Decree 143/2021/ND-CP amending Decree 88/2019/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations against currency and banking legal regulations

DECREE

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 88/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019 on penalties for administrative violations against currency and banking legal regulations

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Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated June 19, 2015; the Law dated November 22, 2019, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration;

Pursuant to the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations dated June 20, 2012; the Law dated November 13, 2020 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations;

Pursuant to the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam dated June 16, 2010;

Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions dated June 16, 2010; the Law dated November 20, 2017 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Credit Institutions;

Pursuant to the Law on Anti-Money Laundering dated June 18, 2012;

Pursuant to the Law on Anti-Terrorism dated June 12, 2013;

At the proposal of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam;

The Government promulgates a Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 88/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019 on penalties for administrative violations against currency and banking legal regulations.

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 88/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019 on penalties for administrative violations against currency and banking legal regulations

1. Point m, Clause 2, Article 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“m) Violations against regulations on prevention and combat of money laundering; terrorist financing; financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;”.

2. Article 2a is added after Article 2 as follows:

“Article 2a. Repeated administrative violations

Organizations and individuals that commit repeatedly administrative violations shall be imposed penalties on each of their violations, other than repeated administrative violations which are aggravating circumstances specified in Article 5; Article 9; Article 10; Article 11; Article 12; Article 13; Article 14; Article 14a; Article 15; Article 16; Article 17; Article 18; Article 19; Article 20; Article 21; Article 22; Clauses 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 of Article 23; Clauses 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 of Article 24; Article 25; Article 26; Article 27; Article 28; Article 28a; Article 29; Article 30; Article 31; Article 32; Article 33; Clause 1, Article 34; Article 35; Article 36; Article 37; Article 38; Article 39; Article 40; Article 41; Article 42; Article 43; Article 44; Article 44a; Article 45; Article 45a; Article 46; Article 47; Article 50; Article 51of this Decree”.

3. Article 2b is added after Article 2a as follows:

“Article 2b. The time when administrative violations are stopped

The time when administrative violations are stopped, which is used to determine the penalty enforcement period for a number of violations prescribed in Chapter II of this Decree, is prescribed as follows:

1. For violations against regulations on acceptance of deposits, credit loaning, trusteeship and entrustment, purchase of company bonds, inter-banking activities as prescribed at Point a, Clause 2, Article 12; Point b of Clause 3 and Points a, b, dd, g of Clause 5, Point b of Clause 6, and Clause 8 of Article 14; Point a, Clause 1, Article 15; Clause 3 and Points a, d, dd, Clause 4 of Article 16; Clause 5 and Clause 6, Article 17 of this Decree, the time when the administrative violations are stopped which is used to determine the penalty enforcement period is the date on which the parties fulfill their obligations under agreements or contracts related to the administrative violations.

2. For violations against regulations on public announcement and posting of information, provision of information, documents and reports as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 8; Point a, Clause 1, Article 12; Point a, Clause 1, Article 13; Point c, Clause 1, Article 14; Point c, Clause 4, Article 17; Point d, Clause 2 Article 21; Points a and c, Clause 3, Article 23; Point a, Clause 3, Article 24; Point a, Clause 1, Article 30; Point a, Clause 1, Article 38; Points a, b, d of Clause 1, Clause 2, Points a, b, c of Clause 4, Clause 5, Clause 6, Article 47 of this Decree, the time when the administrative violations are stopped which is used to determine the penalty enforcement period is the date on which the abovementioned information, documents, and reports are publicly announced, listed, provided, or amended, supplemented.

3. For violations against regulations on registration, notification, implementation of administrative procedures, issuance and submission of internal regulations and plans as prescribed in Article 7; Point b, Clause 2, Article 8; Clauses d, dd, e, g of Clause 3, Article 23; Point a, Clause 2, Article 28; Points a, b, c of Clause 3, Article 30; Point a, Clause 1, Article 40 of this Decree, the time when the administrative violations are stopped which is used to determine the penalty enforcement period is the date on which the abovementioned registration, notification, implementation of administrative procedures, submission, issuance, amendment or supplementation of internal regulations and plans is conducted.

4. For violations against regulations on prudential ratios, classification of assets, off-balance sheet commitments, provisioning and use of provisions for risk control as prescribed in Article 35; Points a, b, c, Clause 1, Article 36 of this Decree, the time when the administrative violations are stopped which is used to determine the penalty enforcement period is the date on which the abovementioned prudential ratios, classification of assets, off-balance sheet commitments, provisioning and use of provisions for risk control is properly implemented in accordance with the legal regulations.

5. For violations against regulations on changes which require written approval from the State Bank as prescribed in Article 5 of this Decree, the when the administrative violations are stopped which is used to determine the penalty enforcement period is the date on which the State Bank sent the written approval thereof”.

4. A number of points of Clause 4, Article 3 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point a, Clause 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“a) Compulsory submission into the State budget the illegitimate benefits obtained from committing violations; compulsory refund of wrongly collected fees to the organizations and individuals that paid the fees; compulsory refund of the appropriated amounts of money to the clients; compulsory debt recovery; compulsory recovery of used capital at variance with regulations; compulsory recovery of the credit extension balance exceeding the limits; compulsory return of the erased or changed licenses;”;

b) Points m and n of Clause 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“m) No contracts of payment via credit card with other credit card payment organizations; no paying agent agreements with other paying agent assignors are allowed;

n) Proposing or requesting the competent authorities to consider and apply the following measures: revocation of licenses; revocation of certificates of registration as foreign currency exchange agents; revocation of licenses for opening and using foreign currency accounts abroad; revocation of licenses for setting up individual foreign exchange desks; revocation of licenses for purchase and sale of gold bullions; revocation of written approval of providing payment services not through payment accounts of clients; revocation of licenses for providing intermediate payment services; suspension or dismissal of managerial, executive and controlling titles; prohibiting individuals committing violations and/or individuals responsible for such acts from holding managerial, executive or controlling titles at credit institutions or foreign bank branches, requesting credit institutions and foreign bank branches to remove and carry out other lawful handling measures against individuals committing violations under the jurisdiction of such credit institutions and foreign bank branches;”;

c) Points p and q are added after Point o, Clause 4 as follows:

“p) Compulsory termination of paying agent services; compulsory separation of payment accounts used solely for paying agent services;

q) Compulsory implementation of regulations on identification of clients, updating and verification of client identification information; compulsory issuance of internal regulations in accordance with the legal regulations; compulsory compliance with legal regulations on relations with agent banks, transactions related to new technologies, special supervision of some transactions, risk assessment.”.

5. Article 3a is added after Article 3 as follows:

“Article 3a. Implementation of remedial measures

The implementation of a number of remedial measures for violations against currency and banking legal regulations is specified as follows:

1. For the remedial measure of proposing or requesting the competent authorities to consider and apply the following measures: revocation of licenses; revocation of certificates of registration as foreign currency exchange agents; revocation of licenses for opening and using foreign currency accounts abroad; revocation of licenses for setting up individual foreign exchange desks; revocation of licenses for purchase and sale of gold bullions; revocation of written approval of providing payment services not through payment accounts of clients; revocation of licenses for providing intermediate payment services

Within 03 working days from the date on which the administrative penalty decision is issued, the person who issued the decision shall send a written proposal to the competent authority to consider and apply such remedial measure.

2. For the remedial measure of proposing or requesting the competent authorities to consider and apply the following measures: suspension or dismissal of managerial, executive and controlling titles; prohibiting individuals committing violations and/or individuals responsible for such acts from holding managerial, executive or controlling titles at credit institutions or foreign bank branches

Within 03 working days from the date on which the administrative penalty decision is issued, the person who issued the decision shall send a written proposal or directly request to the competent authority to consider and apply such remedial measure.

3. For the compulsory return of the erased or changed licenses: Based on the administrative penalty decision, the violator shall return the erased or changed licenses to the licensing authority.”.

6. Clauses 6 and 8, Article 4 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Clause 6 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“6. The fines of VND 400,000,000 to VND 500,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Non-license operation, unless otherwise prescribed at Point c, Clause 8 of Article 23, Clause 8 of Article 24, and Clause 5 of Article 27 of this Decree;

b) Violations against regulations on the use of terms related to banking activities as prescribed in Article 5 of the Law on Credit Institutions.”;

b) Point d is added after Point c, Clause 8 as follows:

d) Compulsory return of the erased or changed licenses, for violations prescribed at Point b, Clause 3 of this Article.”.

7. A number of points of Clauses 2, 5 and 6, Article 5 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point c, Clause 2 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“c) Establishment of domestic branches and transaction offices; establishment of domestic representative offices, service providers; branches, representative offices, banks with 100% foreign capital of credit institutions; opening of domestic branches, transaction offices, postal transaction offices.”;

b) Points c, d, and dd are added after Point b, Clause 5 as follows:

“ c) Change of the branch managing the transaction office of a credit institution;

d) Voluntary termination of operation of branches or transaction offices of credit institutions;

dd) Performing banking operations and activities.”;

c) Point dd is added after Point d, Clause 6 as follows:

“dd) Provision of non-cash payment services not through payment accounts of clients”.

8. Clause 3, Article 10 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“3. The fines of VND 200,000,000 to VND 250,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Improper and ultra vires purchase and/or possession of the shares of other credit institutions as prescribed by the State Bank.

b) Contribution of capital, purchase of shares or acceptance of share transfer from credit institutions in violation of Point c, Clause 1, Article 54 of the Law on Credit Institutions.”.

9. A number of points and clauses of Article 14 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Points d, dd, e, and g are added after Point c, Clause 1 as follows:

“d) Receipt and response to clients’ complaints in violation of legal regulations on consumer lending of financial companies;

dd) Failing to organize professional training courses for employees as prescribed in the legal regulations on consumer lending of financial companies;

e) Violations against regulations on maximum consumer loans as prescribed in the legal regulations on consumer lending of financial companies;

g) Failing to issue the interest rate bracket for consumer loans in each period or issuing the interest rate bracket for consumer loans that does not contain all of the contents as prescribed in the legal regulations on consumer lending of financial companies.”;

b) Clause 2 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“2. The fines of VND 15,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Failing to inspect and supervise the use of loans and debt payments of the clients in accordance with the related legal regulations;

b) Violations against regulations on measures to recover debts and urge debt collection as prescribed in the legal regulations on consumer lending of financial companies.”;

c) Point b, Clause 3 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“b) Exemption or reduction of interest rates for credit extension before internal regulations have been issued;”.

10. Article 14a is added after Article 14 as follows:

“Article 14a. Violation of regulations on service introduction points

The fines of VND 20,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

1. No contracts on opening service introduction points.

2. Contracts on opening service introduction points do not clearly specify the responsibilities and powers of the involved parties and the validity period thereof.

3. Ultra vires operation of service introduction points against legal regulations”.

11. Point dd is added after Point d, Clause 4, Article 16 as follows:

“dd) Foreign bank branches purchasing convertible bonds.”.

12. A number of points and clauses of Article 17 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point d is added after Point c, Clause 1as follows:

“d) Conducting purchase and sale transactions of valuable papers in currencies in violation of legal regulations.”;

b) Point dd is added after Point d, Clause 2 as follows:

“dd) Purchase of promissory notes, bills of exchange, or certificates of deposit with the remaining validity period in violation of legal regulations.”;

c) Clause 5 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“5. The fines of VND 80,000,000 to VND 120,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Fixed-term trading of various valued papers which are illegitimate for such trading;

b) Fixed-term trading of valuable papers issued by financial companies or finance leasing companies in violation of legal regulations”.

13. A number of points and clauses of Article 23 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point g, Clause 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“g) Capital withdrawal, payment of foreign loans; disbursement, recovery of international loans made from Vietnam; liability recovery regarding non-residents; remittances related to foreign investment into Vietnam, Vietnam’s investment into other countries in violation of the related legal regulations, unless such violation is a consequence of the violation prescribed at Point d, Clause 4 of this Article;”;

b) Point i is added after Point h, Clause 5 as follows:

“i) Improperly performing the responsibilities of a foreign currency exchange agent as prescribed in the legal regulations in case of recidivism; acting as a foreign currency exchange agent for two or more credit institutions at the same time in violation of legal regulations in case of recidivism.”;

c) Point c is added after Point b, Clause 6 as follows:

“c) Opening, closing and using foreign currency bank accounts at foreign banks in violation of legal regulations in case of recidivism.”;

d) Clause 10 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“10. Remedial measures:

Proposing the competent authorities to revoke foreign exchange agent licenses, licenses for opening and using foreign currency bank account at foreign banks, licenses for setting up individual foreign exchange desks in case of the violations prescribed at Point i, Clause 5 and Point c, Clause 6 of this Article.”.

14. Clauses 6 and 10, Article 24 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Clause 6 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“6. The fines of VND 200,000,000 to VND 250,000,000 be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Use of imported raw gold in violation of the license for import raw gold to produce gold jewelry and/or handicrafts.

b) Trading of gold bars through authorized agents in case of recidivism.”;

b) Clause 10 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“10. Remedial measures:

Proposing the competent authorities to revoke gold bullion trading licenses in case of the violations prescribed at Point b, Clause 6 of this Article.”.

15. A number of points and clauses of Article 26 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point b, Clause 2 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“b) Providing unreliable information related to the use of payment services.”;

b) Point a, Clause 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“a) Providing unreliable information related to the provision of payment services;”;

c) Clause 5 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“5. The fines of VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Renting, leasing, lending, borrowing and/or trading information related to from 01 to less than 10 payment accounts, but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability;

b) Forging payment documents when providing or using payment services, but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability.”;

d) Clause 6 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“6. The fines of VND 50,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Opening payment accounts for clients, allowing clients to use the payment accounts in violation of related legal violations during the provision of payment services;

b) Renting, leasing, lending, borrowing and/or trading information related to 10 payment accounts or more, but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability;

c) Forging payment instruments, keeping, transferring and/or using fake payment instructions but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability;

d) Issuing, providing and/or using illegitimate payment instruments but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability.

dd) Operation in violation of the State Bank's approval for providing payment services not through payment accounts of clients.”;

dd) Clause 7 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“7. The fines of VND 100,000,000 to VND 150,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Accessing or effortfully accessing and/or stealing data, sabotaging and/or illegitimately changing the software applications, electronic databases used for payment; taking advantage of an error of a computer network system for profiteering;

b) Opening or maintaining anonymous and/or impersonate payment accounts;

c) Performing or organizing and/or facilitating the performance of the following acts: using and abusing payment accounts, payment means, payment services for gambling, organizing gambling activities, cheating, conduct fraudulent activities, illegal business and other illegal acts;

d) Stealing or colluding to steal payment account information but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability.”;

e) Clause 8 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“8. The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Violations against the regulations on payment in cash;

b) Providing payment services without being payment service providers.”;

g) Clause 10 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“10. Remedial measures:

a) Compulsory submission to the State budget of the illegitimate benefits obtained from the violations prescribed in Clauses 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of this Article;

b) Restricting the expansion of business operation scope, scale and area when violations have not been completely rectified in case of violations prescribed at Points a, c, d of Clause 6, Point c of Clause 7 and Point a of Clause 8 of this Article;

c) Proposing the competent authorities to revoke the written approvals for providing payment services not through payment accounts of clients, in case of the violations prescribed at Point dd, Clause 6 of this Article.”.

16. A number of points and clauses of Article 27 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point a, Clause 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“a) Providing unreliable information related to the provision or use of intermediate payment services;”;

b) Clause 2 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“2. The fines of VND 15,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Providing credit to clients using electronic wallets, paying interest on electronic wallet balance or any acts that may increase the monetary value on electronic wallets compared to the value of money deposited by clients in electronic wallets;

b) Violations against the regulations on depositing money in, and withdrawing money from, electronic wallets.”;

c) Clause 3 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“3. The fines of VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Disclosing or providing clients’ information, electronic wallet balances and payment transactions at intermediate payment service providers in violation of legal regulations;

b) Renting, leasing, borrowing, lending electronic wallets or trading information related to from 01 to less than 10 electronic wallets.

c) Violations against the regulations on payment guarantee account.”;

d) Clause 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“4. The fines of VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Forging documents proving the eligibility for intermediate payment service licenses in the application dossier for licensing, but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability;

b) Erasing or modifying the contents of the intermediate payment service licenses; trading, transfer, lease, or loan of the intermediate payment service licenses; entrusting and transferring agents to other organizations and individuals to conduct activities permitted under the intermediate payment service licenses;

c) Performing operations other than those prescribed in the intermediate payment service licenses;

d) Renting, leasing, borrowing, or lending electronic wallets or trading information related to 10 electronic wallets or more.

dd) Forging payment documents when providing or using payment services, but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability;

e) Performing or organizing and/or facilitating the performance of the following acts: using and abusing payment accounts, payment means, payment services for gambling, organizing gambling activities, cheating, conduct fraudulent activities, illegal business and other illegal acts;

g) Violations against the regulations on lines of credit via electronic wallets;

h) Providing unreliable balances and number of electronic wallets as prescribed in the legal regulations;

i) Opening or maintaining anonymous or impersonated electronic wallets;

k) Stealing or colluding to steal information related to electronic wallets;

l) Intermediate payment service providers provide collection and payment support services, electronic wallet services, and electronic payment gateway services without cooperation agreements or service provision contracts with banks and other organizations in accordance with the contents of the licenses and the related legal regulations;

m) Failing to request clients to link their electronic wallets to their payment accounts or debit cards opened at associate banks before the clients use the electronic wallets.”;

dd) Clause 4a is added after Clause 4 as follows:

“4a. The fines of VND 50,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be applied to providing unreliable balances and number of electronic wallets as prescribed in the legal regulations, in case of recidivism.”;

e) Clause 6 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“6. Additional penalties:

Confiscating the exhibits, instruments serving the violations prescribed at Point dd, Clause 4 of this Article.”;

g) Clause 7 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“a) Compulsory submission to the State budget of the illegitimate benefits obtained from the violations prescribed in Clauses 2, Points b and c, Clauses 3, 4, and 5 of this Article;

b) Proposing the competent authorities to revoke the intermediate payment service licenses, in case of the violations prescribed at Points a, b, c, e, Clause 4; Clause 4a of this Article;

c) Compulsory return of the erased or changed licenses, in case of the violations prescribed at Point b, Clause 4 of this Article.”.

17. A number of points and clauses of Article 28 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point d, Clause 5 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“d) Making contracts on card issuance and use against the related legal regulations.”;

b) Clause 6 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“6. The fines of VND 50,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Renting, leasing, buying, selling automated teller machine cards or automated teller machine card information, opening for other people (other than anonymous prepaid credit cards) 10 cards or more, but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability.

b) Issuing cards, making card payments against the related legal regulations;

c) Failing to refuse to make payments with automated teller machine cards for conducting legally prohibited transactions or with the cards which have been reported lost, expired, or locked by the cardholders, using the cards in violation of card issuance and using contracts or written agreements.”;

c) Clause 7 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“7. The fines of VND 100,000,000 to VND 150,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Implementing, organizing or facilitating the use of anonymous prepaid cards on the Internet or mobile applications, or to conduct cash withdrawals;

b) Switching cards, clearing or finalizing card transactions in violation of the banking card legal regulations;

c) Transferring devices that accept cards and QR Codes to other users; accepting card payments without a card payment contract; unauthorizedly using devices that accept cards, QR Codes;

d) Implementing, organizing or facilitating other people to conduct fraudulent and forged card transactions; short payment transactions at card-accepting units (without purchase of goods and provision of services).

dd) Stealing or colluding to steal card information, but not to the extent of being prosecuted for penal liability.”;

d) Clause 9 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“9. Remedial measures:

a) Compulsory submission to the State budget of the illegitimate benefits obtained from the violations prescribed at Points b and c, Clause 5; Points a, c of Clause 6, and Clause 7 of this Article;

b) Prohibiting the signing of any automated teller machine card payment contract with other automated teller machine card organizations when violations have not been completely rectified in case of the violations prescribed at Point b, Clause 5; Points a, c, d, Clause 7 of this Article.”.

18. Article 28a is added after Article 28 as follows:

“Article 28a. Violations against regulations on paying agent services

1. The fines of VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Providing unreliable information related to the provision or use of paying agent services;

b) Failing to respond to the clients’ requests for checking and review, and complaints as prescribed in the related legal regulations.;

c) Collecting fees other than those prescribed and announced by the paying agent assignors;

d) Failing to separate payment accounts used solely for paying agent services as prescribed in the legal regulations;

dd) Failing to publicly announce the list of paying agents that have signed contracts on the paying agent assignor's website and application.

2. The fines of VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Abusing the role of a paying agent to perform, organize or facilitate other organizations and individuals to commit fraudulent and forged transactions to appropriate clients’ money, transactions with the purposes of money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other illegal acts;

b) Performing paying agent operations other than those prescribed in the paying agent agreements with the assignor.

3. The fines of VND 50,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Assigning or acting as paying agents in violation of the establishment and operation licenses, the establishment licenses, or the decisions on organization and operation of the competent authorities and the amendments, supplements to such licenses (if any);

b) The paying agent assignor violates regulations on the number of paying agents and the credit line for a paying agent;

c) The paying agent is an organization other than a credit institution or foreign bank branch that assigns paying agents to a third party;

d) Providing paying agent service without any paying agent agreement with the paying agent assignor;

dd) The paying agent assignor signs a paying agent agreement with a paying agent that is not a legally established enterprise and has outstanding loans classified as bad debts by any foreign credit institution or bank branch in accordance with the regulations of the State Bank;

e) Pretending to be or impersonating a paying agent.

4. Remedial measures:

a) Compulsory submission into the State budget the illegitimate benefits obtained from committing violations prescribed at Point b, Clause 2, and Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Compulsory termination of paying agent services in case of the violations prescribed in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article;

c) Compulsory separation of payment accounts used solely for paying agent services, in case of the violations specified at Point d, Clause 1 of this Article;

d) Restricting the signing of paying agent agreements with other paying agent assignors when violations have not been completely rectified in case of violations prescribed at Points c and d, Clause 1 of this Article;

dd) Compulsory refund of wrongly collected fees to the organizations and individuals that paid the fees, or submission thereof to the State budget if the fee payers cannot be identified, in case of violations prescribed at Point c, Clause 1 of this Article.

e) Compulsory refund of the appropriated amounts of money to the clients in case of violations committed to appropriate the clients’ money as prescribed at Point a, Clause 2 of this Article.”.

19. A number of points of Clauses 1, 2 and 3, Article 30 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point a, Clause 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“a) Failing to publicize the examples of currency notes ineligible for circulation and the regulation on exchange thereof issued by the State Bank at the transaction locations;”;

b) Clause 2 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“2. The fines of VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be applied to the failure to adhere to the regulations on classification, packaging, forwarding precious metals and/or stones; packaging, sealing, forwarding, retaining, transporting, stocktaking cash, valuable assets, valued papers, unless otherwise prescribed at Point a, Clause 3 and Points b, c, d, and dd, Clause 5 of this Article.”;

c) Point dd is added after Point d, Clause 3 as follows:

“dd) Refusing to exchange currency notes ineligible for circulation for clients against the related legal regulations.”.

2 0. Point c, Clause 1, Article 31 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“c) Appointing the staff who have not been trained in skills of recognizing real or counterfeit currency notes or have not received training in expert examination of currency notes to seize counterfeit currency notes or to temporarily seize suspected counterfeit currency notes;”.

2 1. The title of Section 12, Chapter II is changed as follows:

“Section 12. VIOLATIONS ON PREVENTION AND COMBAT OF MONEY LAUNDERING, FINANCING OF TERRORISM AND PROLIFERATION OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION”.

22. Article 39 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 39. Violations against regulations on identification of clients, updating and verification of client identification information

1. The fines of VND 100,000,000 to VND 150,000,000 shall be applied to any of the following violations:

a) Failing to identify the clients; update or verify the client identity information, or improperly identifying the clients; updating or verifying the client identity information against Articles 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering and the Law on Anti-Terrorism;

b) Failing to update the list of organizations and individuals involved in terrorism or terrorist financing; the list of designated persons and entities participating in the proliferation and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

2. The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 250,000,000 shall be applied to the failure to ensure the confidentiality of information, reports and documents as prescribed in Article 29 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering and the Law on Anti-Terrorism.

3. Remedial measures:

a) Compulsory implementation of regulations on identification of clients, updating and verification of client identification information as prescribed in Articles 8, 9, 10 and 11of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering and the Law on Anti-Terrorism, in case of the violations prescribed at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Proposing or requesting the competent authorities to consider and apply the remedial measure of prohibiting individuals committing violations and/or individuals responsible for such acts from holding managerial, executive or controlling titles at credit institutions or foreign bank branches, in case of the violations prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

Requesting credit institutions and foreign bank branches to remove and carry out other lawful handling measures against individuals committing violations under the jurisdiction of such credit institutions and foreign bank branches.”.

23. Article 40 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 40. Violations against regulations on internal regulations on prevention of money laundering or financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction

1. The fines of VND 200,000,000 to VND 300,000,000 shall be applied to one of the following violations:

a) Failing to promulgate internal regulations or promulgating internal regulations in contravention of law provisions on prevention of money laundering or financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

b) Failing to assign or to register for assigning officers, or assigning officers/ sections in charge of prevention of money laundering or financing of terrorism in contravention of law provisions;

c) Failing to conduct internal audit or conducting internal audit in contravention of law provisions on prevention of money laundering or financing of terrorism;

d) Failing to provide training and retraining or providing training and retraining on prevention of money laundering or financing of terrorism in contravention of law provisions.

2. Remedial measures

Compulsory promulgation of internal regulations in accordance with law provisions or cancellation of internal regulations including contents in contravention of law provisions, for the violations specified at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article.”.

24. Article 41 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 41. Violations against regulations on the classification of clients by risk levels

The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be applied to the failure of client classification by risk levels or the client classification by risk levels in contravention of law provisions in Clauses 2, 3 and 4, Article 12 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, the Law on Anti-Terrorism and law provisions on prevention and combat of financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

25. Article 42 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 42. Violations against regulations on the identification of foreign clients who are political influencers

The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be applied to the omission of risk management systems to identify foreign clients who are political influencers as prescribed in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 13 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering”.

26. Article 43 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 43. Violations against regulations on correspondent banking relationships, new technology-related transactions and special supervision on transactions

1. The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be applied to one of the following violations:

a) Failing to apply the measures prescribed in Article 14 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering when establishing a correspondent banking relationship with a foreign bank counterpart;

b) Failing to issue the procedures as prescribed in Article 15 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering.

2. The fines of VND 200,000,000 to VND 300,000,000 shall be applied to the failure of special supervision on a number of transactions as prescribed in Article 16 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering.

3. Remedial measures:

a) Compulsory implementation of measures specified in Article 14 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, for the violations specified at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Compulsory issuance of the procedures specified in Article 15 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, for the violations specified at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article;

c) Compulsory special supervision on a number of transactions specified in Article 16 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, for the violations specified at Point c, Clause 1 of this Article;

d) Proposing or requesting competent agencies to consider and apply the measures of suspension or removal of administration, managerial, inspection titles; or prevention from holding such titles at credit institutions or foreign bank branches, for violating individuals and/or persons responsible for the violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

Requesting credit institutions and foreign bank branches to remove such titles and take other handling measures as prescribed by law provisions for violating individuals under the competence of credit institutions and foreign bank branches.”.

27. Article 44 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 44. Violations against regulations on reporting high-valued transactions, questionable transactions, e-remittance transactions; reporting the act of money laundering for terrorism financing; reporting the act of financing terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction

1. The fines of VND 80,000,000 to VND 120,000,000 shall be applied to the failure of submitting reports on time in accordance with law provisions on prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.

2. The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 250,000,000 shall be applied to one of the following violations:

a) Failing to report high-valued transactions;

b) Failing to report questionable transactions related to money laundering and financing of terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

c) Failing to report e-remittance transactions;

d) Failing to report the act of money laundering for terrorism financing as prescribed in Article 30 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, failing to report when there are doubts that clients or their transactions are related to financing of terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or when customers are on the black list or designated list in accordance with the Law on Anti- Terrorism and law provisions on prevention of financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

3. Remedial measures

a) Compulsory submission of complete and accurate reports for the violations specified in this Article;

b) Proposing or requesting competent agencies to consider and apply the measures of suspension or removal of administration, managerial, inspection titles; or prevention from holding such titles at credit institutions or foreign bank branches, for violating individuals and/or persons responsible for the violations specified in this Article.

Requesting credit institutions and foreign bank branches to remove such titles and take other handling measures as prescribed by law provisions for violating individuals under the competence of credit institutions and foreign bank branches.”.

28. Article 44a is added after Article 44 as follows:

“Article 44a. Violation against regulations on information provision

1. The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 250,000,000 shall be applied to the failure of providing information or the act of providing false information or information inconsistent with the provisions of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering and law provisions on financing of terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which is not serious enough for penal liability examination.

2. Remedial measures

a) Compulsory correction of false information immediately, for the violations specified in this Article;

b) Proposing or requesting competent agencies to consider and apply the measures of suspension or removal of administration, managerial, inspection titles; or prevention from holding such titles at credit institutions or foreign bank branches, for violators and/or persons responsible for the violations specified in this Article.

Requesting credit institutions and foreign bank branches to remove such titles and take other handling measures as prescribed by law provisions for violators within the competence of credit institutions and foreign bank branches.”.

29. Article 45 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 45. Violations against regulations on transaction delay, account freezing; asset freezing and seizure

1. The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 250,000,000 shall be applied to one of the following violations:

a) Failing to report the delay of transactions with the blacklisted parties or the transactions alleged to be related to the criminal activities specified in Clause 3, Article 33 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering;

b) Failing to report the implementation of account freezing or asset freezing and seizure upon decisions of competent state agencies specified in Article 34 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering;

c) Failing to immediately report the suspension of circulation or freezing of money and assets related to the financing of terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in accordance with law provisions.

2. The fines of VND 250,000,000 to VND 350,000,000 shall be applied to one of the following violations:

a) Failing to apply the measure of transaction delay upon transactions with the blacklisted parties or transactions alleged to be related to the criminal activities specified in Clause 1, Article 33 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering;

b) Failing to freeze accounts or to apply measures of asset freezing or seizure upon decisions of competent state agencies specified in Article 34 of Law on Anti- Money Laundering;

c) Failing to immediately suspend the circulation and freeze all money and assets related to terrorism and financing of terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in accordance with law provisions.

3. Remedial measures:

a) Compulsory re-submission of complete and accurate reports, for the violations specified in Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Proposing or requesting competent agencies to consider and apply the measures of suspension or removal of administration, managerial, inspection titles; or prevention from holding such titles at credit institutions or foreign bank branches, for violators and/or persons responsible for the violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

Requesting credit institutions and foreign bank branches to remove such titles and take other handling measures as prescribed by law provisions for violators within the competence of credit institutions and foreign bank branches.”.

30. Article 45a is added after Article 45 as follows:

“Article 45a. Violations against regulations on risk assessment

1. The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 250,000,000 shall be applied to one of the following violations:

a) Failing to assess or to update the results of risk assessment of money laundering and terrorism financing in accordance with law provisions on anti-money laundering;

b) Failing to issue or to update the risk management policies and procedures discovered from risk assessment reports on money laundering and terrorism financing in accordance with law provisions on anti-money laundering;

c) Failing to submit or to disseminate or to publicize results of assessment or to update the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing in accordance with law provisions on anti-money laundering.

2. Remedial measures:

a) Compulsory implementation of regulations on risk assessment of money laundering and terrorism financing in accordance with law provisions on anti-money laundering, for the violations specified in Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Requesting competent agencies to consider and apply the measures of suspension or removal of administration, managerial, inspection titles; or prevention from holding such titles at credit institutions or foreign bank branches, for violators and/or persons responsible for the violations specified in this Article.

Requesting credit institutions and foreign bank branches to remove such titles and take other handling measures as prescribed by law provisions for violators within the competence of credit institutions and foreign bank branches.”.

31. Article 46 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 46. Violations against regulations on prohibited acts in prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing

1. The fines of VND 150,000,000 to VND 250,000,000 shall be applied to the act of hindering the provision of information for prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.

2. The fines of VND 300,000,000 to VND 400,000,000 shall be applied to one of the following violations:

a) Opening or sustaining anonymous bank accounts or accounts with false names;

b) Providing illegitimate monetary services related to cash, cheques, other monetary instruments or valuable monetary retention instruments and payment to the beneficiaries at another location.

3. The fines of VND 400,000,000 to VND 500,000,000 shall be applied to one of the following violations:

a) Organizing or facilitating the conduct of money laundering that is not serious enough for penal liability examination;

b) Establishing and maintaining business relationship with a bank located in a country or territory where one’s business is not actually situated, and such business is not under the control and/or supervision of competent management agencies;

c) Failing to denounce acts of terrorism financing that is not serious enough for penal liability examination;

d) Abusing the suspension of circulation, freezing, sealing, temporary seizure and handling of money and assets related to terrorism financing to infringe upon the interests of the State, legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organizations and individuals;

dd) Directly or indirectly providing money, assets, financial resources, economic resources, financial services or other services to organizations and individuals involved in terrorism or terrorism financing.

4. Remedial measures:

Proposing or requesting competent agencies to consider and apply the measures of suspension or removal of administration, managerial or inspection titles; or prevention from holding such titles at credit institutions and foreign bank branches, for violators and/or persons responsible for the violations specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.

Requesting credit institutions and foreign bank branches to remove the titles and take other handling measures as prescribed by law provisions for the violators within the competence of credit institutions and foreign bank branches.”.

32. Point a, Clause 4 and Point b, Clause 7 of Article 47 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point a, Clause 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“a) Making untruthful reports, except for the cases specified at Point h, Clause 4, Article 27 of this Decree;”;

b) Point b, Clause 7 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“b) Restricting the expansion of business operation scope, scale and area and the supplementation of new business operations during the period when the violations have not been fully remedied, for the violations specified at Points a, b and d of Clause 1; Clauses 2 and 5 of this Article;”.

33. Point a, Clause 5, Article 48 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“a) Providing untruthful information and documents;”.

34. The title of Article and a number of points of Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of Article 53 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) The title of Article is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 53. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the Banking Supervision Agency”;

b) Point c, Clause 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 1,000,000;”;

c) Point c, Clause 2 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 100,000,000;”;

d) Point c, Clause 3 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 500,000,000;”.

35. Article 54 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 54. Competence for handling of administrative violations of Chairpersons of People's Committees at all levels

1. Chairpersons of commune-level People's Committees may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 5,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 10,000,000.

2. Chairpersons of district-level People's Committees may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 100,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations;

dd) Apply the remedial measures as specified in Clause 4, Article 3 of this Decree.

3. Chairpersons of provincial-level People's Committees may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 1,000,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations;

dd) Apply the remedial measures specified in Clause 4, Article 3 of this Decree.”.

36. Article 54a is added after Article 54 as follows:

“Article 54a. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the People's Public Security

1. People's Public Security men who are on official duty may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 500,000.

2. Heads of company-level mobile police units, station chiefs and team heads of the persons specified in Clause 1 of this Article may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 1,500,000.

3. Chiefs of commune-level police offices, chiefs of police stations and chiefs of police offices at border gates or export processing zones, heads of border-gate police offices of international airports, heads of mobile police battalions, and heads of marine squads may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 2,500,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 5,000,000.

4. Chiefs of district-level police offices; heads of professional divisions of the Internal Political Security Department; heads of the professional divisions of the Police Department for Administrative Management of Social Order; heads of the professional divisions of the Traffic Police Department; heads of the professional divisions of the Fire Prevention and Fighting, Salvage and Rescue Police Department; heads of the professional divisions of the Department for Cyber Security and Hi-Tech Crime Prevention and Combat; heads of the professional divisions of the Immigration Department; and heads of divisions of provincial-level of Departments of Public Security, including heads of the Internal Political Security Divisions, heads of Police Divisions for Administrative Management of Social Order, heads of Police Divisions for Investigation of Social Order-Related Crimes, heads of Police Divisions for Investigation of Corruption, Economic and Smuggling Crimes, heads of Police Divisions for Investigation of Drug-Related Crimes, heads of Traffic Police Divisions, heads of Road and Railway Traffic Police Divisions, heads of Road Traffic Police Divisions, heads of Waterways Police Divisions, heads of Mobile Police Divisions, heads of Safeguard Police Divisions, heads of Police Divisions for Execution of Criminal Judgments and Judicial Support, heads of Police Divisions for Environmental Crime Prevention and Combat, heads of Fire Prevention and Fighting, Salvage and Rescue Police Divisions, heads of Cyber Security and Hi-Tech Crime Prevention and Combat Divisions, heads of Immigration Divisions, heads of Economic Security Divisions, heads of External Security Divisions, heads of Mobile Police Regiments, and heads of marine battalions may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 25,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 50,000,000;

d) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

dd) Apply the remedial measures specified at Point e, Clause 4, Article 3 of this Decree.

5. Directors of provincial-level Departments of Public Security may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 100,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations;

dd) Apply the remedial measures specified at Points a, e, g k, n and p, Clause 4, Article 3 of this Decree.

6. The Director of the Internal Political Security Department, Director of the Economic Security Department, Director of the Police Department for Administrative Management of Social Order, Director of Police Department for Investigation of Social Order-Related Crimes, Director of the Police Department for Investigation of Corruption, Economic and Smuggling Crimes, Director of the Police Department for Drug-Related Crimes, Director of the Traffic Police Department, Director of the Fire Prevention and Fighting, Salvage and Rescue Police Department, Director of the Environmental Crime Prevention and Combat Police Department, Director of the Cyber Security and Hi-Tech Crime Prevention and Combat Department, Director of the Internal Security Department, Director of the Police Department for Custody, Temporary Detention and of Criminal Judgment Execution in the Community, Director of the Immigration Department and Commander of the Mobile Police Department may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 1,000,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations;

dd) Apply the remedial measures specified at Points a, e, g k, n and p, Clause 4, Article 3 of this Decree.”.

37. Article 54b is added after Article 54a as follows:

“Article 54b. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the Border Guard

1. Border guard men who are on official duty may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 500,000.

2. Station chiefs and team heads of the persons specified in Clause 1 of this Article have the right to:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 2,500,000.

3. Heads of drug and crime prevention and combat task force teams under drug and crime prevention and combat task force regiments may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 10,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 20,000,000.

4. Chiefs of border-guard stations, heads of border-guard flotillas, and commanders of commanding boards of port border-gate guards at ports may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 25,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 50,000,000.

5. Heads of drug and crime prevention and combat task force regiments of Drug and Crime Prevention and Combat Department under the Border Guard High Command may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 100,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 200,000,000.

6. Commanders of provincial-level border guards; chiefs of border-guard fleets and the Director of the Drug and Crime Prevention and Combat Department under the Border-Guard High Command may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 1,000,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations.”.

38. Article 54c is added after Article 54b as follows:

“Article 54c. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the Coast Guard

1. Coast Guard officers who are on official duty may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 1,500,000.

2. The head of the Coast Guard's Operational Team has the right to:

a) Impose a warning;

b) A fine of up to VND 5,000,000.

3. Heads of Coast Guard professional groups and chiefs of Coast Guard stations may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 10,000,000;

4. Captains of coast guard flotillas may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 25,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 50,000,000.

5. Captains of coast guard fleets; heads of reconnaissance teams, and heads of drug-related crime prevention and combat task force regiments of the High Command of the Vietnam Coast Guard may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 50,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 100,000,000.

6. Coast Guard regional commanders, and the Director of the Professional and Legal Department of the High Command of the Vietnam Coast Guard may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 100,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations.

7. The Vietnam Coast Guard Commander may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 1,000,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations.”.

39. Article 54d is added after Article 54c as follows:

“Article 54d. Competence for handling of administrative violations of Market Surveillance agencies

1. Market surveillance officers who are on official duty may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 500,000.

2. Heads of market surveillance teams and heads of professional divisions of the Market Surveillance Professional Department may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 25,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 50,000,000.

3. Directors of provincial-level Market Surveillance Departments, and the Director of the Market Surveillance Professional Department of the Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 50,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations;

d) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time.

4. The General Director of the Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 1,000,000,000;

c) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations;

d) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time.”.

40. Article 54dd is added after Article 54d as follows:

“Article 54dd. Competence for handling of administrative violations of specialized tourism inspection agencies

1. Inspectors and on-duty persons assigned to perform specialized inspection tasks may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 500,000.

2. Provincial-level chief inspectors and heads of provincial-level specialized inspection teams may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 50,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 100,000,000;

dd) Apply the remedial measures specified at Point n, Clause 4, Article 3 of this Decree.

3. Heads of ministerial-level specialized inspection teams may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 250,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations of a value not exceeding VND 500,000,000;

dd) Apply the remedial measures specified at Point n, Clause 4, Article 3 of this Decree.

4. Ministerial-level chief inspectors may:

a) Give warnings;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 1,000,000,000;

c) Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time;

d) Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations;

dd) Apply the remedial measures specified at Point n, Clause 4, Article 3 of this Decree.”.

41. Article 54e is added after Article 54dd as follows:

“Article 54e. Competence for handling of administrative violations of customs agencies

The Director General of the General Department of Vietnam Customs may impose fines of up to VND 1,000,000,000.”.

42. Article 54g is added after Article 54e as follows:

“Article 54g. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the National Competition Committee

The Chairperson of the National Competition Committee may:

1. Give warnings.

2. Impose fines of up to VND 1,000,000,000.

3. Deprive of the right to use licenses or practice certificates for a definite period of time or suspend operations for a definite period of time.

4. Confiscate the exhibits and means used in administrative violations.

5. Apply the remedial measures specified at Point n, Clause 4, Article 3 of this Decree.”.

43. Article 55 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 55. Decentralization of competence for handling of administrative violations in the field of currency and banking

1. Competence for handling of administrative violations of Chairpersons of People's Committees at all levels

Chairpersons of People's Committees at all levels may impose penalties for the administrative violations specified in Chapter II of this Decree according to their assigned competence and functions, tasks and powers.

2. Competence for handling of administrative violations of market surveillance agencies

Persons competent to handle administrative violations of market surveillance agencies shall impose penalties for the administrative violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2, Points a, b, h, i, k, l of Clause 3, and Points n and o of Clause 4, Points e, g and h of Clause 5, Point c of Clause 8 of Article 23; Clauses 1 and 2, Point a of Clause 3, Point a of Clause 4, Point a of Clause 6, Clause 7, Points a and c of Clause 8 of Article 24 herein.

3. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the Border Guard

Persons competent to handle administrative violations of the Border Guard force shall impose penalties for the administrative violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2, Points h, i, k of Clause 3, Point h of Clause 4, and Points e, g, h of Clause 5 of Article 23; Clause 1, Clause 2, Clause 4 of Article 24; Point c of Clause 4 of Article 47; Clause 3 of Article 48, Point a of Clause 5 of Article 48 herein.

4. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the Coast Guard

Persons competent to handle administrative violations of the Coast Guard force shall impose penalties for the administrative violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2, Points h, i, k of Clause 3, Point h of Clause 4, Points e, g, h of Clause 5, Point b of Clause 8 of Article 23; Clauses 1 and 2, Points a and b of Clause 4, Point c of Clause 5, Point a of Clause 6, Points a and b of Clause 8 of Article 24 herein.

5. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the People's Public Security

Persons competent to handle administrative violations of People's Public Security agencies shall impose penalties for the administrative violations specified in Clauses 3, 4 and 5 of Article 4; Clauses 1 and 2, Points a, b, c, h, i, k, l of Clause 3, Points h, n, o of Clause 4, Points c, e, g, h of Clause 5, Point c of Clause 8 of Article 23; Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4, Points a, c of Clause 5, Clauses 6, 7 and 8 of Article 24; Point b of Clause 2, Clauses 5, 6 and 7 of Article 26; Point a of Clause 1, Points a, b of Clause 3, Points a, b, c, d, dd, e, i, k of Clause 4, Clause 5 of Article 27; Points c, d of Clause 5, Clause 6, Clause 7 of Article 28; Point a of Clause 1, Point a of Clause 2, Point e of Clause 3 of Article 28a; Point c of Clause 3, Clause 4 of Article 30; Article 31; Clause 2 of Article 39; Article 44; Article 45; Article 46; Point c of Clause 4 of Article 47; Article 48; Point b of Clause 1, Point c of Clause 2 of Article 52 herein.

6. Competence for handling of administrative violations of specialized tourism inspection agencies

Persons competent to handle administrative violations of specialized tourism inspection agencies shall impose penalties for the administrative violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2, Points a, b, c, h, i, k, l of Clause 3, Points b, n, o of Clause 4, Points e, g, h of Clause 5 of Article 23 herein.

7. Competence for handling of administrative violations of customs agencies

The Director General of the General Department of Vietnam Customs shall impose penalties for the administrative violations specified at Point b, Clause 8 of Article 23, Point c, Clause 5, and Point b, Clause 8 of Article 24 herein.

8. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the Chairperson of the National Competition Committee

The Chairperson of the National Competition Committee shall impose penalties for the administrative violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2, Points h, i, k of Clause 3, Points e, g, h of Clause 5 of Article 23; Clause 1 of Article 24 herein.

9. Competence for handling of administrative violations of the Banking Supervision Agency

Persons competent to handle administrative violations of the Banking Supervision Agency may handle administrative violations and apply the remedial measures for the administrative violations specified in Chapter II of this Decree according to their assigned competence and functions, tasks and powers”.

44. Clauses 1 and 2, Article 56 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“1. Persons competent to handle administrative violations specified in Article 53, Article 54, Article 54a, Article 54b, Article 54c, Article 54d, Article 54dd, Article 54e and Article 54g herein.

2. Persons of the People's Army or People's Public Security Forces in the agencies specified in this Decree who are performing their official duties or tasks assigned in legal or administrative documents promulgated by competent agencies or persons; captains of aircrafts, ships and vessels and persons assigned the duties to minute violations by such captains.”.

Article 2. To annul a number of provisions in the Government’s Decree No. 88/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019 on penalties of administrative violations against currency and banking legal regulations

1. The phrase “confiscate erased or modified permits” at Point c, Clause 2, Article 3 is annulled.

2. Clause 7, Article 4 and Clause 1, Article 5 is annulled.

3. The word “forging” at Point a, Clause 4, Article 4 and Clause 2, Article 18 is removed.

Article 3. Responsibilities for implementation

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of governmental agencies, chairpersons of provincial or municipal People's Committees and relevant agencies shall be responsible for the implementation of this Decree.

Article 4. Implementation provisions

1. This Decree takes effect on January 1, 2022.

2. Transitional provisions

a) With regard to violations occurred and ended before the effective date herein that are detected or are being considered for decisions on handling of administrative violations after the effective date herein, if this Decree does not provide for liability or provides for less strict liability, the provisions of this Decree shall prevail.

b) With regard to decisions on handling of administrative violations currency and banking activities issued or enforced before the effective date herein but the violating individuals and/or organizations still complains about them, the regulations prescribed in the Government’s Decree No. 88/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019, on penalties for administrative violations against currency and banking legal regulations shall prevail.

On behalf of the Government

For the Prime Minister

The Deputy Prime Minister

LE MINH KHAI