Legal Document Updates in English (02/2012)

NOT PERMITTED TO DIVIDE THE COMMON PROPERTY
OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

On November 10, 2011, the Prime Minister issued the Decision No. 63/2011/QD-TTg amending and supplementing a number of articles of the regulation on organization and operation of private universities promulgated together with the Prime Minister's Decision No. 61/2009/QD-TTg dated April 17, 2009.

Accordingly, the Prime Minister supplements some regulations on the common ownership. The common ownership means the ownership of the common property of organizations, individuals who contribute capital towards the establishment of the university and the property which will be raised in the operation process. The common property of the university includes the devisable and undividable common property.

Annually, the property of universities must be examined, audited according to the relevant laws. Private universities are permitted to apply the accelerated depreciation for fixed assets to recover the capital.

However, it can’t exceed the maximum depreciation rate as regulated by the Laws against enterprises.

Capital under the undividable common property are not allowed to withdraw out of the working capital of private university and it is regarded as capital stock and shareholders will receive dividends as other sources of capital stock. Received dividends will be used to supplement the undividable common capital, increase the accumulated capital of private universities and be used for the investment and development.

The Decision shall take effect on December 26, 2011.

BY THE END OF OCTOBER THIS YEAR, THE GOVERNMENT
PROVIDED ASSISTANCE WORTH VND 397 BILLION, 1,300 TONS OF RICE

The Government issued the Resolution No. 98/NQ-CP dated November 09, 2011 on the Government’s regular meeting - October 2011 on November 03 - 05 of 2011. In this regular meeting, the Government discussed the consequences of natural disasters, outcomes of flood and storm in the Mekong Delta and Central Region.

The Government praised and spoke highly of the efforts made by local authorities, residents, military forces in rescue work and mitigation of the consequences of natural disasters. By the end of October this year, the Government provided assistance worth VND 397 billion, 1,300 tons of rice, advanced VND 47 billion to assist farmers, and it is considering the possibility of continued effort to help localities to overcome food shortage and stabilize agricultural production.

The Government requested ministries, agencies and localities to continue close coordination in addressing the consequences of natural disasters; provide timely assistance to homeless families; mobilize all forces and tools to rescue people in isolated areas; deploy measures to restore infrastructure and sanitation, prevent and control diseases, and quickly stabilize production and people’s life.

 
REDUCE 50% OF SERVICE CHARGES FOR THE NEW AIR CARRIERS
 

Passenger service charges for international flights: at Tan Son Nhat international airport reach the highest charge at 18 USD per passenger; the next one is 16 USD per passenger at Noi Bai international airport, Can Tho international airport and the new terminal of Da Nang international airport which is expected to operate by the end of this year.

The maximum charges frame for refueling services for domestic flights is 930,000 VND per ton, and the minimum is the applicable charge of 50% of the maximum charge. The above maximum charges are defined in the condition that fuel price for imported air Jet A-1 is 145 USD per barrel and the exchange rate is 20,895 VND/USD.

The Decision shall take effect on December 01, 2012.

 
THE AUTHORIZED STATE BODY WILL MAKE PAYMENT
TO THE BT INVESTORS BY ALLOCATING OTHER PROJECTS
 

On November 17, 2011, the Ministry of Finance issued the Circular No. 166/2011/TT-BTC defining on the management and use of project preparation costs and funding for operations of competent state agencies during the management of projects; some financial targets of project contracts; conditions and payment method for investor to implement project in the form of contract of build – transfer (BT); settlement of project building value in the form of contracts of build - operation – transfer (BOT), build - transfer – operation (BTO), build –transfer (BT).

For projects in the form of contract of build – transfer, conditions for making payment must be stipulated in the project contract. The authorized State body may make either a one-off payment or installment payments. However, in the latter case, the first payment must be made after the completion, acceptance and handover of the BT facility and the final payment must be at least equal to 15% of the value of the project contract.

Notably, the authorized State body will make payment to investors by allocating other projects after investors successfully transfer to the State. Payment will be made according to the principle of set-off between the values of the BT project and the value of other projects.

The value of other projects must be determined and approved by the competent level authority in accordance with relevant laws.

Also, under the Circular, the equity of the project enterprise is the equity which the investor undertakes to contribute under the charter of the project enterprise. The equity of the investor will be determined on the basis of the investor’s latest financial report audited by an independent auditor.

Investors must commit and take responsible for the accuracy as well as legality of statistics and materials related to the equity, portfolio of incomplete projects, and equity allocation for incomplete projects till contract negotiation.

The Circular shall take effect on January 15, 2012 and replace the Circular No. 149/2007/TT-BTC dated February 14, 2007.

03 CONDITIONS FOR MAKING JUDGMENT ON
LOCATIONS OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

The Ministry of Science and Technology issued the Circular No. 28/2011/TT-BKHCN dated October 28, 2011, defining on nuclear safety requirements for locations of nuclear power plants.

Under the Circular, locations are considered to be suitable to build nuclear power plants when meeting 03 requirements as follows: these locations can ensure the safety of nuclear power plants; they also ensure that people and surrounding environment are not affected by radiation in the normal operation as well as in case of encountering problems in design; besides, they must limit harms to people and environment in the case of incidents that exceed the expected level in design.

When making judgment about locations for nuclear power plants, some following factors and characteristics should be carefully considered: natural and artificial factors may influence on external elements which affect the safety of nuclear power plants; characteristics of locations and environment are

related to the dispersal of radiation from nuclear power plants which may affect people and environment; density, population distribution and characteristics of locations are related to the ability to implement the emergency response measures.

When surveying and making judgment about factors related to the dispersal of radiation which are harmful to people and environment, some factors should be considered such as the dispersal of radiation can be through air, water, groundwater; data about population allocation should be based on the latest statistics; people need extrapolate to get the present and future data for residential areas which are easily exposed to be suffered from the dispersal of radiation.

The Circular shall take effect on December 15, 2011.