Legal Document Updates in English (17/2014)

GUIDING THE APPRAISAL FOR NON-PROJECT AID
 

On January 09, 2014, the Ministry of Planning and Investment issued the Circular No. 01/2014/TT-BKHDT guiding a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 38/2013/ND-CP of April 23, 2013, on management and use of official development assistance (ODA) and concessional loans of donors.

In accordance with this Circular’s regulations, For non-project aid equivalent to under USD 20,000, the managing agency shall not conduct appraisal and decide to approve such aid on the basis of the competent authority’s decision approving the funding list; for non-project aid equivalent to USD 20,000 or higher, the appraisal of the non-project aid document with the contents of appraisal such as the project’s reasonability in terms of its justification; its targets against priority policies at national, ministerial, sectoral and local levels; expected outcome or products against the project’s targets; each part and its specific activities to create the outcome or output product; target beneficiaries; the project’s budget allocation structure or the project’s feasibility in terms of inputs of the entire project and each activity; size and level of assurance of funding of the project, domestic financial mechanism applicable to the project; duration of implementation; implementation solutions, including earlier implemented activities; organization and mechanism for management and

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATION MUST HAVE AT LEAST 5
EMPLOYEES WITH UNIVERSITY DEGREE
 

On January 27, 2014, the Government issued the Decree No. 08/2014/ND-CP Detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Science and Technology, within that, there are many important contents.

In particular, Each science and technology organization must have at least 5 (five) employees who possess a university or higher degree  and work on a full-time or part-time basis, at least 30% of whom possess professional qualifications relevant to the registered major field of activity and at least 40% of whom work on a full-time basis. If established to develop a new field of science and technology, a science and technology organization must have at least 1 (one) employee who possesses a university degree in the registered field of operation and works on a full-time basis. And the head of a science and technology organization must possess a university or higher degree and have managerial experience and relevant professional competence; and dead of science and technology organizations that are higher education institutions must meet the conditions prescribed by the law on higher education.

Besides regulations on human resources in science and technology organization, this Circular also stipulates the distribution of profits when using, or assigning the right to use, transferring or contributing as capital, results of scientific research and technological development funded

COMMENCEMENT CONDITIONS OF A BIOMASS POWER WORKS
 

On March 24, 2014, the Prime Minister issued the Decision No. 24/2014/QD-TTg on support mechanism for biomass power project’s development in Vietnam.

Accordingly, Investor will only permitted to begin construction of a grid-connected biomass power works, in addition to conditions provided in Article 72 of the Law on Construction and relevant legal normative documents, it is additionally required to have: The investment certificate, the acceptance of buying electricity of the electricity Buyer; the agreement on electricity integration with the electricity distribution unit or the electricity transmission unit (for grid-connected biomass power projects); opinion of competent state agencies on the design in accordance with legal provisions on management of investment and construction of projects.

REGULATIONS ON APPOINTMENT AMBASSADORS EXTRAORDINARY
AND PLENIPOTENTIARY
 

On January 06, 2014, the Standing Committee of National Assembly issued the Resolution No. 719/2014/UBTVQH13 guiding the implementation of Clause 2, Article 2 of the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 64/2013/QH13 of November 28, 2013, on the implementation of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Within that, the Prime Minister shall submit to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for approval proposals on the appointment or relief from duty of ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The Committee for Foreign Relations of the National Assembly shall verify reports, made by the Prime Minister to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, requesting the approval of proposals on appointment or relief from duty of ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

ENTERPRISES CONDUCTING INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MUST HAVE
AT LEAST 05 MILLIONS DONG IN CAPITAL
 

On April 14, 2014, the Government issued the Decree No. 30/2014/ND-CP dated April 14, 2014 of the Government on conditions for sea transportation and support service which stipulates that from July 01, 2014, Persons who are engaged in business of sea transportation in Vietnam will have to establish enterprises for business of sea transportation as prescribed by laws and will only be entitled to conduct business of sea transportation after having been granted with Licenses for business of sea transportation.

In order to get the business licenses of sea transportation, businesses must have registered business of sea transportation; enterprises conducting business of sea transportation must have professional units to perform tasks to control safety as prescribed by the International Safety Management Code – ISM Code in case of conducting business of sea transportation on international routes; maritime security as prescribed by the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code - ISPS Code in case of conducting business of sea transportation on international routes;  use seagoing vessels and implement legal affairs in