The steel industry is facing lawsuits against tax evasion and dumping, according to information from the Vietnam Steel Association.

The Ministry of Finance is building a draft scheme on the management of e-commerce activities for imports and exports.

The 2015 Penal Code (revised in 2017) (the Code) is Vietnam’s first and only code that holds commercial legal persons criminally liable for committing criminal acts. This is a breakthrough in the country’s criminal justice policy and leads to a substantial change in the general perception about crime and punishment. It also applies various penalties to commercial legal persons found liable for crimes[1], including three principal penalties (fine, suspension from operation, and termination of operation), three additional penalties (prohibition from doing business or operating in certain areas, prohibition from raising capital, and fine, when not imposed as a principal penalty), and five judicial measures (confiscation of objects and money directly related to the crime; return of property, redress of or compensation for damage; coerced public apology; coerced restoration to the original state; and coerced application of measures to redress and prevent further consequences).

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has recently signed a scheme on measuring non-observed economic activities, with a view to drawing a clearer and more comprehensive picture of the national economy.

When deciding penalties to be imposed on commercial legal persons (corporate offenders), the court will base itself on the 2015 Penal Code (revised in 2017) (the Code) to consider the nature and extent of social danger of their committed crimes as well as circumstances affecting their penal liability.

Selected by Vietnam Law and Legal Forum magazine, these include the Law on Cyber Security, the Anti-Corruption Law, guiding texts of the Law on Foreign Trade Management, Government Decree 86/2018/ND-CP on foreign cooperation and investment in education, among others.

With around USD 184 billion disbursed over the past 30 years since the enactment of the Law on Investment in 1987, the inflow of foreign direct investment has significantly contributed to the country’s total social investment capital.

The National Assembly Standing Committee adopted last month a resolution increasing the environmental protection tax on petroleum products from January 1 next year.

Soon after the National Assembly passed the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam in 1987, the country started witnessing Foreign Direct Investment inflows which have made considerable contributions to the national economy. To mark the 30th year of Vietnam’s FDI attraction, Vietnam News Agency talked to Sebastian Eckardt, lead economist at the World Bank Vietnam.

The first half of 2018 saw great efforts of the Vietnamese Government in realizing its commitments to building market economy institutions in the country, especially removing legal hurdles for businesses. There have emerged some positive, significant “institutional reform” trends which are highlighted below.