From July 1, several laws which were passed in 2008 and important legal documents take effect:
- The Law on Vietnamese Nationality, of which many provisions evolve from Decree No. 104/1998/ND-CP of December 31, 1998, and are specific enough for immediate enforcement, reiterates the principle of single citizenship in Vietnam. However, persons who are adopted Vietnamese children and overseas Vietnamese wishing to retain their Vietnamese nationality or permitted by the State President, or apply for restoration of Vietnamese nationality can now have dual citizenship.
Clause 2 of Article 13 allows overseas Vietnamese who have not yet renounced or lost their Vietnamese citizenship to register with Vietnamese representative missions in countries where they are residing for retention of their Vietnamese citizenship within five years from July 1, 2009.
Under Article 22, stateless persons without sufficient personal identification papers but having resided in Vietnam for at least 20 years by July 1 and strictly observed the Vietnamese constitution and law are also allowed to be naturalized in Vietnam. Other stateless residents who have resided in the country since after July 1, 1989, and wish to be naturalized in Vietnam will carry out procedures applicable to foreign nationals. This provision would help legally manage nearly 10,000 stateless people inhabiting mostly in border provinces of the country.
A decree guiding the Law is to be issued in the third quarter of this year.
- Under the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments, which supersedes the 2004 Ordinance on Enforcement of Civil Judgments, the statute of limitations for requesting judgment enforcement is extended to five years from current three.
According to Justice Vice Minister Nguyen Duc Chinh, 62 relevant legal documents would need to be revised to facilitate the enforcement of this Law.
- The Law on Health Insurance covers 25 groups of people, of whom the poor, people with contributions to the revolution, policy beneficiaries and under-six children will have their insurance premiums wholly paid by the State. It is proposed in a draft decree guiding this Law that the ratio of premium to the basic salary level will be raised to 4.5% from current 3% from 2010.
- The Law on Road Traffic (amended) has a broader scope of regulation, covering traffic safety rules and transport activities, road vehicles and users, protection of road works and land areas for urban road transport (16-26% under Article 42). It requires in Article 30 that motorcycle, moped and electric bicycle riders must wear crash helmets with chin straps fastened, and road vehicle drivers must hold four papers: vehicle registration, driver license, certificate of technical inspection and environmental protection, and certificate of insurance for vehicle owner’s civil liability.
- The Law on High Technologies, the Law on Biodiversity and the Ordinance on Court Fees and Costs are also officially enforced from July 1.
- From July 1, persons on exit or in transit, passengers on international flights from the country, entities enjoying diplomatic privileges and immunities and crewmembers on board seagoing cargo ships may purchase unlimited quantities of goods from duty-free shops in international border gates, and checkpoints at airports, seaports and railway stations in urban areas without having to pay excise tax, value-added tax and import duty (for imports). Under Decision No. 24/2009/QD-TTg of February 17, 2009, which replaces Decisions Nos. 205 and 206/2003/QD-TTg, passengers on entry in Vietnam are not allowed to purchase goods from those duty-free shops.
- Under Ministry of Finance Circular No. 113/TT-BTC amending Circular No. 66/2009/TT-BTC of March 30, on the fees for issuance of passports, visas, papers for entry, exit, transit and residence in Vietnam, from July 17, overseas Vietnamese will no longer have to pay the fee for repatriation laissez-passers and certificates.