LEGAL NEWSLETTER MARCH 2023

LEGAL NEWSLETTER

March 2023

Dear Valued Clients and Partners,

ADK Vietnam Lawyers would like to introduce to you the March 2023 Legal Newsletter with the following main contents:

1. Legal Spotlight

1.1 Enterprises can now modify bond terms and conditions

On March 05, 2023, the Government issued Decree No. 08/2023/ND-CP amendments to and suspension of some articles of decrees prescribing private placement and trading of privately placed corporate bonds in domestic market and offering of corporate bonds in international market (hereinafter referred to as "Decree 08/2023/ND-CP").

Previously, under Decree 65/2022/ND-CP, enterprises were not allowed to change the term of the issued bonds. However, under Decree 08/2023/ND-CP, changing the conditions and terms of the bonds will be allowed but must ensure the following principles:

(i) Compliance with Article 1.3 of Decree 65/2022/NĐ-CP must be ensured;

(ii) As defined in the issuance plan disclosed to investors, the initial maturity of bonds may be extended by up to 02 years;

(iii) The issuer shall negotiate with the bondholder that does not accept changes in terms and conditions of the bond to ensure investors' rights and benefits. If the bondholder refuses negotiation, the issuer shall perform all obligations to the bondholder according to the issuance plan disclosed to investors (even if changes in terms and conditions of the bond have been accepted by bondholders representing at least 65% of total bonds).

Decree 08/2023/ND-CP takes effect from the date of signing

1.2 Issuing solutions to resolve the Real Estate market

On March 11, 2023, the Government issued Resolution No.33/NQ-CP on certain solutions to resolve difficulties and promote the real estate market to develop safely, healthily, and sustainably (hereinafter referred to as "Resolution No.33/NQ-CP"). The issuance of Resolution No.33/NQ-CP has helped the real estate market overcome some difficulties and brought about many positive signals.

Accordingly, Resolution 33/NQ-CP has focused on addressing the following issues:

(i) Institutional improvement: Resolution 33/NQ-CP has required agencies to study, develop and finalize decrees related to the implementation of Law on Land, Law on Investment, decrees related to the management of the Ministry of Construction, etc. At the same time, the Resolution has focused on resolving ongoing projects to complete them soon, creating supply for the market;

(ii) Credit capital: Resolution 33/NQ-CP also enables businesses, home buyers and investors to access credit sources quickly; take appropriate handling measures for difficult real estate businesses (such as rescheduling principal, interest, restructuring debt groups, etc.);

(iii) Promoting social housing development: To support capital for social housing development, it is proposed to implement a credit program of about VND 120,000 billion (equivalent to about 12% of capital needs to promote the achievement of the goal of completing at least 1 million social housing apartments, workers' housing in the period 2021-2030) to lend to investors and homebuyers of social housing and workers' housing projects with a lower interest rate of about 1.5 - 2% of the average mid-term and long-term VND lending interest rate of state-owned commercial banks;

(iv) Corporate bond capital: Direct and guide the capital mobilization (including bond issuance) of real estate enterprises on the stock market and control the capital mobilization of real estate enterprises on the stock market to avoid speculation, manipulation and overpricing. Besides, enable enterprises (with sufficient capacity, financially healthy business) to mobilize capital for their recovery and development.

Resolution 33/NQ-CP takes effect from that date of signing (March 11, 2023).

1.3 Prescribing Rules Of Origin ASEAN-JAPAN

On December 23, 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular No. 37/2022/TT-BCT on prescribing rules of origin under the ASEAN-japan comprehensive economic partnership (AJCEP) (hereinafter referred to as "Circular No. 37/2022/TT-BCT").

Circular No. 37/2022/TT-BCT has the following notable points:

(i) The Circular provides that a good qualify as an originating good of a Party if it is wholly obtained or produced entirely in the Party; satisfies the requirements in cases where non-originating materials are used; is produced entirely in the Party exclusively from originating materials of one or more of the Parties;

(ii) In addition, the Circular also specifies the goods that are entitled to preferential import tariffs when they meet the regulations and are directly transported from the exporting member country to the importing member country.

Circular No. 37/2022/TT-BCT takes effect from March 01, 2023

2. Some prominent legal instruments take effect from February 2023

No.

Name of legal instrument

Date of Issue

Date of Effective

LAW

Law on prevention of money laundering of the National Assembly No. 14/2022/QH15.

15/11/2023

01/03/2023

DECREE

Decree 02/2023/ND-CP on elaborating certain articles of the law on water resources

01/02/2023

20/03/2023

CIRCULAR

Circular 04/2023/TT-BTC on guidelines for management, collection and use of funding for organization of festivals and religious donations or grants for relic sites and festivities

19/01/2023

19/03/2023

Circular 01/2023/TT-BXD on guidelines for management, collection and use of funding for organization of festivals and religious donations or grants for relic sites and festivities

16/01/2023

Circular No. 37/2022/TT-BCT on prescribing rules of origin under the asean-japan comprehensive economic partnership

23/12/2022

01/03/2023

We hope this Legal Newsletter has a lot of useful information.

Best Regards.

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