ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

ANT Lawyers

Vietnam Law Firm with English Speaking Lawyers

Thứ Năm, 24 tháng 5, 2018

Conditional Business Lines Under Law on Investment in Vietnam


Law on amendment and supplement to Article 6 and Annex 4 on the list of conditional business lines stipulated in the Law on Investment has been ratified by the 14th national assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the second meeting session dated November 22nd, 2016.
Accordingly, pursuant to the constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the National Assembly issues the list of conditional business lines stipulated in the Law on Investment no. 67/2014/QH13.


The enterprises which are established to operate in the area of conditional business have to comply with conditions regulated by law before conducting business operation in Vietnam.
Foreign investor if wishing to set up company in the conditional areas has to meet additional investment conditions depending on international treaties, WTO commitment by Vietnam, and other specialized laws in Vietnam.  It is advised that the foreign investor to contact Vietnam law firms to be advised on the establishment of company in Vietnam to receive the proper legal advice.
We are listing the conditional business lines for the reference below.
No.
LINES OF BUSINESS
1.
Manufacture of seals
2.
Sale (and repair) of combat gear
3.
Sale of fireworks other than firecrackers
4.
Sale of camouflaged software and equipment used for audio and video recording and positioning;
5.
Paintball gun business
6.
Sale of military equipment and military goods for the use of the armed forces, military weapons, specialized military equipment and vehicles for the use of the army and police; special military components, accessories, materials and equipment and military engineering
7.
Pawning services
8.
Massage services
9.
Sale emergency signaling devices
10.
Debt collection services
11.
Security services
12.
Fire safety services
13.
Lawyer’s practice
14.
Notary’s practice
15.
Judicial assessment in the fields of finance, banking, construction, antiques, relics, copyrights
16.
Auctioneering services
17.
Commercial arbitration services
18.
Bailiff’s practice
19.
Liquidation and safeguarding of assets of enterprises and cooperatives in the pending time of bankruptcy
20.
Accounting services
21.
Auditing services
22.
Tax agent services
23.
Customs brokerage services
24.
Sale of duty-free goods
25.
Bonded warehouse and container freight station business
26.
Premises for conducting customs procedures, customs gathering, inspection and supervision for rent.
27.
Securities trading
28.
Securities registration, depository, offsetting, and liquidation services by Vietnam Securities Depository/organizations trading in listed securities and other securities.
29.
Insurance business
30.
Reinsurance business
31.
Insurance brokerage
32.
Insurance agents
33.
Property assessment service
34.
Lottery business
35.
Casino video games for foreigners
36.
Debt trade services
37.
Ratings services
38.
Casino business
39.
Betting business
40.
Voluntary pension fund management services
41.
Oil and gas business
42.
Gas trading
43.
Manufacture and repair of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottles
44.
Commercial assessment services
45.
Sale and destruction of industrial explosives
46.
Sale of explosive precursors
47.
Industrial explosives and explosive precursors –based business
48.
Blasting services
49.
Sale of chemicals other than prohibited chemicals stipulated in the International Convention on prohibition of development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons on their destruction
50.
Alcohol business
51.
Sale of tobacco, cigarette, machinery and equipment for tobacco industries
52.
Sale of foods under the administration of the Ministry of Industry and Trade
53.
Commodity exchange operation
54.
Electricity generation, transmission, distribution, wholesale, retail, import, export and consultancy
55.
Rice export
56.
Temporary import and re-export of goods subjected to special excise duty
57.
Temporary import and export frozen foods
58.
Temporary import and re-export of goods on the List of used goods
59.
Franchising
60.
Logistics services
61.
Sale of minerals
62.
Sale of industrial precursors
63.
Commodity trading and business activities directly related to commodity trading by foreign investors and foreign-invested business entities
64.
 Multi-level marketing business
65.
E-commerce business
66.
Petroleum business
67.
Energy audit
68.
Vocational training
69.
Assessment of the quality of vocational education
70.
Occupational skill assessment services
71.
Occupational safety inspection services
72.
Occupational safety and health training
73.
Employment agencies
74.
Overseas employment services
75.
Voluntary drug detoxification services
76.
Outsourcing
77.
Road transport services
78.
Automobile maintenance
79.
Manufacture, assembly and import of automobiles
80.
Motor vehicles inspection services
81.
Driver training services
82.
Traffic safety inspector training services
83.
Driving test services
84.
Traffic safety inspection services
85.
Waterway transport services
86.
Building, repair and renovation of watercraft
87.
Inland watercraft crewmen and operator training services
88.
Training, recruitment and supply of marine crews
89.
Maritime safety services
90.
Shipping services and shipping agencies
91.
Towage services
92.
Import and demolition of used ships
93.
Building, renovation and repair of ships
94.
Seaport operation business
95.
Air transport business
96.
Design, manufacture, maintenance and testing of aircrafts, their engines, propellers, avionics and equipment thereof in Vietnam
97.
Airport operation business
98.
Aviation service at airports
99.
Air navigation services
100.
Flight crew training services
101.
Rail transport business
102.
Rail infrastructure business
103.
Urban railway business
104.
Multimodal transport
105.
Transport of dangerous goods
106.
Pipeline transport business
107.
Real estate business
108.
Provision of training in real estate brokerage and property exchange operation
109.
Provision of training in apartment building operation.
110.
Construction management consulting services
111.
Construction surveying services
112.
(Construction) design and assessment services
113.
Construction supervision services
114.
Construction services
115.
Construction activities by foreign contractors
116.
Construction cost management services
117.
Construction quality assessment services
118.
Construction experiment services
119.
Apartment building operation services
120.
Cremation facility operation services
121.
Construction planning services
122.
Urban planning consulting services provided by foreign entities
123.
Sale of white asbestos of Serpentine group
124.
Postal services
125.
Telecommunications services
126.
Certification of digital signatures
127.
Publishing
128.
Printing services, except for printing of package
129.
Publication services
130.
Social networking services
131.
Online game business
132.
Paid radio and television services
133.
News website development services
134.
Processing, recycling, repair and renovation of used IT products of foreign owners which are on the List of used IT products banned from import
135.
Provision of information via telecommunications and internets
136.
“.vn” domain name registration and maintenance services
137.
Cybersecurity products and services
138.
Civil cryptography services and products
139.
Sale of potable jamming devices
140.
Preschool education business
141.
Secondary school education business
142.
Higher education business
143.
Operation of foreign-invested education institutions, representative offices of foreign education institutions in Vietnam and branches of foreign-invested education institutions
144.
Continuing education business
145.
Operation of special schools
146.
Association in education with foreign countries
147.
Education quality assessment
148.
Overseas study consulting services
149.
Fishing
150.
Sale of aquatic products
151.
Sale of aquatic feed and animal feeds
152.
Animal feed and aquatic feed testing services
153.
Sale of biological preparations, microorganism, chemicals and environmental remediation agents used for aquaculture
154.
Building and renovation of fishing vessels
155.
Breeding, raising, artificial propagation of wild animals and plants according to CITES Appendix
156.
Breeding, raising, artificial propagation of wild, endangered and rare animals and plants according to CITES Appendix
157.
Breeding and raising of normal wild animals
158.
Export, import, re-export, transit and introduction of marine specimens stipulated in CITES Appendix
159.
Export, import and re-export of specimens bred, raised and artificially propagated according to CITES Appendix
160.
Sale of forest animals and plants restricted from use for commercial purposes
161.
Sale of plant protection products
162.
Processing of items subjected to undergo plant quarantine
163.
Pesticide testing services
164.
Plant protection services
165.
Sale of veterinary medicines, vaccines, biological preparations, microorganisms and chemicals used in veterinary medicine
166.
Veterinary technical services
167.
Animal testing and surgery
168.
Provision of vaccination, diagnosis, prescription, treatment and healthcare services for animals
169.
Veterinary medicine testing and assay (including veterinary medicines, aquatic veterinary medicines, biological preparations, microorganisms and chemicals used for veterinary medicines, aquatic veterinary medicines)
170.
Concentrated husbandry
171.
Slaughtering
172.
Sale of foods under the administration of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
173.
Animals and animal product quarantine services
174.
Sale of fertilizers
175.
Fertilizer testing services
176.
Sale of plant varieties and animal breeds
177.
Sale of aquatic breeds
178.
Testing of plant varieties and animal breeds
179.
Aquatic breed testing services
180.
Testing and assay of biological preparations, microorganism, chemicals and environmental remediation agents used for aquaculture
181.
Sale of genetically modified products
182.
Medical treatment and examination
183.
HIV testing services
184.
Tissue banking services
185.
Reproduction assistance, sperm and embryo cryopreservation
186.
Testing of microorganisms causing infectious diseases
187.
Vaccination
188.
Opioid substitution therapy
189.
Plastic surgery
190.
Surrogacy service
191.
Pharmaceutical business
192.
Cosmetics production
193.
Sale of chemicals, pesticides, germicides for the use in medical appliances
194.
Sale of foods under the administration of the Ministry of Health
195.
Sale of medical equipment
196.
Medical equipment classification services
197.
Medical equipment testing services
198.
Appraisal of intellectual property (including appraisal of the copyrights and others relevant, appraisal of industrial properties and plant breeder’s rights)
199.
Radiological services
200.
Assistance in application of atomic energy
201.
Assessment of conformity
202.
Testing, calibration and inspection of measuring instruments and measurement standards
203.
Manufacture of biker helmets
204.
Technology assessment and evaluation services
205.
Intellectual property presentation services
206.
Film production and distribution
207.
Antique appraisal services
208.
Development of project planning, construction, project supervision, maintenance, renovation and restoration of relics
209.
Karaoke and nightclub business
210.
Travel services
211.
Sport business and professional sport clubs
212.
Business involving art and fashion shows, model contests and beauty pageants
213.
Sale of art performance video and audio recording
214.
Accommodation services
215.
Advertising
216.
Trading in national relics, antiques and treasures
217.
Export of relics and antiques other than those under the ownerships of the Government, political organizations and political-social organizations; import of cultural products under the administration of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
218.
Museum services
219.
Video game business (other than casino video games for foreigners and online casino video games)
220.
Land assessment and survey consulting services
221.
Land use planning services
222.
Information technology infrastructure and land information software system development services
223.
Land database development services
224.
Land pricing services
225.
Geodesic and cartographic services
226.
Meteorological and hydrological forecasting services
227.
Groundwater drilling and exploration services
228.
Extraction and use of water resources, discharge of wastewater into water sources
229.
Basic survey and consulting services for preparation of water resource planning, schemes and reports
230.
Mineral exploration
231.
Mineral extraction
232.
Transport and treatment of hazardous wastes
233.
Import of scraps
234.
Environmental monitoring services
235.
Sale of biological preparations from waste treatment
236.
Commercial bank business operations
237.
Non-credit institution business operations
238.
Business operations of cooperatives, people’s credit funds and microfinance institutions
239.
Payment intermediary services
240.
Credit information services
241.
Foreign exchange activities by non-credit institutions
242.
Gold trading
243.
Money printing and minting




Thứ Tư, 23 tháng 5, 2018

Preferential Policies When Investing in DaNang Hi-Tech Park


Danang has been growing to become attractive destination for investment due to favourable conditions offered by the city administration to bring foreign investor investing into hi-tech park.


Danang is one of the five large cities of Vietnam and is the key economic hub of Central Vietnam. The location of Danang is one of the important gateway to the sea of the Central Highlands and Laos, Cambodia and Thailand to the Northeast Asia countries through the East-West Economic Corridor, and located in one of the international sea routes and air routes. Danang has a geographic location that is particularly conducive to rapid and sustainable development.
Danang Hi-tech Park was established in accordance with Decision No.1979/QD-TTg dated October 28th2010, after two Hi-tech Parks in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with the hope of developing the science and technology of Da Nang, the Central Region and Central Highlands of Vietnam. Covering an area of 1,129.76 hectares and the infrastructure is gradually being completed with production areas, research and development, training and nursery enterprises, administrative management, housing, logistics, logistics and high- tech services. Da Nang Hi-tech Park is expected to be the attractive place where domestic and foreign investors favourable infrastructure and incentives. Danang Hi-tech Park shall give priority to the setting up of company in high-tech areas i.e. bio-technology for agriculture, fisheries and health; microelectronics, mechatronics and optoelectronics, automation and precision engineering; information technology, communication, informatics software; petrochemical service technology. Danang is a priority city for the development of environmentally friendly industries and services, therefore investors will not be allowed to trade in industries that threaten to pollute the environment and affect national security or industries using obsolete technologies.
In addition to the infrastructure development, Danang also offers investment incentives to attract domestic and foreign investors to invest in Danang Hi-tech Park such as Decision No. 36/2013/QD-UBND and most recently Decree No. 04/2018/ND-CP will take effect from February. Decree No. 04/2018/ND-CP has given great investment incentives to investors when investing in Danang Hi-tech park. Having policies to attract domestic investment and FDI, whereby investors invest in Danang Hi-tech Park will be exempted from all or part of land rent and site clearance in some specific cases. In addition, when investing in Danang Hi-tech Park, the enterprises will be entitled to corporate income tax incentives for 15 to 30 years and exemption on corporate income tax for 4 years, and reduction of 50% for 9 years later to enterprise having new investment projects. Goods imported to be fixed assets in Hi-tech Park or machinery and equipment which cannot be produced at domestic will be exempted from import tax. In addition, experts and workers who are foreigners/overseas Vietnamese working in Hi-tech park and their family members may be considered for issuance of multiple entry and exit visas with appropriate time limits for entry purposes in accordance with the laws.
The economics of Danang is growing and the special incentives have been offered to attract investment from the city administration. This is the opportunities for investors both domestic and foreigners to invest in Danang.




The Government Continues to Exempt Visas for Western European Countries


It has been announced on May 3rd, 2018 that visa exemption policy for 5 Western European countries has been extended as part of the Vietnam immigration policy to attract tourists to Vietnam. At the same time, the Government has decided to increase the exemption period from one year to three years.

Accordingly, the Government has a high consensus and the Prime Minister has decided to continue the visa exemption for five Western European countries, including England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. As previous regulation, the visa exemption will be expired at the end of June 2018. The exemption period has also increased from one year to three years.

Visa policy is considered to be an extension of the tourism industry because Vietnam is a country has strict visa policies, with only visa exemption for citizens of 24 countries, much less than other countries in the region.

For example, Indonesia exempts visas from 168 countries, Malaysia 162 countries, Singapore or the Philippines 159 countries, Thailand 57 countries. Besides that, these countries apply the policy of issuing visas at the border and electronic visas.
Western Europe is considered a high-paying group. Statistics show that the first visa exemption year (2015) has 720 thousand guests. In 2016, the number of visitors increased 16%, turnover reached 202 million.

In 2017, Western European visitors reached 1.5 million people, contributing to the record of the first-time Vietnam reaching 12.9 million international visitors.

According to many experts, if visas for these countries are not renewed, tourism industry of Vietnam will lose 20% of its visitors from large markets with a loss of several hundred million USD. However, losses will not stop there, as guests may form a habit of not coming to Vietnam.

This new immigration regulation will start from July 1st, 2018.













Thứ Hai, 21 tháng 5, 2018

Can acronyms get trademark protection?


Absolutely. Just go to  http://uspto.gov and do a trademark search for "BMW" using the TESS system and you'll see they've got numerous marks registered. The same could be done for many other acronyms: CNN, NBC, JVC, you name it -- provided they're being used as trademarks (i.e., as a designation of the unique source of products or services).


First, abbreviations can be registered just like any other trademark, provided:
(i) they are not descriptive of the goods for which they are used;
(ii) they have some significance of their own;
For example, the mark BMW does not in any way describe that the underlying good is a car, as also, the significance of it is that, it stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke. However, even without registration, you can claim rights in an abbreviation, provided you can prove that the general population recognizes the abbreviation as atra source of the goods you provide. For example, people recognized FedEx for Federal Express, Coke for Coca-cola and so on.

Second, domain names are fully within the purview of trademark law, as well. This means that if a trademark owner can prove that a registered domain name is confusingly similar to the mark in which the owner claims rights, then he has a good case against the owner of that domain. However, going to the court is always an expensive ordeal, for which reason, the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) was adopted, which gives owners of REGISTERED marks to file a complaint with Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers (ICANN) and have the infringing domain either cancelled or transferred back to the trademark owner. The latter process is very popular amongst corporations, it being more efficient and less expensive. However, the owner of the mark must prove the following in order to have either of the remedies:
 (i) that the domain name is confusingly similar to the registered mark;
 (ii) that the domain owner has no legitimate rights in the domain name;
 (iii) that the domain has been registered or used in bad faith.
 For example, if you registerwww.biemw.com, and have no other acceptable legitimate explanation as to why you registered the domain, then most likely BMW would be successful in an action against you.

Learn more about our ANT Lawyers Intellectual Property practice, its experience, and team members here. Please contact our Trademark attorneys in Vietnam  for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call us at +84 912 817 823.
Let ANT Lawyers help your business in Vietnam.


The Purposes of Using Criminal Record Card


Under Clause 1, Article 2 of the Law on Criminal Record 2009, criminal record card is the records on the previous convictions of a person that is sentenced under valid court judgments or decisions, and banning individual from holding position, establishing or managing enterprises and cooperatives in cases where the enterprises or cooperatives are declared bankrupt by the court.


Article 7 – The Law on Criminal Record 2009 regulates that the following individual, agencies and organizations may request competent agencies to issue Criminal Record card:
-Vietnamese citizens and foreigners who have been or are residing in Vietnam have the right to request the issuance of their criminal record cards;
-Proceeding agencies may request the issuance of criminal record card for investigation, prosecution and trial;
-State agencies, political organizations and socio-political organizations may request the issuance of criminal record to serve the personnel management, business registration, establishment and management of enterprises and cooperatives.
Criminal record cards include:
a/ Criminal record card no.1 is issued to individual, agencies and organizations defined in Clauses 1 and 3, Article 7 of this Law;
b/ Criminal record card no.2 is issued to agencies conducting the proceedings, defined in Clause 2, Article 7 of this Law and issued at the request of the individual so that he/she can know the contents of his/her criminal resume.
The basic difference of these two types is that the criminal record card no.1 only records the sentence has not been removed. If the case has been deleted, it will state “no criminal record”. The criminal record card no.2 records all previous criminal convictions regardless of whether they were deleted or not.




Thứ Sáu, 18 tháng 5, 2018

I will use my company's name in many applications and products. Is a trademark the best protection?


A trademark typically protects brand names and logos used on goods and services. A copyright protects an original artistic or literary work. A patent protects an invention. For example, if you invent a new kind of vacuum cleaner, you would apply for a patent to protect the invention itself. You would apply to register a trademark to protect the brand name of the vacuum cleaner. And you might register a copyright for the TV commercial that you use to market the product.



The purpose of using a trademark is to uniquely identify your products or services to potential customers. Federal registration of a trademark helps prevent competitors of your business from stealing your business name, logo, or slogan. Registration also protects you against misappropriation by confusingly similar marks used by competitors. Protecting your unique name, logo, or slogan in the form of a trademark is one of the most important investments in your business.

How ANT Lawyers Could Help Your Business?
To learn more about ANT Lawyers IP Practice or contact our Intellectual Property Lawyers in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call our office at (+84) 24 32 23 27 71