On August 21, 2019, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular 55/2019 / TT-BTC guiding the handing over of debts and excluded assets when transforming state enterprise.
This Circular provides for the principle of handing over, receiving debts and eliminating assets as follows:
– Debts and assets transferred and received must ensure sufficient documents (for debts) and in kind (for properties). In case the debt does not have sufficient documents and the property is no longer in kind, the Debt Managment Company shall send a written request to the owner representative agency and the business notify the reason for not accepting the enterprise to continue managing, monitoring or handling according to the current regulations on business ownership transformation.
– To be implemented based on the decision to announce the enterprise value of the owner representative agency in accordance with the law on enterprise ownership transformation. This decision must specify the value of the debt and the excluded assets, as a basis for the debt repayment Fair to receive.
– In case the owner representative agency decides to announce the adjustment of enterprise value:
a) If the enterprise has not signed a Handover Agreement of debts and excluded assets with Debt Managment Company, then hand over debts and excluded assets according to the decision on announcement of value adjustment. enterprise.
b) If the enterprise has signed Handover Agreement and assets excluded from Debt Managment Company under the decision on corporate value announcement, the owner representative agency shall issue a written request to the debt financing agency to notify the current status of the excluded debts and assets. received under Handover Agreement according to the criteria: processed, withdrawn and not yet processed, revoked before announcing the decision to adjust the enterprise value.
– The owner representative agency, Debt Managment Company and enterprises must prepare Handover Agreement, with the signatures of the parties. The owner representative agency may authorize (in writing) the Chairman of Member’s Counsil/ Director/Enterprtise’s representative according to the law of the enterprise with the debt and the excluded assets to hand over to the debt financing agency.
– Debt Managment Company inherits all rights and obligations of creditors and property owners as prescribed from the signing date of Handover Agreement, and the enterprise is responsible for informing debtors and relevant agencies of the transfer of rights creditors to Debt Managment Company of commercial banks (within 10 days),
– For debts and excluded assets received under the designation of the Prime Minister (if any), owner representative agency, Debt Managment Company and enterprises shall hand over, receive and handle debts and assets as for with debt, assets excluded from the value of the converted enterprise ownership and in accordance with the direction of the Prime Minister. In case of any problems, Debt Managment Company report to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and settlement of rights or report to the Prime Minister for decision.
– Enterprises shall handle financially for debts and excluded assets according to the provisions of law for each form of ownership arrangement and conversion.
On August 30, 2019, the Ministry of Health issued Circular 24/2019 / TT-BYT on management and use of food additives. The circular officially takes effect from October 16, 2019.
Accordingly, the use of food additive must adhere to the following four basic principles:
1. Must ensure:
Food additive is allowed to use and the right food object;
Do not exceed the maximum level of use for a food or food group;
Minimize the amount of Food additive needed to achieve the desired technical efficiency.
2. Only used if the use has achieved the desired effect but does not pose a risk to human health, does not deceive consumers and only satisfies one or more functions of Food additive.
3. Food additive must meet technical requirements and food safety according to the prescribed documents;
4. In addition to Food additive in food due to its use in food production, Food additive may also be in food by being brought in from raw materials or ingredients to produce food that already contains Food additive and must comply with Article 9 of this Circular.
The above regulation creates a clearer legal corridor in the management and use of food additives, quality assurance of additives, food safety, and consumer health in the context of food spills in the present today.
On July 11, 2019, the Government issued Decree 62/2019 / ND-CP amending Decree 35/2015 / ND-CP on management and use of rice cultivation land. This Decree takes effect from September 1, 2019.
Accordingly, the conditions for conversion from rice cultivation land to annual crops are one of the contents adjusted in Decree 62/2019 / ND-CP amending Decree 35/2015 / ND-CP on management and Using rice land.
The new Decree clearly stipulates the conditions for changing from rice cultivation to annual crops, perennial crops or rice cultivation combined with aquaculture, specifically as follows:
– Do not lose the right conditions to grow rice again; no pollution, degradation of rice land; not damaging traffic works, irrigation works in service of rice cultivation;
– Conforming with the plan of changing crop structure from rice cultivation to annual crops, perennial crops or rice cultivation in combination with aquaculture on rice land of the commune level, ensuring publicity and transparency;
– In case of rice cultivation combined with aquaculture, it is allowed to use up to 20% of the rice land area to lower the ground for aquaculture; the depth of the ground must not be lower than 120 cm when it is necessary to restore the ground to re-grow the rice;
– Conversion of crop structure from rice cultivation to perennial crop cultivation must be organized by regions, in order to form concentrated production zones and effectively exploit available infrastructure; in accordance with the orientation of perfecting infrastructure for local agricultural production;
Decree No. 62/2019 / ND-CP applies to rice cultivation land, based on the conversion of land structure, the adjustment of regulations on rice land is necessary to focus on development in the regions. Certainly, to form concentrated production areas aiming at agricultural development goals of each locality in particular and the whole country in general.
On September 16, 2019, the State Auditor General issued Decision No. 03/2019 / QD-KTNN on the responsibility to send financial statements, budget settlement reports to the State Audit Office of the units. be audited. Decision 03/2019 / QD-KTNN takes effect from October 31, 2019. Whereby:
Budget estimating units of level I shall send the State budget revenue and expenditure settlement reports to the SAV before October 1 of the following year.
Provincial People’s Committee:
Send the local budget settlement report to the SAV before October 1 of the following year;
Send local budget finalization to SAV within 05 working days from the date on which the provincial People’s Council approves;
The Ministry of Finance sends the State budget settlement report to the SAV within 14 months after the end of the budget year.
State enterprises, parent companies, state corporations holding dominant shares:
Ending the fiscal year, preparing and sending a financial statement, a statement of budget revenues and expenditures within its management to the SAV within 90 days from the end of the annual accounting period;
In cases where there are other provisions on the time of preparing and issuing financial statements, reports on final settlement of budget revenues and expenditures, they shall be sent to the SAV after the time of elaboration and issuance according to separate regulations.
In summary, the promulgation of Decision 03/2019 / QD-KTNN creates a clear legal corridor for units to grasp the implementation, creating unity and efficiency in the state management.
On August 8, 2019, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular 48/2019 / TT-BTC guiding the setting up and handling of reserve fund at enterprises. Circular 48/2019 / TT-BTC (hereinafter referred to as “Circular”) takes effect from 10 October 2019. This Circular expires 03 previous Circulars: Circular 228/2009 / TT-BTC, Circular 34/2011 / TT-BTC, Circular 89/2013 / TT-BTC.
Regarding payment of reserve fund for the losses of financial investments, enterprises will not be allowed to set up risk provisions for outward investments, only risk for domestic financial investments. Specifically:
– In Clause 4, Article 3 of the Circular stipulates: “Article 3. General principles in setting up provisions: … 4. Enterprises do not set up risk provisions for offshore investments. ”
– At Point a, Clause 1, Article 5 of the Circular stipulates: “1. Securities investments: a) Objectives of making provisions are securities issued by domestic economic organizations in accordance with the law on securities owned by enterprises at the time of making financial statements. in the year, the company satisfies the following conditions: – Being listed or registered for trading on the domestic stock market that enterprises are investing; – Is a securities freely traded in the market and at the time of preparing the financial statement, the actual stock price in the market is lower than the value of securities investment recorded in the accounting book. ”
From the above analysis, it shows that Circular No. 48/2019 / TT-BTC has brought significant values to Vietnamese enterprises, helping Vietnamese enterprises to solve a lot of difficulties in settling payments. The revenue is directly related to the amount of corporate income tax payable, especially there are more specific and feasible provisions for the reserve fund for doubtful debts. In addition, this Circular has unified all previous regulations which are scattered in many different documents related to deduction for reserve fund for devaluation of inventory, loss of investments, doubtful debts and warranty of products, goods, services and construction works at the enterprise, which creates favorable conditions for enterprises to grasp, understand and apply this provision on reality. Therefore, this Circular is a solid basis for many enterprises to minimize risks and maximize profits in their business processes.
On August 15, 2019, the Government issued Decree 69/2019 / ND-CP stipulating the use of public assets to pay investors when implementing construction investment projects in the form of Build – Transfer Contract (B-T Project). This Decree takes effect from October 1, 2019.
Accordingly, Article 5 of Decree 69/2019 / ND-CP stipulates the land fund used to pay investors to implement BT projects, specifically:
1. The land fund shall be paid to investors in the form of land allocation with land use levy payment or land rental with full one-off rental payment for the entire lease term in accordance with the land law.
2. The land fund to be paid to investors is land without land clearance or land which has been completed for site clearance, ensuring the following provisions:
a) Land is subject to land use plannings and plans approved by competent state agencies.
b) The land recovery for the land fund paid to the investors implementing BT projects must comply with the land law.
c) In case the land fund that has been used for site clearance has been paid to the investor to execute a BT project, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision before deciding on the owner. Investment project.
On that basis, the competent state agency shall select the land fund to be paid to the investor to ensure that the value of the land fund expected to be paid is equivalent to the value of the approved BT project, of which:
– When signing a BT contract, if the actual value of the land fund cannot be determined, the estimated equivalent land fund value determined at the time of signing the BT contract is equal to (=) the expected land area (x) with Land price according to new purpose of use on the Land Price List issued by the provincial People’s Committee (x) with the Land price adjustment coefficient to calculate land use levy or land rent issued by the provincial People’s Committee.
– When a competent state agency issues a decision on land allocation or land lease, the value of the paid land fund shall be determined in accordance with Article 6 of this Decree.
In summary, the issuance of Decree 69/2019 / ND-CP has created an important legal basis for the implementation of Build – Transfer Contracts, which is a premise to encourage the Investing in the nation’s infrastructure construction activities as well as promoting the development of the economy.
On October 8, 2019, the Prime Minister issued Decision 30/2019 promulgating the Regulation on building, managing and implementing the Vietnam National Brand Program. Accordingly, the organization of selecting products with Vietnam national brand is organized every 2 years in even years. The procedure are as follows:
Step 1: The enterprise submits 03 sets of registration documents to the Ministry of Industry and Trade before March 31 of the selected year in one of the following ways:
– By post;
– Directly at the headquarters of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;
– Online public service portal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
In particular, the dossier includes:
– Application for participation in selection;
– A copy of Notice of tax authority confirming that the enterprise has fulfilled its tax obligations for 02 consecutive years before the year of selection;
– A copy of social insurance agency’s notice of the enterprise’s social insurance premium payment results for 2 consecutive years before the year of selection;
– A copy of the valid collective labor agreement registered at the labor state management agency;
– A copy of the periodical report on the results of environmental observation as prescribed by law for 2 consecutive years before the year of selection;
– Copy of audited financial statement for 02 consecutive years before the year of selection;
– A valid copy of the quality papers of the selected registration product;
– Copy of ISO 14001, ISO 22000, ISO 17025, SA 8000, OHSAS 18001, HACCP, GMP, VietGap, Global Gap certificates and copies of regular or regular assessment assessment records (if any);
– Copy of Certificate of awards for quality, brand reputation (if any).
Step 2: Within 7 working days after receiving the enterprise’s dossier, in case the dossier is incomplete as prescribed, the program management agency shall notify in writing to the enterprise for supplementation. Additional and complete records. Enterprises are responsible to submit additional documents before May 1 of the selected year.
Step 3: Before September 30 of the year of selection, the Program management agency announces the results of selection of products of Vietnam National Brand to enterprises.
The selection results are valid for 02 years from the day the Minister of Industry and Trade issues the decision to recognize the list of products with the Vietnamese National Brand.
Decision 30/2019 takes effect from December 1, 2019. The provisions on the organization of selection of products with Vietnam national brand name in this Decision 30/2019 contribute to promoting the development of foreign trade, promoting the national image and national brand of Vietnam through products. Vietnam National Brand.
On 26 September 2019, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 75/2019/ND-CP on administrative sanction in terms of competition laws. This Decree comes into effect and replaces Decree No. 71/2014/ND-CP from 01 December 2019.
Decree No. 75/2019/ND-CP provides several new regulations in comparison to its predecessor, in particular:
Maximum fine level for violations of regulations on anti-competitive agreement, abuse of dominant market position and abuse of monopoly position.
Decree No. 75/2019/ND-CP does not change the maximum fine level of 10% of the total revenue in the fiscal year preceding the violation year of violating enterprise.
However, the Decree further provides that this maximum fine could not exceed the minimum fine specified in Criminal Code 2015 (amended and supplemented in 2017). According to this Criminal Code, the minimum fine level is VND 1,000,000,000 or 3,000,000,000 depending on the violation form and the extent of arisen damage.
Maximum fine level for violations of economic concentration regulations.
Decree No. 71/2014/ND-CP provides that the maximum fine level for economic concentration regulations is 10% of the total revenue in the fiscal year preceding the violation year of violating enterprise while Decree No. 75/2019/ND-CP stipulates another fine level of 5%.
Determination of a specific fine in case the violating enterprises in the relevant market has revenue of zero in the fiscal year preceding the year of violating.
It is true that violating enterprise might not have any revenue in the fiscal year preceding the year of violating. Therefore, Decree 75/2019/ND-CP has solved this problem that its predecessor overlooked. In particular, the new Decree stipulates that the fine in this case will range from VND 100,000,000 to VND 200,000,000.
Decree No. 75/2019/ND-CP sets out many detailed regulations about maximum fines for competition law violation, contributing to prior assessment of financial risk (i.e fines) of enterprises when they conducts competitive practices in the market.