Legal News brief September 2022
1) Residence in Industrial and Economic Zone provided by the Decree 35
Decree 35/2022/NĐ-CP dated May 28th, 2022, on the management of Industrial Park and Economic Zones has been announced notable points in the previous Newsletter edition. In which, the regulation on residence in Industrial Park and Economic Zones is one of the most interesting topics of the Enterprises, we would like to elaborate on this regulation as below:
“Article 25. Registered or unregistered short stay within Industrial Parks
1. Registered or unregistered short stay shall be accepted at industrial parks without permanent residences as per law on residence.
2. Professionals and employees may be granted permission for registered or unregistered short stay at industrial parks to work for enterprises.
3. Accommodation establishments must be built on the area of land intended for services of industrial parks; must ensure conformance to environmentally safe distance requirements set out in law on construction and other relevant regulatory provisions; must ensure conformance to social security and peace requirements and none of adverse impacts on production and business activities of enterprises inside the perimeter of industrial parks.
Therefore, Employees (including Vietnamese and expats) are allowed to register or unregister short stay make temporary stay and residence in the Industrial Zone inside the planned area as the service portion of the zone. Contrary to the definition of “permanent residence”, “stay” refers to the fact that a citizen’s state of living at a location for less than 30 days. Kindly refer to below table for more detailed information:
Decree 35 (new Decree) | Decree 82 (old Decree) | |
Subject of stay | - Experts, employees (the Vietnamese and foreigners) | - Only Experts, foreigners working/investing in the Economic Zone |
Period | - Stay (less than 30 days) - Temporary residence | - Permanent residence (stable, no time limit) - Temporary residence |
Residential area | - The service area of the industrial zone | - No regulation |
At the moment, there have been no specific guidelines on this particle issue, the information above is for reference purpose only based on our knowledge and analysis. For more details on this regulation, please refer to Decree 35/2022/NĐ-CP.
2) New points on VAT refund for investment projects
The Government promulgated the Decree No. 49/2022/NĐ-CP amending the Decree No. 209/2013/NĐ-CP guiding VAT Law amended and supplemented in accordance with the Decree No. 12/2015/NĐ-CP, Decree No. 100/2016/NĐ-CP and Decree No. 146/2017/NĐ-CP on 29/07/2022.
Thereby, the Decree supplemented regulations on:
- VAT calculation for of real estate transfer.
- VAT calculation for power generation of Viet Nam Electricity.
- Calculation method of VAT for business activities, business households who have not implemented or fully implemented the accounting regimes, invoices, vouchers as stipulated under the Law.
- VAT refund for investment project.
- VAT refund for investment projects of conditional business establishments and lines of business. ….
Refer to the Decree for detailed information, this document will come into force as of 12/09/2022.
2) Reduction of environmental protection tax on gasoline and oil from 11/7/2022
General Department of Taxation issued the Official Letter No. 12/CĐ-TCT dated 08/7/2022 on application of environmental protection tax on gasoline, oil, grease and lubricant under the Resolution No. 20/2022/UBTVQH15 .
Specifically, the environmental protection tax on gasoline, oil, grease and lubricant from 11/07/2022 to the end of 31/12/2022 as follows:
- Gasoline (except for ethanol): 1,000 dong/liter.
- Aviation fuel: 1,000 dong/liter.
- Diesel oil: 500 dong/liter.
- Kerosene: 300 dong/liter;
- Fuel oil: 300 dong/liter;
- Grease: 300 dong/liter;
- Lubricant: 300 dong/kg.
3) Reduction of 10% preferential import tax rate on gasoline
This is prescribed under the Decree No. 51/2022/NĐ-CP amending the preferential import tax on gasoline products in the Group 27.10 of the Preferential Import Tariff according to the List of taxable goods attached to the Government’s Decree No. 57/2020/NĐ-CP.
Accordingly, the import tax rate for unleaded motor gasoline (under HS code from 2710.12.21 to 2710.12.29) is adjusted from 20% to 10%. (Currently, Decree No. 57/2020/NĐ-CP stipulates that the preferential import tax rate for this item is 20%).
Decree No. 51/2022/NĐ-CP came into force as of 08/8/2022.
4) Vietnam amends intellectual property law
In National Assembly’s third session of recent June, the National Assembly has issued some new regulations including the adjustment of the Intellectual Property Law 2022. The amendments introduce changes to areas such as industrial property, copyrights, and the enforcement of intellectual property. The changes aim to put the law closer in line with international best practices.
The amendments to the law reflect Vietnam’s commitment to accede to several international agreements in recent years. Namely, the amendments address requirements stipulated by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
The amendments, which change dozens of articles in the law, will take effect on January 1, 2023. The law first came into force in 2005 and was previously amended by Vietnamese lawmakers in 2009 and 2019.