20 types of goods and services subject to State monopoly

The Government has just issued Decree 94/2017/ND-CP on goods, services, and areas of state monopoly in commercial activities.

Accordingly, 20 goods and services subject to state monopoly in commercial activities include:
1- Goods and services serving national defense and security purposes;
2- Production, purchase, sale, export, import, temporary import, re-export, transit transportation of industrial explosives;
3- Production of gold bars;
4- Export and import of raw gold to produce gold bars;
5- Lottery issuance;
6- Import of cigarettes and cigars (except for import for duty-free sales);
7- Management, import, export, purchase, sale, preservation and protection of goods in the National Reserve List;
8- Printing and minting money;
9- Issuance of Vietnamese postage stamps;
10- Production, export, import, purchase, sale, transportation, storage of fireworks and services related to fireworks;
11- Transmission and dispatch of the national power system; construction and operation of multi-purpose hydropower and nuclear power plants of special economic and social importance;
12- Public services to ensure maritime safety (operation of lighthouse systems, operation of public maritime channels);
13- Coastal information public service (management, operation and exploitation of coastal information station system);
14- Ensuring flight operations (air traffic services, aeronautical information services, search and rescue services);
15- National railway and urban railway infrastructure systems invested by the State (management and exploitation of railway infrastructure systems, excluding railway infrastructure maintenance);
16- Management and exploitation of inter-provincial and inter-district irrigation and agricultural works systems; sea dykes in case of plan assignment;
17- Providing forestry services in special-use forests (except for landscape protection forests assigned by the State to economic organizations for lease to protect and develop forests, combined with landscape business, resorts, and eco-environmental tourism);
18- Publishing (excluding printing and distribution activities) of publications;
19- Managing, maintaining and exploiting the public postal network;
20- Providing public services in press publishing activities.

The Decree clearly states that state monopoly shall only be exercised in commercial activities for essential goods and services that the State needs to monopolize related to national defense, security, ensuring national interests, or other economic sectors that do not have the need or ability to participate.

State agencies have the right to exercise state monopoly in commercial activities through direct implementation or designation of organizations or individuals to implement. The designation must be decided in writing by the head of the competent state agency.

State monopoly commercial activities must be carried out under the supervision of state management agencies as prescribed by law.

Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and authorities at all levels are not allowed to regulate activities, goods, services, and areas where state-monopolized commercial activities are carried out. For goods, services, and areas serving national defense and security purposes, state monopoly in commercial activities is implemented under the guidance of the Minister of National Defense and the Minister of Public Security.

The Decree takes effect from October 1, 2017.

According to Urban Economics