Under Vietnam’s current regulations on electronic games, foreign service providers of online electronic games must establish local enterprises to provide their services in Vietnam. The Schedule of Specific Commitments in Services of the Working Party on the WTO Accession of Vietnam (“Vietnam’s WTO Commitments”) only allows foreign investors to own up to 49% of the charter capital of such game companies. The commitments under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) further allow foreign investors from member countries of the CPTPP to own up to 51% of the charter capital in game companies from 2019. However, from 14 January 2024, foreign investors from CPTPP member countries may own up to 100% of the charter capital in game companies in Vietnam.

On 31 May 2023, Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) issued Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BTTTT on the list of potentially unsafe goods under the management of the MIC. The new Circular will take effect on 15 July 2023, replacing the current Circular No. 2/2022/TT-BTTTT, dated 16 May 2022.

On 9 June 2023, the Government released Decree No. 32/2023/ND-CP to replace Annex II of Decree No. 53/2018/ND-CP regarding encryption products subject to Import Permit, which also takes effect on 9 June 2023.

On 21 March 2023, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI) under the Ministry of Information and Communications released a white list specifying local service providers whose online websites and/or social networks are verified and suitable for online advertisements (“White List”). This is part of ABEI’s initiative to encourage brands and advertisers to prioritize displaying advertisements on non-violating websites.

On 9 January 2023, the National Assembly of Vietnam issued Law No. 15/2023/QH15 on Medical Examination and Treatment, which sets out a significant number of new regulations on healthcare and medical activities. The New Law will take effect on 1 January 2024, replacing the current Law No. 40/2009/QH12 on Medical Examination and Treatment dated 23 November 2009.

In brief
On 10 February 2023, the Government of Vietnam issued the new Decree No. 03/2023/NĐ-CP on regulating the functions, duties, powers and organizational structure of the Vietnam Competition Commission (“Decree 03”). Decree 03 will take effect on 1 April 2023.

Key takeaways
Decree 03 provides the following new key regulations:

The official English name of the authority will be the Vietnam Competition Commission (VCC). Meanwhile, the Vietnamese name is “Uy Ban Canh Tranh Quoc Gia”.
The VCC shall take over the role of the Vietnam Competition and Consumer Authority (VCCA) in the state management of competition matters under the Competition Law once Decree 03 comes into effect.
In depth
Since Competition Law No. 23/2018/QH14 (“Competition Law”) was passed back in 2018, the VCC was mandated as the leading authority responsible for the state management of competition matters under the Competition Law. However, there have been no further developments as to the establishment of this authority until recently, nearly four years after the Competition Law came into effect.

Specifically, on 10 February 2023, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree 03.

The VCC’s organizational structure shall consist of 15 officers, including one president and several vice presidents,1 and the headquarters shall be located in Hanoi.2 Within the VCC’s organizational structure will be the following departments:

Competition investigation agency
Secretariats of councils dealing with competition cases
Competition supervision board
Other units established under the VCC to perform the function of state management of competition, protection of consumers’ interests and management of multi-level marketing activities3
Pursuant to Decree 03, the VCC is tasked with handling competition proceedings in accordance with the Competition Law, controlling economic concentration activities, handling requests for exemptions and appeals of settlement decisions of competition cases, and performing the tasks of state management of competition, protection of consumers’ interests and management of multi-level marketing activities as prescribed by law.4

As for the operation of the current authority, the VCCA, pursuant to Decree No. 96/2022/ND-CP on the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam (MOIT), the VCCA will continue to perform its functions and duties in accordance with current legal regulations until the Government stipulates the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the VCC.5 Accordingly, by operation of law, once Decree 03 has taken effect (i.e., 1 April 2023), the VCCA’s functions shall cease.

Decree 03 shall also supersede Decree No. 07/2015/ND-CP dated 16 January 2015 on the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the previous Vietnam Competition Council (i.e., “Hoi Dong Canh Tranh” in Vietnamese), and Decision No. 24/2015/QD-TTg dated 30 June 2015 of the Prime Minister promulgating the regulation on organization and operation of the Vietnam Competition Council.

Under Decree 03, the VCC shall also be edited into relevant provisions under Decree No. 40/2018/ND-CP on the management of multi-level marketing activities, Decree 99/2011/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Protection of Consumer Rights, and Decree 54/2020/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 127/2015/ND-CP on the organization and operation of inspection activities in the industry and trade sector.

The long-awaited arrival of the VCC also means that we can expect to see more enforcement activities by the competition regulators, not only within the area of merger control, but also the enforcement of regulations on anti-competitive agreements and abuse of market dominance.

The full Vietnamese text of Decree 03 can be found here.

1 Article 4, Decree 03.

2 Article 4, Decree 03.

3 Article 5, Decree 03.

4 Article 2, Decree 03.

5 Article 5, Decree No. 96/2022/ND-CP issued by the government on the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the MOIT, dated 29 November 2022.

After surveying more than 2500 SMEs in Vietnam, the authority found that SMEs generally do not have a high level of awareness of the law. The regulator also published papers on the state of competition in two sectors. The annual report includes consolidated and published statistics by the VCCA and MOIT. This update was published as part of our quarterly newsletter, Asia Pacific Competition Highlights.

On 27 January 2022, the government issued Decree No. 14/2022/ND-CP to amend and supplement several provisions of Decree No. 15/2020/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations in the fields of postal services, telecommunications, radio frequency, information technology and electronic transactions, and Decree No. 119/2020/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations in journalistic and publishing activity. Decree No. 14 was issued with the aim of: implementing the new provisions of the amended Law on Handling Administrative Violations, supplementing sanctions for the violating acts, including those regarding spam, illegal content, social network management, game licensing, etc., and revising and supplementing provisions regarding the authorities to fine administrative violations.

On 27 January 2022, the government issued Decree No. 14/2022/ND-CP to amend and supplement several provisions of Decree No. 15/2020/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations in the fields of postal services, telecommunications, radio frequency, information technology and electronic transactions (“Decree No. 15”), and Decree No. 119/2020/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations in journalistic and publishing activity (“Decree No. 14”). Decree No. 14 was issued with the aim of: 1) Implementing the new provisions of the amended Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2) Supplementing sanctions for the violating acts, including those regarding spam, illegal content, social network management, game licensing, etc 3) Revising and supplementing provisions regarding the authorities to fine administrative violations

On 8 November 2021, the Government issued Decree No. 98/2021/ND-CP on management of medical devices (“Decree 98”). Decree 98 took effect from 1 January 2022 and replaced Decree No. 36/2016/ND-CP, Decree No. 169/2018/ND-CP and Decree No. 03/2020/ND-CP.