Under Article 27 of Decree 80/2024 on mechanism for direct sale and purchase of renewable energy with large electricity customers, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) will be entitled to suspend or terminate a Direct Power Purchase Agreement (DPPA) if there is an “act of taking advantage of the mechanism, policy for making profit”. For termination, the consequences of such act needs to be irremediable and the MOIT will need to obtain opinion from related authorities (presumably from the Ministry of Public Security). Any large customer or any renewable energy producer enters into a DPPA w ..read more

Since 2019, Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) has operated a website to publish information on private corporate bonds (Private Bond Information Website). Currently, on the Private Bond Information Website, several outstanding private bonds issued under Decree 153/2020, which have reached maturity but have not been repaid by the relevant issuers, are marked as “cancelled” (bị hủy) by HNX (the Cancelled Bonds). This classification by HNX raises several issues as discussed below. Legal status of the Cancelled Bonds One may argue that HNX’s announcement of the Cancelled Bonds implies that the Cancelled ..read more

In the modern day, signing of contracts is increasingly done through the creation and exchange of pdf copies of the agreed contract by the relevant parties instead of physically signing and exchanging hard copy documents. Previously, the Law on Electronic Transactions 2005 allows the parties to have substantial flexibility in agreeing on how contracts can be signed by way of creating and exchanging pdf copies. However, from 1 July 2024, several new provisions under the Law on Electronic Transaction 2023 (LET 2023) could affect how the parties could sign a contract via the creation and exchange ..read more

On 15 May 2024, a new Decree on non-cash payments has been passed by the Government (Decree 52/2024) to replace the old Decree 101/ND-CP of the Government on non-cash payment dated 22 November 2012 (Decree 101/2012) from 1 July 2024. In this post, we will introduce certain key changes of Decree 52/2024. Supplementing e-wallets as one of the permitted non-cash payment instruments Decree 52/2024 provides a specific definition of non-cash payment instruments which are instruments issued by organizations providing payment services, finance companies authorized to issue credit cards, intermediary p ..read more

Background Under the business cooperation contract (BCC) structure, the parties do not establish an entity but usually cooperate to use their available resources, including land use rights (LUR) to do business. The party having LUR (Landlord) will “contribute” its LUR to the BCC and allow the other party (Developer) to develop house/construction works on the land while retaining title to the LUR. Discussion Under the current land law, implementing a project involving LUR via BCC is arguably possible. However, the relevant regulations seem vague and may give rise to certain legal issues. With n ..read more

Please download the pdf version here. In this post, we compare the rights and obligations of land users being domestic economic organizations (Domestic EOs) according to Land Law 2013 and Land Law 2024. Our comparison is provided in the contexts of land allocation/land lease with one-off rental payment and land lease with annual rental payment. This post is written by Cao Khanh Linh, Nguyen Hoang Duong, and Nguyen Quang Vu. Comparison of the Rights and Obligations of Domestic Economic Organization under the Land Law 2013 and the Land Law 2024   In this post, we compare the rights and obli ..read more

The Land Law 2024 introduces major amendments to the land use regime in Vietnam. One of the most interesting new amendments is the ability of a land user who lease land from the Government with annual rental payment (such user, Annual Land User) could now sub-lease or, subject to certain conditions, sell the land (via a sub-lease or sale of the lease rights) together with the assets attached to such land to another person. Previously, most land users who pay land rental for the whole term in advance could sublease or sell its land to another person. In our opinion, if implemented properly, the ..read more

While it is common in practice for the Chief Representative of a Representative Office (RO) to act on behalf of the RO in opening and using the RO's bank account, there are instances where the parent company may wish to authorize another person (Authorized Person) to handle these matters. The key question is the validity of such authorization and whether the Chief Representative's acknowledgment of such Power of Attorney (POA) should be sought. Short answer: The authorization for the Authorized Person should originate from the RO, not the parent company. If the authorization is granted by the ..read more

In this post, we highlight some key changes to regulations on industrial zone land under the new Land Law 2024. State-owned developers Regarding areas eligible for investment incentives (those with underdeveloped socio-economic conditions) that are unable to attract private developers, the Land Law 2024 allows the State to lease or allocate land to a public-service entity (đơn vị sự nghiệp công lập) to develop industrial zones. Under the Land Law 2013, it appears that only economic organization, foreign-invested company, and Vietnamese individual residing oversea can become industrial zone ..read more

After the expiration of the preferential Feed-in Tariff (FiT) policy for solar and wind power projects in Vietnam, the energy selling price of solar and wind power plants in Vietnam will now be up to the parties’ negotiation in a power purchase agreement (PPA) but must be within the electricity generation price (EGP) bracket approved by the competent authorities. For that purpose, on 1 November 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) issued Circular 19 regulating the mechanism for establishing EGP brackets for solar and wind power plants (Circular 19). To be specific, Circular 19 regul ..read more