6 outstanding policies effective from September 2018

1. Supplementing regulations on reducing State capital in enterprises

Circular 219/2015/TT-BTC on State capital investment in enterprises and management and use of capital and assets at enterprises was amended by Circular 59/2018/TT-BTC dated July 16, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance.

Accordingly, operating State-owned enterprises are allowed to reduce State capital in the enterprise in the following cases:

- Due to the reality of business operations, it is necessary to reduce the scale of operations;

- In case of restructuring State capital in enterprises in the form of enterprise separation;

- Due to policy changes, businesses are no longer eligible for State capital investment...

In the above cases, enterprises are responsible for carrying out procedures to change and publish information about charter capital in the business registration certificate according to regulations.

The Circular takes effect from September 1, 2018.

2. Right to exploit information in the National Database on Public Assets

The management, operation, exchange and exploitation of information in the National Database on Public Assets are regulated by the Ministry of Finance in Circular 67/2018/TT-BTC dated August 6, 2018.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance is entitled to exploit information on public assets of the whole country in the National Database. Ministries, central agencies, and provincial People's Committees have the right to exploit information on public assets of agencies, organizations, and units under their management in the National Database.

Agencies, organizations and units with assets declared in the National Database have the right to exploit information on public assets of the agency, organization, unit and affiliated units.

The Circular takes effect from September 1, 2018.

3. Changes in conditions for granting construction practice certificates

According to the provisions of Decree 100/2018/ND-CP of the Government issued on July 16, 2018, the general conditions for granting construction practice certificates have been changed compared to before. Specifically:

- Conditions for granting a Grade II construction practice certificate must have a university degree in a relevant major, with 04 years of experience or more, previously 05 years;

- To be granted a Grade III construction practice certificate, one must have a university degree in a relevant major, and 02 years of experience or more for those with a university degree (previously 03 years); 03 years or more for those with a college or intermediate degree (previously 05 years).

The Decree takes effect from September 15, 2018.

4. Cases of state capital reduction in enterprises

The Ministry of Finance issued Circular 59/2018/TT-BTC amending and supplementing Circular 219/2015/TT-BTC on state capital investment in enterprises and management and use of capital and assets at enterprises, officially effective from September 1, 2018.

Accordingly, the reduction of State capital in enterprises is carried out in the following cases:

- The owner's representative body determines the reduced charter capital and reports to the Prime Minister for decision on handling the reduced charter capital value;

- Restructuring state capital in enterprises in the form of enterprise separation;

- The source of additional charter capital is not enough to supplement the approved adjusted capital level;

- Due to policy changes, enterprises that are no longer eligible for state investment are assigned additional capital and assets by the State to contribute capital to BCC contracts.

Enterprises are responsible for carrying out procedures to change and publish information about charter capital in the business registration certificate according to the provisions of the Law on Enterprises in the above cases.

The Circular takes effect from September 1, 2018.

5. Support policy for meritorious people residing abroad

On July 20, 2018, the Government issued Decree 102/2018/ND-CP stipulating support regimes and a number of preferential regimes for Vietnamese people with revolutionary contributions, people participating in resistance wars, wars to defend the Fatherland and performing international missions residing abroad.

Accordingly, those who participated in the resistance war against France and the US and are residing abroad; those who participated in the war to protect the Fatherland, performed international missions and are residing abroad... are supported with 4 million VND if they have worked for 2 years or less; if they have worked for more than 2 years, from the 3rd year onwards, 1.5 million VND will be added each year.

If the beneficiary passed away before September 5, 2018, relatives will receive one-time support of 6 million VND.

In addition to the above support level, if the subjects return to settle in the country, they will also enjoy the health insurance regime as for meritorious people; when they die, the person in charge of the funeral will receive a funeral allowance.

The Decree takes effect from September 5, 2018.

6. Universities and colleges must commit to training quality on their websites.

On July 27, 2018, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 15/2018/TT-BGDDT regulating the use of email and electronic information pages of universities and pedagogical colleges.

The Circular clearly states that universities and pedagogical colleges must publicly disclose on their websites their commitment to actual educational quality; conditions for ensuring educational quality; financial revenues and expenditures; information related to conditions, records, procedures, time and location for registration for exams, preliminary selection, and admission; admission results, admission scores, list of admitted candidates, etc.

The Ministry of Education and Training will set up a shared email group to exchange information between the Ministry and higher education institutions at the email address:[email protected]and[email protected].

The Circular takes effect from September 11, 2018.