Legal Document Updates in English (04/2014)

TO GUIDE THE APPLICATION OF ADVANCE PRICING AGREEMENTS TO TAX ADMINISTRATION

On December 20, 2013, the Ministry of Finance promulgated Circular No. 201/2013/TT-BTC guiding the application of Advance Pricing Agreements to Tax Administration.
According to the Circular, the taxpayer shall decide whether the APA is unilateral, bilateral, or multilateral when submitting the APA application. While the APA application is processed, the tax administration and the taxpayer may convert the bilateral or multilateral APA into a unilateral APA, and vice versa.
The cases in which APAs may be converted: The foreign tax administration does not participate in the

APA negotiation; the Vietnamese tax administration and the foreign tax administration fail to reach an agreement on the APA contents after a conventional negotiation period. Competent officials of the Vietnamese tax administration and the foreign tax administration mutually agree to convert the unilateral APA into a bilateral or multilateral APA on the taxpayer’s approval while exchanging information or following mutual agreement procedures under the tax treaty.
This Circular takes effect on February 5, 2014.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INVESTMENT PROMOTION ACTIVITY

On January 14, 2014, the Prime Minister issued the Decision No. 03/2014/QD-TTg dated January 14, 2014 of the Prime Minister promulgating the regulation on state management for investment promotion activities.
Accordingly, investment promotion activity must be in accordance with the plan for socio- economic development of country, sector and locality; Being in accordance with the orientations of the Government on attracting foreign direct investment into Vietnam and overseas direct investment in each period; Having impacts on attracting investment and using effectively the sources in prioritized sectors or areas to achieve the socio-economic targets in each period.
Under this Decision, within scope of its management, ministries, provincial People’s Committee shall support enterprises, investors in the process of preparing and implementing the investment project. The

GUIDANCE ON ALLOCATING PROFIT OF VIETNAM ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY

On December 27, 2013, the Ministry of Finance promulgated Circular No. 209/2013/TT-BTC on guiding the financial regulations applicable to Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) for credit institutions, which shall comply with legislations applicable to the one-member limited liability companies of which 100% of charter capital is owned by State, the Government’s Decree No. 53/2013/ND-CP dated May 18, 2013 and related legal documents.
Accordingly, VAMC shall be entitled to use operational capital to serve for business operation as prescribed by the law, concretely: Special bonds which are issued by VAMC in accordance with regulations of the State Bank of Vietnam shall only be used for purchasing bad debts of credit institutions as prescribed at Clause 1 Article 7 of Decree No. 53/2013/ND-CP; VAMC may use its lawful capital sources, exclusive of special bonds, in order to buy bad debts at the market price as prescribed by the

TO BEAR STAMPS FOR DOMESTIC WINE FROM JANUARY 1, 2014

On November 14, 2013, the Ministry of Finance promulgated Circular No. 160/2013/TT-BTC directing the printing, issuance, management and use of stamps for imported wine and domestic wine.
The Circular clearly states that wine produced and sold in Vietnam from January 1, 2014 and imported wine for sale in Vietnam must bear the stamp on its package. Concretely, imported wine and domestic wine must be packed in bottles, jars, cans, bags, or boxes (hereinafter referred to as bottles). Each bottle must bear a stamp. If the wine bottle is wrapped in a nylon cover, the stamp must be stuck on the bottle before it wrapping the nylon cover. The stamp shall be stick so that it seals the part of the package

PETROL AND OIL TEMPORARILY IMPORTED FOR RE-EXPORT MAY BE RETAINED IN VIETNAM WITHIN MAXIMUM 180 DAYS

On October 9, 2013, the Ministry of Finance promulgated Circular No. 139/2013/TT-BTC, on customs procedures for petrol and oil exported, imported, temporarily imported for re-export and transferred from/to border gate; materials imported for production and preparation of petrol and oil; and materials imported for export processing of petrol and oil
Accordingly, petrol and oil temporarily imported for re-export may be retained in Vietnam within a time limit which doesn’t exceed 120 days from the time of completing customs procedures for temporary import. When a lot needs to be retained in Vietnam for a longer period due to a force majeure circumstance or change in the conditions and time of goods delivery stated in the goods purchase and sale contract, traders shall request in writing customs branches at which they carry out temporary import procedures to extend this time limit. The request must be approved by customs branches before the

expiration of the time limit for temporary import for re-export. For each lot temporarily imported for re-export, extension may be made 2 (two) times at most, each not exceeding 30 (thirty) days. So far, the total time limit that petrol and oil temporarily imported for re-export may be retained in Vietnam does not exceed 180 days.
Also in this Circular, Petrol and oil already temporarily imported but not re-exported or fully re-exported may be sold domestically. After obtaining the approval from the director of the Customs Department, traders shall register new declarations for carrying out procedures for the volume of petrol and oil for domestic sale according to the form of commercial import; tax policies and policies on management of imported petrol and oil will be applied at the time of registration of declarations for domestic sale.
This Circular takes effect on November 25, 2013.

COMPULSORY SUBJECTS FOR FOREIGN VOCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMS IN VOCATIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTIONS

On October 16, 2013, the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs promulgates Circular No. 23/2013/TT-BLDTBXH, guiding a number of articles on foreign cooperation and investment in vocational training of the Government’s Decree No. 73/2012/ND-CP of September 26, 2012, on foreign cooperation and investment in education.
According to this Circular, Vietnamese citizens studying in foreign-invested vocational training institutions or vocational training institutions conducting joint training in foreign collegial- or intermediate-level programs shall study 6 general subjects, namely Politics, Law, Physical Education, National Defense and Security Education, Information Technology, and English (if these training programs are not taught in English) under regulations of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.
Occupations not permitted for training cooperation and investment are those with contents which are detrimental to national defense and security, culture, environment, ethics and fine customs and practices