news

• Foreign, domestic investors vs. business rights

  May 03, 2014

  The drafts of the amendments to the Investment Law and the Enterprise Law still fail to eliminate the discrimination between foreign investors/ entrepreneurs and domestic counterparts.

  At a workshop held to solicit feedback on the draft forms of the amended Investment Law and Enterprise Law in mid-March, the provisions which favor domestic businesses over their foreign counterparts as well as the concept of foreign investment came under close scrutiny.
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• In search of unity and equality

  May 03, 2014

  In this article, a law expert points out discrepancies in the definitions of “foreign investors” in the enterprises law and the investment law as well as their bylaws, which have resulted in unequal treatment of foreign entrepreneurs.

  In the Enterprise Law 2005 and the Investment Law 2005, the definitions of “foreign investors” or “foreign-invested enterprises” are rather identical with each other. At the time of promulgation, many opined that Vietnam had created a legal environment which was uniform and equal for different categories of enterprises and investment sources. However, a short time later on, such a spirit of uniformity gradually faded away.
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• Free-of-charge export consulting

  May 03, 2014

  Through the support of some American companies, Vietnamese exporters for the first time have a chance to receive advice free of charge to sharpen their competitiveness and find ways out for their products. However, only enterprises meeting the program’s criteria are shortlisted.

  A seminar on raising Vietnamese enterprises’ accessibility to regional and international market in the backdrop of integration into the global supply chain was held on April 22 in HCMC by the U.S. – ASEAN Business Council (USABC) and the ASEAN Connectivity through Trade and Investment (ACTI).
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• Vietnam – ASEAN Trade: Tepid growth

  May 03, 2014

  Growth in trade between Vietnam and other ASEAN countries had decelerated in recent years although tariff barriers have gradually been lifted since the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) came into force on May 17, 2010.

  In the first three months, Vietnam’s exports to other ASEAN markets totaled US$4.5 billion, an increase of only 2.2& year-on-year, according to the General Department of Customs.

  This was true not only in the first quarter of this year. The same has happened over the past two years when trade between Vietnam and other ASEAN countries has witnessed a sluggish growth. Particularly, Vietnam – ASEAN trade growth rate was 19.4% in 2010 and 28.8% in 2011, but then it dwindled to 9.4% in 2012 and 3.5% in 2013.
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• MPI fights for investment barrier removal

  May 03, 2014

  The Ministry of Planning and Investment has had to engage in a “tough fight” with other ministries and sectors in an effort to create a better business environment.

  In his presentation of the draft of the revised Investment Law to the National Assembly’s (NA) Standing Committee last week, Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh said tere are 330 industries and trades in the category of conditional investment with complex procedural requirements. To reduce these conditional investment areas, the ministry had to face an “fierce battle” with relevant ministries as these areas are associated with their appraisal, licensing and inspection powers. “To create a fresh investment wave and support economic recovery, we have had to face a tough battle with other ministries and sectors,” Vinh admitted in the local media.
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• Google slapped with antitrust suit, accused of stagnating competition with Android MADA contracts

  May 01, 2014

  A class-action lawsuit filed against Google on Thursday claims the company used Android’s Mobile Application Distribution Agreements (MADA) to extend an alleged monopoly over Internet and mobile search.

  According to law firm Hagens Berman, who filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of two plaintiffs and Android handset owners, Google’s MADA restrictions tamp down competition and thus inflate the cost of smartphones running the mobile operating system. In addition, the complaint says market competition would have improved search capabilities.
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• Japan may stop Vietnamese shrimp imports

  April 30, 2014

  HA NOI – Japanese businesses are planning to import shrimp from India and Indonesia instead of Viet Nam, due to the excessively high levels of oxytetracycline (OTC) in Vietnamese shrimp.

  According to the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the decision was made due to the excessively high levels of OTC that were continuing to be detected in Vietnamese shrimp shipments, despite prior warnings and the public knowledge that virtually all Vietnamese shrimp exports were being tested for the antibiotic.
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• Vietnam requires dairy firms to set annual price caps

  April 30, 2014

  Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved a Finance Ministry plan, Tuesday, designed to impose one-year price caps on children’s dairy products, after researchers reported the major firms had implemented price hikes in spite of huge profits.

  A ministry report released at a government meeting said that after raising their profits an average of 23 percent last year, the five largest dairy firms Mead Johnson, Nestlé, FrieslandCampina Vietnam, Vinamilk and 3A Nutrition JSC (a distributor) raised prices by up to 30 percent per product since last December.
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