Enterprise code (instead of names and addresses) of a manufacturer or importer should be mandatory labelling content for goods circulated in Vietnamese market

Under the Enterprise Law 2020, each company in Vietnam has an unique enterprise code (mã số doanh nghiệp) which distinguishes such company from another company. If one has the enterprise code of a company, it can easily obtain information about its latest names and addresses from the National Enterprise Information Portal. Accordingly, the goods labelling regulations should require the enterprise code of entity responsible for goods circulated in Vietnamese market (generally, “responsible entity”) to be a compulsory content of a goods label.

However, currently the goods labelling regulations do not require the enterprise code of the responsible entity to be included in the label of goods circulated in Vietnam. Instead, under Decree 43/2017 on goods labelling, the labels of goods circulated in Vietnamese market must contain the name and addresses of the responsible entity. This requirement could cause significant inconvenience for the responsible entity especially those in FMCG sector, when it changes its name or address.

NEW LAW ON CONSUMER PROTECTION

On 20 June 2023, the National Assembly issued a new Law on Consumer Protection, which will replace the Law on Consumer Protection 2010 from 1 July 2024. In this post, we will discuss some key points of the Law on Consumer Protection 2023.

Please download to read full PDF version Here.

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Direct Power Purchase Agreement in Vietnam – The basics

In the newly issued Power Development Plan VIII (PDP VIII), the direct power purchase agreement (DPPA) mechanism is said to be implemented on a pilot basis. The DPPA mechanism could offer an alternative for renewable energy projects to sell electric energy. However, PDP VIII stops short of providing broad strokes of what the DPPA mechanism will look like. That said, before the PDP VIII was issued, in 2022, a draft decision of the Prime Minister (Draft Decision) on a pilot scheme (Pilot Scheme) for the DPPA mechanism was circulated for public opinion collection. Such a scheme offers a look into the possible structure of the DPPA mechanism under PDP VIII. In this article, we will discuss the basic structure of the DPPA mechanism and some key points in a DPPA.

Under the Pilot Scheme, the DPPA mechanism is financial/synthetic DPPA and works as follows:

1. the renewable energy generator will enter into a DPPA in the form of a forward contract (hợp đồng kỳ hạn) with a customer, under which the customer will guarantee a fixed price for the energy produced by the renewable energy project (see 3) and in return, the generator will transfer the “environmental attributes” created by the project to the customer;

2. though the name DPPA suggests there is a sale of electric energy between the generator and the customer, under the DPPA mechanism, the generator won’t physically deliver electric energy to the customer; that is why it is called financial/synthetic DPPA. Instead, the generator will sell all of the generated electric energy to EVN in the wholesale electricity market under a template power purchase agreement provided in the Draft Decision. The power companies of EVN will then sell electric energy to the customer at retail prices. Such electric energy may not necessarily come from the project.

Comments on Draft Law on Telecom in Vietnam

In this post, we provide our comments to the draft Law on Telecom provided to us recently. The comments are prepared by Nguyen Quang Vu and Trinh Phuong Thao.

1. Data center services and cloud computing services should be excluded from Law on Telecom

Position under the draft Law on Telecom

The draft Law on Telecom:

considers data center services and cloud computing services to be telecommunication services;
requires onshore providers of data center services and cloud computing services to obtain a telecom license; and
requires offshore providers of cross-border data center services and cloud computing services to sign a contract with a Vietnamese telecommunication service provider or to set up a representative office in Vietnam.

If adopted as currently drafted, immediately when the amended Law on Telecom becomes effective:

all onshore providers of server leasing service will need to obtain a telecom license;
all onshore software providers who deliver software over the internet (e.g. Google App Store or Apple App Store) will need to obtain a telecom license;
all onshore e-commerce apps or software which operate in the model of client-server will need to obtain a telecom license; and
all offshore service providers of cross-border software, software as a services (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) or e-commerce services will need to sign a commercial contract with a Vietnamese telecommunication service provider or establish a representative office in Vietnam.

Vietnam Business Law