

  • As an enterprise, VSDC can now be exposed to civil claims by its users if VSDC breaches its rules or contracts signed with securities companies, listed companies or other users. VSDC could also be subject to non-contractual claims by securities investors. As a Government agency, VSD is only exposed to administrative claims by its users which are more limited than civil claims.