Legal Document Updates in English (10/2012)

THE GOVERNMENT HIGHLY APPRECIATED THE MANAGEMENT
 IN AND DURING THE TET HOLIDAYS
 

On February 8, 2012 the Government issued the Resolution No. 03/NQ-CP on its regular meeting for January, 2011 on February 4, 2012.

At the meeting, the Government unanimously agreed that with the active mind for realizing the Resolutions of the 13th National Assembly; the Government; ministries, agencies and localities quickly developed, promulgated and deployed their action plans, then fundamentally finalized the allocation of the plans for socio-economic development, budget estimates and State-funded investment projects for localities, while giving closed directions over all fields right at the beginning of this year.

Despite a string of difficulties which were caused by bad weather conditions, agricultural production still recorded positive outcomes. Aquaculture productivity in January increased by 2.2% compared with the same period last year. Tourism activities were ebullient, with the number of international arrivals rose by 24.8% compared to the same period last year. Consumer price index in January climbed by 1% against the previous month but it was the lowest figure over the past recent three years….

During the recent Lunar New Year festival (Tet), ministries, agencies and localities strictly realized the Prime Minister’s instructions. Hence, sudden price hike and commodity shortage did not appear; food hygiene and safety considerably improved; effective solutions were introduced to prevent crimes, guarantee traffic safety, reduce traffic accidents, prevent fires and explosions, rein in crime growth, put a stop to the production-transportation-trafficking-setting-off of firecrackers, and create favorable conditions for people to travel conveniently and safely.

In this regular meeting, the Government listened to and gave comments on the Government’s draft report on reviewing the implementation of the 1992 Constitution presented by the Steering Committee for reviewing the implementation of the 1992 Constitution; discussed the draft law on amendment and supplementation to some of the articles of Tax Management Law, presented by by the Minister of Finance; The Government listened and gave comments on the draft decree on detailed implementation of the Mineral Law presented by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment…

CREDIT INSTITUTIONS MUST BE INDEPENDENTLY AUDITED 2 TIMES

Specifically, independent audit of financial statements of a credit institution or foreign bank branch is audit of accounting balance sheet; income statement; Cash flow statement; Explanatory notes on financial statements.

Independent audit of the operation of the internal control system of a credit institution includes: audit of compliance with current laws, regulations of the State Bank on the internal control system to ensure the effectiveness and safety in operation; safe and effective protection, management and use of assets and resources; The system of truthful, reasonable, complete and timely financial information and management information.

This Circular takes effect on January 1, 2012. The State Bank Governor’s Decision No. 121/2005/QD-NHNN of February 2, 2005, promulgating the Regulation on independent audit of credit institutions ceases to be effective on the effective date of this Circular..

 
GUIDELINES ON  IDENTIFICATION OF MONEY
LAUNDERING PREVENTION AND CONTROL
 

director) before establishing business relationship or right after determining that the current customer is politically exposed person; Taking measures to know the source of the customer’s money and property.

When conducting introduced business, reporting organizations may identify customers through intermediaries but shall ensure that intermediaries collect, preserve and promptly and adequately provide reporting organizations with customer identification information upon request. Intermediaries take measures to comply with requirements for customer information identification and updating according to the Financial Action Task Force’s recommendations and submit to management and supervision of competent state agencies.

This Circular shall take effect on February 01, 2012.

 
FOREIGN BANKS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ACT AS THE FOCAL-POINT
OF SYNDICATED CREDIT EXTENSION
 

On December 15, 2012, the State Bank of Viet Nam issued the Circular No. 42/2011/TT-NHNN providing for the extension of syndicated credit by credit institutions to clients.

Syndicated credit shall be extended voluntarily by members on the principle of co-appraisal and co-decision on extension of credit to clients and co-accountability for credit extension results. Members shall contribute capital (or perform obligations) according to their extension proportions specified in the loan syndication contract, enjoy benefits (interests and charges under regulations) and share arising expenses and risks stated in the loan syndication contract.

The focal-point syndicated credit-extending member may act as the focal-point syndicated credit extension-arranging member, focal-point payment member or focal-point security asset-receiving member. Foreign credit institutions, when participating in extending syndicated credit, may not act as

focal-point syndicated credit-extending members, focal-point payment members or focal-point security asset-receiving members.

Forms of syndicated credit extension include provision of syndicated loan; Loan syndication for guarantee; Loan syndication for discount; Loan syndication financial lease; Loan syndication for factoring; Loan syndication for combination of the above forms of credit extension.

This Circular takes effect on December 15, 2011, and replaces the State Bank Governor’s Decision No. 286/2002/QD-NHNN of April 3, 2002, promulgating the Regulation on co-financing by credit institutions, and the Decision No. 886/2003/QD-NHNN of August 11, 2003 and the State Bank’s Circular No. 08/2006/TT-NHNN of October 12, 2006.

FOUR CASES OF DIRECT SALE, NOT REQUIRING AUCTION
 

The Ministry of Finance issued the Circular No. 179/2011/TT-BTC of December 8, 2011, guiding the handling of goods which are abandoned, strayed, mistakenly claimed or unclaimed after the expiration of the customs declaration time limit at seaports provided in Article 45 of the Customs Law, and other unclaimed goods (below referred to as in-stock goods).

Under the Circular, in-stock goods shall be destructed for useless goods or goods banned from circulation under Vietnamese law. For usable goods, in-stock goods shall be sold through public auctions according to law or sold directly (not through auction. There are four cases of direct sale, not requiring auction including: Fresh and raw goods easy to turn stale and get rotten and difficult to preserve; Processed foodstuffs and medicines with their shelf life to expire within 30 days; Other kinds of goods which must be promptly sold, otherwise they will get decayed or rotten or expire; Goods with an assessed value of under VND 100 million/lot.

The Circular also regulated that storage enterprises have responsibilities to monitor, inventory and

classify in-stock goods; to notify consignees or shipping companies/shipping agents/forwarding enterprises; to regularly inform the managing Customs Sub-Departments of the situation of in-stock goods on the 5th of the subsequent month; to arrange storage and preservation sites satisfying the customs supervision conditions for in-stock goods pending the handling; to join councils for handling abandoned goods.

Shippers shall notify the Sub-Customs Departments of the border gates of importation of the lists of bills of lading of goods which have been unclaimed for over 90 days after the date they arrive at these border gates.

This Circular takes effect 45 days from the date of its signing and replaces the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No. 05/2003/TT-BTC of January 13, 2003, guiding the handling of in-stock goods at Vietnamese seaports.