Legal Document Updates in English (39/2013)

MAXIMUM DEPOSIT OF VIETNAMESE LABORERS ABROAD IS USD 3,000

Circular  No. 21/2013/TT-BLDTBXH dated October 10, 2013 of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs regulating the ceiling level of USD 3,000 deposit and labour markets in which service enterprises permitted making agreement about the depositing with laborers.
Accordingly, from December 1, 2013, the prescribed deposit handed to service enterprises upon sending Vietnamese laborers to foreign countries is agreed with the laborers working as crew on fishing ships (onshore), labor with yellow card, Visa E-7 in South Korea is maximized as USD 3,000. This ceiling level is also applied to those sending Vietnamese laborers working as interns in Japan.
For services enterprises sending Vietnamese laborers to remaining markets, the ceiling level of deposit varies from USD 300 to 2,000 or the deposit is equivalent to one way flight ticket from the place where the laborer works to Vietnam. Specifically, the ceiling level of deposit applied upon sending laborers to

Brunei, Thailand, Malaysia and Laos is defined as USD 300; for those who work in Australia, UK, Italy, Finland, Germany, Americas countries or work as crews on fishing ships (offshore) in South Korea,  crews on fishing ships (offshore and onshore) and transport ships in Japan and laborers in Russia Federation, Turkey and African countries … will deposit an amount of USD 2,000; USD 1,500; USD 1,000 respectively.
Service enterprises shall report periodically, irregularly (as requested) about situation of implementation, management and use of deposits of laborers and send, to the Department of Overseas Labor Administration, reports made according to the form in Annex No. 02 promulgated together with this Circular before June 20 and December 20 annually.
The Circular takes effect from December 1, 2013.

MUST APPLY MEASURES TO IDENTIFY CLIENTS OPENING ACCOUNTS FOR THE FIRST TIME

On October 4, 2013, the Government issued the Decree No. 116/2013/ND-CP detailing a number of Articles of the Law on prevention and combat of money laundering. One of the most significant points under this Decree is the regulation on cases that must apply the measures to identify clients.
Accordingly, financial organizations must apply the measures of client identification when opening account for the first time; establishing the relation with financial organizations for the purposes of using products and services provided by financial organizations for the first time; conducting electronic funds transfer but lacks information about name, address or account number of the originator; conducting transactions with the total value of VND 300,000,000 or more in a day but having no account or having account but there is no transaction conducted within 6 months... Organizations, individuals doing the business of prize-winning games, casinos must take measures to identify clients that conduct the

TO ADD FURTHER INFORMATION INTO HEALTH INSURANCE CARD

According to Decision No. 1055/QD-BHXH dated October 2, 2013 of the Vietnam Social Insurance on promulgating form of health  insurance card, from January 1, 2014, information is added to Health Insurance Card for customers who enjoy rights and benefits of high-technical services with high cost or those who experience rights and benefits of drugs for cancer treatment, anti-rejection drugs applied for different levels.
Accordingly, level 1 is applied when customers begin enjoying rights and benefits of high- technical services for objects voluntarily participating in health insurance continuously for full 180 days or more; level 2 is applied when customers begin enjoying rights and benefits of drugs for cancer treatment,

FINE UP TO VND 30 MILLION WILL BE APPLIED FOR FORGING ACCOUNTING DOCUMENTS

Decree No. 105/2013/ND-CP dated September 16, 2013 of the Government on penalizing administrative violations in accounting and independent audit.
Accordingly, the maximum fine levels in accounting will be VND 30,000,000 for individuals and VND 60,000,000 for organizations. The maximum fine levels in dependent audit will be VND 50,000,000 for individuals and VND 100,000,000 for organizations. Specifically: A fine between VND 500,000 and 1,000,000 for making accounting vouchers with insufficient principal details as prescribed by the accounting legislation; erasing and modifying accounting vouchers. A fine between VND 5,000,000 and 10,000,000 for signing accounting vouchers when having no competence or authorization to sign; a fine between VND 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 for opening accounting books outside the system of official accounting books of the unit; forging accounting books; reaching agreement with or compelling other persons to forge accounting books…
Besides, for property inventory, the Government regulates a warning or a fine between VND 500,000 and 1,000,000 for failing to make reports summing up the inventory results according to regulations, failing to

FINE UP TO VND 10 MILLION WILL BE APPLIED FOR VIOLATING THE REGULATIONS OF GASOLINE PRICE LISTING AND RETAIL PRICES

Decree  No. 97/2013/ND-CP dated August 27, 2013 of the Government on providing the sanctioning of administrative violations in the fields of petroleum, gasoline trading, and liquified petroleum gas trading.
The Decree clearly states a fine between VND 5,000,000 and 10,000,000 will be imposed for enterprises which fail to list the gasoline retail prices or list the gasoline retail prices improperly or unclearly, causing confusion to customers; list the gasoline retail prices inconsistently with prices set by wholesale traders; sell gasoline not at listed prices set by wholesale traders. Particularly, a fine between VND 10,000,000 and 20,000,000 will be imposed for arbitrarily adjusting petrol and oil retail prices not at points of time prescribed by wholesale traders
Simultaneously, gasoline trading agents will be imposed a fine between VND 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 for failing to provide professional training in fire prevention and fighting and environmental protection under

regulations for managers and employees directly engaged in gasoline trading; a fine between VND 5,000,000 and 10,000,000 for locating a gasoline retail store not in the location indicated in the certificate of eligibility for gasoline trading; a fine between VND 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 for trading in gasoline without certificate of eligibility for gasoline trading or forging certificate of eligibility for gasoline trading or using a forged certificate;

Particularly, the Decree also regulates the maximum fine level of VND 1 billion  for encroaching upon territorial waters, contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones or the continental shelf of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the purpose of prospecting and exploring petroleum.
This Decree takes effect on October 10, 2013.

PER-CAPITA GDP WILL REACH AROUND VND 53 MILLION (USD 2,500) BY 2015 IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAM’S NORTHERN AND COASTAL REGION

This is one of the important target in the master plan on socio-economic development of the Central Vietnam’s northern and coastal region through 2020 and approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1114/QD-TTg dated July 9, 2013.
Accordingly, in order to build the region into the one which will develop in a dynamic, rapid and sustainable manner, the Master plan targets on the region’s GDP in 2020 will be around 2.2 times the figure in 2010, per-capita GDP will reach around VND 53 million (USD 2,500) by 2020, equal to around 76% of the country’s per-capita GDP; the economic growth rate will reach 7.5%/year during 2011- 2015 and 9%/year during 2016-2020.
According to the Master plan, the economic structure of the region will move towards intensive development, focusing on tapping comparative advantages of the region; the proportions of industries and