The Directorate of Fisheries has proposed the government use the medium-term public investment budget for the 2016-20 period to upgrade fisheries ports to meet European Commission (EC) requirements for the supervision of fishing vessels, traceability and management of fisheries products.

On June 20, 2017, the National Assembly passed the revised Penal Code. It became effective on January 1, 2018. Several significant changes have occurred. Several acts, previously criminal, are no longer punishable. On the other hand, several previously innocent acts have been criminalized. One very large change is that an enterprise-not just an individual-may now be guilty of a crime1.

From June 19, PPP investment projects will be implemented according to Decree 63/2018/ND-CP. This decree prescribes the fields, conditions, order and procedures for investment in the form of public-private partnership.

This article summarizes significant changes in the 2015 Penal Code and its revisions in 2017, including penalizing commercial legal persons for committing certain crimes, scrapping the crime of illegally doing business, and criminally charging corruption-related offenders in the private sector.

The Prime Minister on January 12 decided to enact a plan to restructure public investment during 2017-20, with a vision toward 2025, aiming to form a rational public investment structure, improve efficiency of public investment and quality of public investment management institutions, and effectively seek and use other sources of investment for developing the socio-economic infrastructure system.

Public-private partnership regulations would be amended toward facilitating project implementation while ensuring strict management of projects and harmony of the interests among the State, investors and users, heard a recent meeting that discussed a draft decree to replace Decree 15 of 2015 regarding investment in the PPP form.

The National Assembly Standing Committee convened its 20th session in Hanoi on January 10, which is scheduled to deal with a range of matters within one and a half days.

Cabinet members focused discussions on the building of institutions during a regular meeting in Hanoi on December 29, also the last sitting of the Government in 2017.

Coming into force from July next year, the 2017 Railway Law, passed by the National Assembly in June, prescribes railway infrastructure planning, investment, construction, protection, management, maintenance and development. It also stipulates railway industry and railway business.

The revised Law on Technology Transfer, which was passed in June, is expected to create a solid legal basis to promote technology transfer, technology innovation, commercialization of scientific research and technological development results, and application of latest science and technology advances.