New decree’s major changes to boost development of real estate business
Government Decree 02 issued early this year, which elaborates some articles of the 2014 Law on Real Estate business, has been in effect since March 1. Issued to replace Decree 76 of 2015, the new Decree introduces several changes in order to solve existing problems in the real estate business as revealed during the enforcement of Decree 76; at the same time, Decree 02 partly meets practical needs of real estate business activities in recent years. Therefore, the new regulations are expected to create a momentum and promote the development of the real estate business market in the future.
Shaping a legal framework for cryptoassets in Vietnam
For the time being, there has been no unified definition of “cryptoasset” or “digital asset” or “virtual asset” in the world. According to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, “a virtual asset is a digital representation of value that can be digitally traded, or transferred, and can be used for payment or investment purposes.”[1] Canada’s model legislation regarding digital assets, the Uniform Access to Digital Assets by Fiduciaries Act, defines “a digital asset” as “a record that is created, recorded, transmitted or stored in digital or other intangible form by electronic, magnetic or optical means or by any other similar means.”[2] Cryptocurrency (or virtual currency) is a form of cryptoassets (or virtual assets). There is also no unified definition of this term in the world.
Corporate liability for offenses against the economic management order in Vietnam
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).