the bilateral and multilateral commitment that Viet Nam made to participate in WTO.

As we know,in the recent years,our country has changed so much with many important events.

THE HO CHI MINH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY THE UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC LAWS

1 NGUYEN THI AI LIEN

2 PHAN NGUYEN THAT HOANG THONG

3 NGUYEN THI VU TIEN

4 PHAM THI NGOC THUY

5 PHAN LUONG BAO TRANG

6 LE THI KIM TUYEN-K064020363

THU DUC, OCTOBER 14 TH 2008.

Introductory Statements

As we know,in the recent years,our country has changed so much with many important events.The most memorable event may be the day when Viet Nam joined into The Word Trade Organization(WTO).At present,this matter is also the hot news in newspapers as well as public communications.So,it becomes rather familiar with us,the teachers and the students….

WTO is the abbreviation of The World Trade Organization which was set up on

15 th April,1994 according to the Agreement on Establishing WTO signed at Marrakesh,Marock.This Agreement is based on The General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade(GATT) after 8 years’negotiating Uraguay Round.WTO started operating from 1 st January,1995 with the accession of many members that keeps 90% of the World’s population,95% of GDP and 95% of global trade value.

It is said that WTO was born from the negoations.In fact,what this organization has done is through negotiations and talks.Thus,we can say that WTO is a platform for members exchanging,talking and reaching to the agreement about goods and service trade,investment,intellectual property…Besides,WTO is the place where the disagreement between the coutries was resolved.Above the economic and political goals,WTO also focus on social goals such as raising the living standards for citizens,creating more jobs,making conditions for developing economy stably and protecting the environment.

In the mechanism aspect,WTO was built on four basis principles:

1 The Most Favored Nations

2 The Nations Treaties

3 The Opening the Market

4 The Fair Competition These principles are also the foundations for the countries joining into WTO Any countries which want to mix with this global playing-field WTO,haveto make the commitments in accordance with WTO’s regulation.And Viet Nam do,too.To achieve today’s results,Viet Nam has spent a difficult long stage with many bilateral and multilateral agreements.However,what these commitment are? and how are they important?In order to answer for this question,Today,we all together would like to talk about the bilateral and multilateral commitment that Viet Nam made to participate in WTO.

I ACCESSION OF VIET NAM TO WTO

First,I’d like you to look back the achievements that Viet Nam has got in the past years.

1.Reforms:

Viet Nam had been making out economic reforms since 1986, focussing on marketoriented economic management; restructuring to build a multi-sectoral economy;financial, monetary and administrative reforms; and the development of externaleconomic relations For instance,having joined the Association of Southeast AsiaNations (ASEAN), the Asia-Europe Cooperation (ASEM) and the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation Forum (APEC), Viet Nam was participating in regionalinstitutions which were committed to the Word Trade Organization’s principles andrules, and preparatorily substantial support of Viet Nam's accession to the WTO.Joining the Word Trade Organization is a step of implementing the strategy ofinternational economic integration of Viet Nam,closely attached and efficently servingthe undertaking of industrialization and modernization,restructuring the economy forthe sustainable development our economy.This is a crucial resolution which is thebasis for high consensus within Viet Nam’s internal affairs when joiningWTO ,particularly the agreeable response of enterprise,economic sectors and localitiesafter Viet Nam is WTO member Viet Nam’s significant integration into the world’ssocio-economy was marked by two events: The country’s acceptance as the WTO’s150th member on January 11, 2007 and its election as a United Nations SecurityCouncil non-permanent member on January 1, 2008 Socio-economic stability wasboth the driver and facilitator of Viet Nam’s 8.5 per cent economic growth in 2007,the highest figure in 10 years.

 Viet Nam has won the trust of foreign, tourists, investors and traders from morethan 200 economies

Most investors have confirmed that they have enlarged their presence in Viet Namsince the country joined the WTO

Foreign direct investment reached US$20.3 billion in 2007, or 69 per cent morethan the previous year

To get these achievements nowadays,Viet Nam has been implementinglegal,institutional and economic reforms together with gradual,selective liberalization of

in trade since the early 1990s.This process had led to macroeconomic stability,anaverage annual per capital growth rate of 6 percennt over the period 1990-2001,and ahalving of the incidence of poverty from 58 per cent in 1993 to 29 per cent in 2002.Viet Nam recognized the important role and significance of the WTO in thedevelopment of the global economy as well as the economic growth of individualcountries.Viet Nam had decided to apply for WTO membership with a view toexpanding its economic, trade and investment ties with other Members, reflecting a firmresolve to continue the process of integration of Viet Nam's economy into the worldtrading system Conscious that WTO membership involved both rights and obligations,Viet Nam was committed to upholding the principles of the WTO as the basis for itstrade policies Viet Nam was revising its legislation to adapt gradually to the rules andprinciples of the WTO

WTO is known as a internatonal multilateral institution operating based on marketeconomy status.Legislation system of the word trade organization is quite voluminousand complicated,gathering different ideology and legal schools.It was designed togovern a multilateral mechanism operating upon market economy status.To handle thisissue,Viet Nam declared to join in the Viene Convention in 1969 upon the Law onconventions and has approved the Law on signing,joining and enforcement of Internalconventions in which a principle is confirmed that Viet Nam has to comply seriously

Viet Nam’s international commitments and the possibility of aplying directlystipulations of in conventions in which Viet Nam is a member.Viet Nam has alsoquickly promulgated,amended and supplemented various legal normativeacts.However,correct understanding about WTO’s regulations is a considerablechallenge in legal performance(including legislative,executive and judicial operation) ofViet Nam In the process of legislative performance,enforcement of internationalcompany,principles and stipulations international trade legislations of WTO have to beenforced upon all economic and commercial sectors Viet Namgoverns.Nevertheless,more preferences need to be quickly given to legal reform in reply

to following request by WTO

In order to comply seriously WTO’s regulations on the eve of becoming a WTOmember, Viet Nam has to recognize principles of global trading system,transformingprinciples and legal stipulations on trading in business areana and other legal duties ofWTO members into legislations of Viet Nam,according to MFN(most favorednations)and NT(nations treatment) and Tariff and non-Tariff preferences,marketopening for WTO memvers in sectors which are possible to reach upon the basis of jointnegotiation,concrete bilateral and multilateral agreements consistent with inpractices,WTO’s stipulations compatible with conditions for economy and tradedevelopment of Viet Nam in each and every period and on the reciprocal basis

Joining the WTO has also facilitated and required Viet Nam to perfect its legalsystem,to increase the competitiveness of its economy, trade, businesses and the quality

of made-in-Viet Nam products and services

As Viet Nam negotiates entry to the Word Trade Organization,it is facing pressure toagree to a raft of new trade policies,including accelarated and more indiscriminativeliberalization,that threaten the continuation of this success.WTO members may well-demand that Viet Nam multilateralises “these commitments which go beyondcompliance with WTO’s rules.The world’s most powerful countries are working hard toexact the onerous “WTO-plus” commitments which have become characteristic ofaccession proceedings.However,membership could help Viet Nam to benefit fromtrade,supporting its effort to reduce poverty,but the demands from rich countries forexcessive liberalization of imports and foreign investment threaten to undermine thisgoal and to destroy livelihoods,particularly in rural areas Members of the WTOwelcomed strongly Viet Nam's application to join the WTO and pledged their fullsupport to the accession process Members appreciated the significant reforms alreadyundertaken and encouraged Viet Nam to continue the policies towards market-orientation, liberalization and transparency Viet Nam's integration into the worldeconomy would allow Viet Nam to solidify the gains of its ongoing economic reforms Some Members noted that Viet Nam would need to make further adjustments in its legaland trade regime to conform to WTO requirements, and looked forward to workingactively with Viet Nam towards this objective

2.Process into WTO

Viet Nam has been conducting negotiations on its WTO entry for 10 years now, andhas concluded 11 multilateral negotiation sessions It has also completed bilateralnegotiations with 22 out of 28 partners requiring bilateral talks, including many majorpartners such as the European Union, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, China, the Republic

of Korea and Singapore We have yet to conclude bilateral negotiations with theUnited States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the Dominican Republic

 Summary:

The WTO's working committee on Viet Nam highly valued the results of bilateralnegotiations Viet Nam has conducted In multilateral negotiations, Viet Nam has alsomade leaping progress, especially its commitment to implementing most WTO treaties

at the time of its entry, including treaties of great importance to WTO members such

as those on intellectual property, investment, import-export tariffs, customs, animaland plant quarantine, and anti-subsidisation The WTO's working committee on VietNam especially appreciated Viet Nam's law-building programme to meet the WTO'srequirements The committee considered this a great effort of the Vietnamese NationalAssembly and a manifestation of Viet Nam's great political determination TheVietnamese government has pledged to apply the same rates of service charges forboth domestic and foreign-invested businesses by the end of this year

During the negotiation process, the Vietnamese delegation has answered some 2,800questions regarding the transparency of policies With most of necessary laws alreadyadopted or to be approved within this year, Viet Nam is one of the first countries thathave a complete legal system in place before joining the WTO

In particular, Viet Nam's building of a common law for domestic and foreigninvestment has attracted great interest and won approval from its partners The law onintellectual property, likely to be approved by the National Assembly during the on-going session, is also highly valued First of all, it can be said that joining WTO willbring many opportunities for businesses as well as the economy of Viet Nam It meansthat there will be a global market for Vietnamese goods and services, creating equalityfor businesses joining the global market Viet Nam then will take the initiative inparticipating in the WTO's institutions instead of remaining passive as at present.More over,the WTO entry accompanied by a transparent and stable system of policieswill help facilitate domestic and foreign investment.While we are geographicallylocated in Asia-Pacific,one of the most dynamic regions in the world.We can’t nottake our position for granted.Of cours Viet Nam has a high political stability and asafe enviroment,a potential market of a population ranking 13th in the worth,and alarge young labour force

Challenges emerging in opening the market, cutting taxes and reducing protectionism

will have big impacts on businesses that used to rely on the State's protectionismbecause the international trading environment is very tough, with real risks ofincreased protectionism,

However, we should be optimistic that opening the market will create a fierce

competition in the country, which will be a big challenge and also an opportunity for

Vietnamese businesses to develop What should be done is that we should payattention to training and re-training management staff of enterprises in foreignlanguages, professional skills and knowledge of international laws in order to meet thedemands of the integration In addition, we also should be ready to cope withunemployment risks which any countries will inevitably face in a competitiveenvironment in their integration process On the one hand we need more policies onwelfare for vulnerable labourers, and on the other, we should attract more domesticand foreign investors, and create favourable conditions for the establishment ofbusinesses in order to generate more jobs

In brief,there are no easy answers but I think it’s clear that trade and environment will

be an increasingly important component of the public image of the WTO,and it willcertainly influence public perceptions of the impact and value of trade liberalisation

II POLICIES AFFECTING TRADE IN SERVICES

1.The representative of Viet Nam said that most services sectors were still in the early

stages of development in Viet Nam According to the General Statistical Office,services had accounted for 37.98 per cent of Viet Nam's GDP in 2004

2.The main ministries and agencies involved in the regulation of services activities

were the Ministries of Agriculture and 473 Rural Development; Trade; Planning andInvestment; Transportation; Information and Culture; Finance; Construction; Scienceand Technology; Natural Resources and Environment; Labour, War Invalids andSocial Affairs; Health; Education and Training; and Industry; the State Bank; theMinistry of Posts and Telematics; the General Department of Tourism; and theDirectorate for Standards and Quality In addition to governmental agencies,provincial level people's committees were also authorized to administer local servicesindustries in conformity with the national legal system Viet Nam confirmed thatforeign service suppliers were free to choose their partners unless otherwise specified

in Viet Nam's Schedule of Specific

3.In Decree No 87/2003/ND-CP of 22 July 2003 Pursuant to this Decree, foreign

lawyer organizations could practise in Viet Nam in the form of a branch of a foreignlawyer organization, a foreign law firm, or a foreign-Vietnamese law partnership Foreign lawyers could practise foreign and international law as members or employees

of foreign lawyers' law-practising organizations' commercial presence in Viet Nam, or

as employees of Vietnamese lawyer offices or Vietnamese law partnerships To work

as a lawyer in Viet Nam, foreigners were required to hold a valid practising certificateissued by a competent foreign agency or organization, show goodwill towards theState of Viet Nam, and be employed by a foreign lawyer organization's commercialpresence in Viet Nam, or by a Vietnamese lawyer organization Foreign auditingfirms could operate in Viet Nam in the form of a joint-venture with a Vietnameseauditing firm or as wholly foreign-owned auditing firms Wholly foreign-ownedauditing firms had to be licensed as provided for in the Foreign Investment Law andother related legal acts

4.The Ordinance on Posts and Telecommunications had been enacted in October 2002.

Ordinance governed the regulatory, operational and business activities in posts,

telecommunications and radio frequency management, and created an important legalframework for market liberalization and a level playing field for competitors:designed

to ensure the rights and obligations of telecommunications services providers to accessand use each other's public telecommunications transport networks,non-discrimination in granting access to and use of public telecommunicationstransport networks, procedures in the telecommunications and express deliverysectors, the regulatory and business environment had been improved to become moretransparent, predictable and pro-competitive

5 Domestic and foreign engineers and architects had to be certified in accordance

with the Regulation on Granting Certificate for Design Practice of Construction Work,

as amended by Decree No.16/2005/NP-CP of 7 February 2005,and Decision No.15/2005/QD-BXD.Renewable certificates valid for five years were granted by theConstruction Departments of cities and provinces.The Ministry of Construction wasresponsible for supervising the granting of certificates.Activities covered by theRegulation included general layout design,architectural design, exterior and interiordesign, structural design, electrical and mechanical design, as well as design relating

to water supply and sewage,energy supply,ventilation and air conditioning,communications,and fire protection.Engineering and architectural services providers,including foreign providers,were required to hold a Bachelor or higher degree, haveminimum five years' experience in the design of construction works, and haveparticipated in the design of a minimum of five projects Foreign architects holdingsuch certificates were allowed to practise in Viet Nam without applying for aVietnamese certificate in accordance with the requirements of Vietnamese laws andregulations.Foreign architects could also practise architectural design and/or planning

in Viet Nam through bilateral or multilateral Mutual Recognition Agreements onprofessional qualifications to which Viet Nam was a party

6.The organization and operation of credit institutions and the banking activities of

other organizations were governed by the Law on Credit Institutions, the Law onAmending and Supplementing a number of Articles of the Law on Credit Institutionsand some other legal documents

+ Pursuant to Articles 11 and 12 of the Decree No 22/2006/ND-CP of 28 February

2006, the term of operation of a foreign bank branch, a joint-venture bank, or a 100per cent foreign-owned bank of a foreign credit institution should not exceed 99 years;the term of operation of a foreign bank branch should not exceed the term of operation

of the parent foreign bank; and the term of operation of a representative office of aforeign credit institution should not exceed the term of operation of that foreign creditinstitution The term of operation should be specifically stipulated in the grantedlicence and could be extended upon request

+ The maximum term of extension should not exceed the term of operation previouslystipulated in the licence (a domestic bank was also required to apply for the extension

of its term of operation)

+ The maximum term of operation was 50 years for a joint-venture finance company,

a 100 per cent foreign-invested finance company, a joint-venture financial leasingcompany, and a 100 per cent foreign-invested financial leasing company, and theseoperating licenses could be extended

+ The contribution of the foreign party in a joint-venture bank acting as a commercialbank could not exceed 50 per cent of the bank's registered capital, while the foreignparty in a joint-venture non-banking credit institution needed to account for at least 30per cent of the registered capital The aggregate share of foreign institutions andindividuals could be limited to 30 per cent of the registered capital of a Vietnamesejoint stock commercial bank, unless otherwise permitted by Viet Nam's laws or therelevant Vietnamese authority.

7.Beginning on 1 April 2007, foreign credit institutions would be allowed to open

100 per cent foreign-owned banks in Viet Nam He added that any natural or legalperson was required to have a licence to engage in a banking business.One of the keyconditions for establishing a branch of a foreign commercial bank in Viet Nam wasthat the parent bank should have total assets of more than US$20 billion at the end ofthe year prior to application

8 A key condition for establishing a 100 per cent foreign-invested finance company, a

joint-venture finance company, a 100 per cent foreign-invested financial leasingcompany or a joint-venture financial leasing company was that the foreign creditinstitution had total assets of more than US$10 billion at the end of the year prior toapplication.Similarly, the representative of Viet Nam stated that his Governmentanticipated that its future licensing requirements for 100 per cent foreign-owned bankswould be prudential and address issues such as capital adequacy, liquidity andcorporate governance

9 A key condition for establishing a 100 per cent foreign-invested finance company, ajoint-venture finance company, a 100 per cent foreign-invested financial leasingcompany or a joint-venture financial leasing company was that the foreign creditinstitution had total assets of more than US$10 billion at the end of the year prior toapplication.Similarly, the representative of Viet Nam stated that his Governmentanticipated that its future licensing requirements for 100 per cent foreign-owned bankswould be prudential and address issues such as capital adequacy, liquidity andcorporate governance

10.A foreign commercial bank could simultaneously have a 100 per cent

foreign-owned bank and branches A 100 per cent foreign-foreign-owned bank in Viet Nam was nottreated as a foreign institution or individual and was accorded full national treatment

as a Vietnamese commercial bank,with respect to establishment of commercialpresence

11 The representative of Viet Nam confirmed that a foreign bank branch would not

be permitted to open transaction points,which were dependent on the capital of thebranch.The representative of Viet Nam further confirmed that there was noquantitative limit on the number of foreign bank branches.Transaction points did not,however,include offsite Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) Foreign banks operating

in Viet Nam were granted full MFN and national treatment in the placement andoperation of ATMs.The Working Party took note of these commitments

12.The securities trading centres had been established in Ho Chi Minh City and

Hanoi.Foreign securities companies wishing to trade securities in Viet Nam would berequired to operate in conformity with the Enterprise Law and Government Decree

No 144/2003/ND-CP on securities and stock exchange, and other applicable laws andregulations In addition, foreign securities companies wishing to trade securities in

Viet Nam would be subject to limitations, as indicated in Viet Nam's Schedule ofSpecific Commitments.

13 Foreign-invested as well as Vietnamese-invested insurance companies and

intermediaries were accorded meaningful and fair opportunities to be informed of,comment on, and exchange views with officials regarding measures relating to oraffecting the supply of insurance services in Viet Nam The Government of Viet Namwould ensure foreign-invested insurance companies would be accorded access toinformation by the Government of Viet Nam on a national treatment basis

14.Also no limitation on the number of product approval applications that a

foreign-invested insurance company could submit at one time, and that no requirement orregulatory practice restricted a foreign-invested insurance company from submittingadditional applications based upon whether the Government of Viet Nam hadcompleted its review of that company's previous applications

15.About allowing direct branching for foreign non-life insurance companies after five

years from the date of accession.,the legislation and regulations necessary toimplement this commitment would be developed with the goal of promotinginvestment and the creation of meaningful commercial opportunities, ensuring thesustainable development of Viet Nam's insurance market and protecting the legitimateinterests of policy-holders and the safety and soundness of the insurance market inViet Nam He further stated that regulation of such branches would be in line with theinternationally recognized insurance industry standards and principles of theInternational Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS)

16.A foreign partner in a joint-venture could buy out the capital contribution of its

Vietnamese partner(s).He further explained that the procedures and conditions for allocating capital within a joint-venture, and transitioning from a joint-venture to a 100per cent foreign-owned enterprise, re-allocation of capital within a joint-venture,or thetransition from a joint-venture to a 100 per cent foreign-owned enterprise would besubject to transparent and pre-established procedures,which in themselves would notrequire any disruption of the company's normal operations.He also confirmed thatjoint-ventures seeking to transition to a 100 per cent foreign-owned enterprise may berequired to apply for and receive an amended licence/investment certificate to supplythe same services, with a comparable scope of business.A decision on suchapplications would be provided promptly so that the enterprise could continueoperation without disruption

re-17.Viet Nam confirmed that the restrictions on foreign participation in multi-level

sales activities described in Decree No.110 applied only to foreign natural personsworking in Viet Nam and to those foreign entities whose scope of business did notinclude distribution services,including retail services, in Viet Nam,the restrictionswould not apply to foreign participation in terms of investment in retailing servicesconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth in Viet Nam's Schedule of SpecificCommitments on trade in services Foreign equity limitations for multi-level saleswere those indicated in Viet Nam's market access commitments for retail services

18.Viet Nam confirmed that the Enterprise Law established minimum percentages of

votes required to make fundamental decisions in various forms of enterprises.Herecognized the validity of Members' concerns regarding the capability of majorityshareholders (i.e., owning at least 51 per cent) to make these fundamental decisions,

especially in sectors in which Viet Nam had included foreign equity limitations in itsSchedule of Specific Commitments.The representative of Viet Nam confirmed that,upon accession, Viet Nam would ensure that, notwithstanding the requirements in the

2005 Enterprise Law, investors establishing a commercial presence as a joint-ventureunder the commitments in Viet Nam's Schedule of Specific Commitments would havethe right to establish, through the enterprise's Charter, all the types of decisions thathad to be submitted to the Members' Council or Shareholders' Meeting for approval;the quorum rules, if any, that governed voting procedures; and the precise percentages

of voting majorities necessary to make all decisions,including a simple majority of 51per cent.He further confirmed that Viet Nam would give legal effect to theseprovisions

19 With respect to licensing procedures, the representative of Viet Nam confirmed

that Viet Nam would ensure that its licensing procedures and conditions would not act

as independent barriers to market access.The representative of Viet Nam confirmedthat for those services included in its Schedule of Specific Commitments, Viet Namwould ensure that: (a) Viet Nam's licensing procedures and conditions were publishedprior to becoming effective; (b) in that publication, Viet Nam would specify thetimeframe for the relevant authorities' decision on the license; (c) relevant authoritieswould review and make a decision on licensing within the period specified in officialprocedures; (d) any fees charged in connection with the filing and review of anapplication would not constitute an independent barrier to market access; (e) on therequest of an applicant, Viet Nam's relevant regulatory authority would inform theapplicant of the status of its application and whether it was considered complete Anapplication would not be considered complete until all information specified in therelevant implementing measure was received If the authority required additionalinformation from the applicant, it would notify the applicant without undue delay andspecify the additional information required to complete the application.Applicantswould have the opportunity to cure deficiencies in the application; (f) on the request

of an unsuccessful applicant, a regulatory authority that had denied an applicationwould inform the applicant in writing of the reasons for denial of the application; (g)where an application had been denied, an applicant may submit a new application thatattempted to address any prior problems; (h) where approval was required, once theapplication was approved, the applicant would be informed in writing without unduedelay; and (i) where Viet Nam required an examination to licence professionals, suchexaminations would be scheduled at reasonable intervals The Working Party tooknote of these commitments

20.The representative of Viet Nam further confirmed that for the service sectors included in Viet Nam's Schedule of Specific Commitments, the relevant regulatory

authorities would be separate from, and not be accountable to, any service suppliersthey regulated.Further, the representative of Viet Nam confirmed that,except inemergency situations or for regulations and other measures involving nationalsecurity, specific measures setting foreign exchange rates or monetary policy andother measures the publication of which would impede law enforcement,Viet Namwould (a) publish in advance any regulations or other implementing measures ofgeneral application that it proposed to adopt and the purpose of the regulation or otherimplementing measure; (b) provide interested persons and other Members areasonable opportunity to comment on such proposed regulation or otherimplementing measure; and (c) allow reasonable time between publication of the final

regulation or other implementing measure and its effective date The Working Partytook note of these commitments.

III POLICIES AFFECTING TRADE IN GOODS

Trading rights (the right to import and export)

From the date of accession, any natural or legal person, domestic or foreign, wouldhave the right to be the importer or exporter of record of any product allowed to beimported into or exported from Viet Nam

In the case of importation,Individuals were required to register as traders pursuant

to the Decree No 88/2006/ND-CP of 29 August 2006 on Business Registration inorder to engage in importation and exportation.The full trading rights accordedsuch individuals and enterprises would include the right to sell the importedproduct to any individual or enterprise having the right to distribute such product

in Viet Nam

Viet Nam's commitments on trading rights would be applied to all WTO Members

on an MFN basis(the granting of trading rights would not affect the rights of theGovernment of Viet Nam to adopt or enforce WTO-consistent requirements forcustoms and fiscal purposes; or to adopt or enforce regulations that were consistentwith relevant provisions of the WTO Agreement and with Viet Nam's WTOcommitments, such as those relating to import licensing, State-trading, technicalbarriers to trade or sanitary and phytosanitary measures)

+ Government had reviewed its legislation with a view to harmonizing investment/registration procedures for foreign-invested and domestic enterprises New Laws

on Enterprises and Investment had been adopted to this effect in November 2005.Under the new Laws, domestic investors wishing to import or export were required

to hold a Business Registration Certificate and foreign investors an investmentcertificate With respect to Vietnamese investors, procedures for businessregistration were set out in the 2005 Enterprise Law and Government Decree

No 88/2006/ND-CP of 29 August 2006 on Business Registration Domesticinvestors, whether enterprises or individual business households, were free toregister any business line, except those prohibited under Vietnamese law (seeparagraph 33) Registration of some business lines was subject to specificconditions His Government did not limit or otherwise intervene in the scope ofbusiness chosen by Vietnamese enterprises and, except in the prohibited sectorsand some business lines that was subject to specific conditions, whollyVietnamese-owned enterprises were entitled to determine their scope of business

at their own discretion (see Tables 1 and 2 for lists of prohibited sectors andbusiness lines subject to specific conditions) He noted that, although previouslydomestic investors could only import goods listed in their Business RegistrationCertificate, this restriction was no longer in force by virtue of Article 3 of Decree

No 12-2006-ND-CP on International Purchases and Sales of Goods

+ With respect to foreign investors, procedures for issuing investment certificateswere described in the 2005 Investment Law and Government Decree

No 108/2006/ND-CP of 22 September 2006 providing for implementation of thisLaw Foreign investors already holding an investment certificate and wishing tocarry out a new investment project could either apply for a new certificate or

request that their certificate be amended Investment certificates also served asbusiness registration certificates Foreign investors would not be limited toimporting goods related to their business lines or specified in their investmentcertificate, nor would they be prohibited from importing goods on the basis thatthese goods were of the same kind as those produced under the investment licence.

He confirmed that, in his view, procedures for importation of goods by invested companies were not more restrictive than those applicable to whollydomestic enterprises

foreign-From the date of accession, all foreign firms and individuals, as importers orexporters of record, subject only to the obligation to register such activity with therelevant Vietnamese authorities There would be no requirement for foreign firmsand individuals without physical presence in Viet Nam to invest in Viet Nam Inaddition, without prejudice to Viet Nam's Schedule of Specific Commitments inServices, importers of record would be permitted to sell or otherwise provide theimported product to individuals and firms in Viet Nam that have the right todistribute such product in Viet Nam

IV TRADE-RELATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (TRIPS) 1.Intellectual property protection

The representative of Viet Nam said that since the early stages of Viet Nam'saccession process the main legal instruments for the protection of intellectual property

in Viet Nam had been the Civil Code of 1995 (Part Six);

Government Decree No 63/CP of 24 October 1996 on Detailed Regulations onIndustrial Property; Circular No 3055/TT-SHCN of 31 December 1996 of theMinistry of Science, Technology and Environment on Guiding the Implementation ofthe Provisions on the Procedures for Establishing Industrial Property Rights, and anumber of other procedures in Decree No 63/CP; Government Decree No 76/CP of

29 November 1996 on Guiding the Implementation of the Provisions on Copyright inthe Civil Code; Circular No 23-TC/TCT of 9 May 1997 of the Ministry of Finance onIndustrial Property Fees; and Circular No 166/1998/TT-TC of 19 December 1998 ofthe Ministry of Finance on Copyright Registration Fees

In 2005, Viet Nam had promulgated amendments to the Civil Code, which reaffirmedthe basic civil principles of intellectual property rights (Part VI of the Code), as well

as an Intellectual Property Law governing all aspects of intellectual property rights.The Civil Code (Law No 33/2005/QH11 of 14 June 2005 replacing the 1995 CivilCode - thereafter referred to as the 2005 Civil Code) had entered into force on

1 January 2006 As for the Intellectual Property Law (Law No 50/2005/QH11 of 29November 2005 - thereafter referred to as the 2005 Intellectual Property Law), itbecame effective on 1 July 2006 These two texts formed a complete and uniformsystem of regulations on intellectual property, which would replace previouslegislation He noted that the new system was, to a large extent, based on the previousone In case of conflict between the 2005 Intellectual Property Law and the provisions

on intellectual property of the 2005 Civil Code, the former would apply (Article 5.2 ofthe 2005 Intellectual Property Law) Various decisions and decrees on copyright,industrial property, plant varieties and enforcement of intellectual property rights

guiding the implementation of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law had been adopted inSeptember 2006: Decree No 100/2006/ND-CP of 21 September 2006 guiding theimplementation of a number of articles of the Civil Law and Intellectual Property Lawconcerning copyright and related rights; Decree No 103/2006/ND-CP of

22 September 2006 providing detailed provisions and guidelines for implementingcertain articles of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law concerning industrial property;Decree No 104/2006/ND-CP of 22 September 2006 providing detailed provisions andguidelines for implementing certain articles of the 2005 Intellectual Property Lawconcerning rights to plant varieties; Decree No 105/2006/ND-CP of 22 September

2006 providing detailed provisions and guidelines for implementing certain articles ofthe 2005 Intellectual Property Law regarding the protection of intellectual propertyrights and State management of intellectual property; Decree No 106/2006/ND-CP of

22 September 2006 on handling administrative violations in the industrial propertyfield; Decision No 69/2006/QD-BNN of 13 September 2006 of the Minister ofAgriculture and Rural Development on data confidentiality of testing data of agro-chemical products; and Decision No 30/2006/QD-BYT of 30 September 2006 of theMinister of Health on promulgation of regulations on data protection applied to DrugRegistration Dossiers In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Information, theMinistry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment would promulgate circulars guiding the implementation of procedures

on registration of copyright and related rights, industrial property rights, and plantvarieties; on industrial property representatives; and on transfer of industrial property

2 Application of national and MFN treatment to foreign nationals

Viet Nam applied the national treatment principle in accordance with the ParisConvention for the Protection of Industrial Property.Viet Nam also provided MostFavoured Nation treatment to nationals of other countries consistent with otherinternational agreements to which Viet Nam was a party

The 2005 Intellectual Property Law did not require foreign natural or legal persons

to establish or enforce copyright nor to carry out any procedure other than theestablishment of industrial property rights through intellectual property agents

Fees and taxes

The current regulations specified ten types of fees related to administrativeprocedures for the establishment, maintenance and protection of industrial propertyrights Most fees were in the US$1-60 range; fees related to the establishment ofrights in respect of inventions amounted to US$100, and the annual maintenancefees ranged from US$16 to US$234

Viet Nam imposed a tax on income derived from royalties.The tax rate was

5 per cent for non-resident individuals and enterprises in Viet Nam For residentindividuals and enterprises, income derived from royalties was subject to theprovisions of the Ordinance on Income Tax for High Income Earners and the Law

on Corporate Income Tax

As Viet Nam had taken the view that fees and charges levied in the area of industrialproperty were a matter of administrative procedures and thus a permitted exception

to the national treatment principle