The latest draft of the Commercial Bill was debated by members of the National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC) this month.
Composed of seven chapters with 314 articles, the bill annuls 96 articles of the current Commercial Law and amends and supplements other 149 articles.
The bill has two new major sections, one on goods sale/purchase and the other on service provision, adding four commercial activities: goods transit through the Vietnamese territory and goods transit service; goods lease; goods sale and purchase through a Goods Exchange; and transfer of commercial rights.
While the existing law allows foreign traders to open representative offices and branches but restricts the trading ranges of these branches, the bill permits them to be involved in most commercial activities including distribution, import/export and services and envisages the same treatment for them as their Vietnamese counterparts.It also recognizes on-line business data, which would lay a legal foundation for e-commerce.
Besides, the definitions of “traders” and “goods” are also changed. Under the bill, traders are those who conduct commercial activities independently and regularly as an occupation. Goods also comprise movables (including future movables), objects attached to land and property related rights.