Decree No. 171/2016/ND-CP dated December 27, 2016 of the Government on registration, deregistration, purchase, sale and building of ships

Purchase, sale and building of ships are specific investment activities

On December 27, 2016, the Government issued the Decree No. 171/2016/ND-CP on registration, deregistration, purchase, sale and building of ships.

In particular, the purchase of ship with state funding shall be performed in accordance with regulations of the Law on bidding. If all regulations of the Law on bidding have been applied but no ship is selected, the form of competitive offering shall be adopted in conformity with the international practices with the participation of at least 03 offering parties who are the ship sellers or brokers. The purchase, sale and building of ships with other sources of funding shall be subject to decisions of enterprises, organizations or individuals concerned.

Another important contents are that age limits of used foreign ships registered in Vietnam for the first time. Age limits of used foreign-flagged ships, submarines, submersibles, floating production storage and offloading units, and mobile offshore drilling units which are registered in Vietnam for the first time shall be provided for as: passenger ships, submarines and submersibles: 10 years of age; other ships, floating production storage and offloading units, and mobile offshore drilling units: Not more than 15 years of age; in special cases, age limits shall be decided by Minister of Transport provided it shall not exceed 20 years and only apply to chemical tankers, ships carrying liquefied gases, oil tankers or floating production storage and offloading units.

Also in accordance with the regulations of this Decree, the ships purchased or newly built of state-owned enterprises or enterprises with state contributions must be registered for sailing under the Vietnamese flag in conformity with regulations herein. A ship under the ownership of a Vietnamese entity without the state funding may be registered for sailing under the foreign flag according to the ship owner’s decision. Within 30 days as from the date of registry of ship for sailing under the foreign flag, the ship owner must send a copy of Certificate of registry of ship to the Vietnam Registrar of Ship for management.