The 2000 Law on Insurance Business and the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property are under scrutiny, a move conducted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in preparation for implementation of Vietnam’s commitments under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
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Compared to the 2000 Law on Insurance Business, the draft introduces a new constituent of insurance business - insurance auxiliary services. Under the draft, insurance auxiliary services would be performed by insurance enterprises, insurance brokerage enterprises and other organizations and individuals for profit. They include actuarial service, insurance consultancy, insurance risk assessment, insurance loss assessment, claim settlement services, and other services arising in the process of conducting insurance business.
In order to meet state management requirements while creating a favorable legal environment for businesses, the draft specifies subjects of and conditions for provision of insurance auxiliary services and insurance auxiliary service contracts.
Accordingly, individuals may only provide the insurance consultancy service, provided that they are aged 18 or older, have full civil act capacity, and possess an insurance training diploma or certificate or have experience in the field of insurance. Insurance enterprises may deal in all insurance auxiliary services while insurance brokerage enterprises would not be allowed to provide insurance loss assessment services. These enterprises must satisfy several financial conditions so as to ensure that they would be able to discharge their responsibilities as committed.
The draft also amends Article 105 of the Law on Insurance Business regarding forms of operation of insurance enterprises and insurance brokerage enterprises in Vietnam, adding organizations providing cross-border insurance auxiliary services and individuals providing cross-border insurance consultancy services.
Regarding the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property, the draft law amends Article 60 for extending the scope of exceptions for invention registration applications filed in Vietnam. Accordingly, an invention would not be considered having lost its novelty even though it has been officially disclosed by a person who has the right to make registration or a person who has acquired information on such invention directly or indirectly from the former as long as the invention registration application is filed within 12 months from the date of disclosure. However, such regulation would not apply to cases where inventions have been publicly disclosed in applications for registration of intellectual property rights or protection titles of intellectual property rights, unless such disclosure is a mistake of intellectual property offices or cases where invention registration applications are filed by third parties that have acquired information on such inventions directly or indirectly for the persons who have the right to make registration without the consent of the latter.
Article 136 and Article 148 of the Law on Intellectual Property regarding the obligation to use marks and mark transfer contracts are also revised to suit the CPTPP. Accordingly, registration would no longer be regarded as a compulsory condition for identification of validity of the transfer of the right to use marks. Meanwhile, the use of marks by transferees would be considered the same as the use by mark owners in issues concerning procedures for establishment, maintenance and protection of rights to marks.
The draft law also contains new provisions on compensation for damage due to infringements of intellectual property rights, saying that courts may request losers to pay compensation to winners. Besides, those who abuse the procedures for protection of industrial property rights would be required to compensate for damage, if any.- (VLLF)
