The Office of the President held a press conference to announce 8 Laws.

On the morning of December 12, the Office of the President held a press conference to announce the President's Order on promulgating eight Laws passed at the 8th Session of the 13th National Assembly.

Explaining policies to taxpayers at the Quang Ninh Tax Department. Illustrative photo: VNA

Simplify administrative procedures, transparency, modernity in registration and management of household registration

Effective from January 1, 2016, the Law on Civil Status mainly codifies current regulations (in Government Decrees, Circulars, Joint Circulars of Ministries and Inter-Ministries) that have been tested in practice; at the same time, it stipulates a number of new contents in the direction of simplifying administrative procedures, transparency, modernity, and linking with the application of information technology in civil status registration and management.

The law emphasizes the importance of birth registration and birth certificate issuance, and stipulates the issuance of Personal Identification Numbers when registering births. Personal Identification Numbers are issued to each Vietnamese citizen, not repeated by others, and are also the citizen identification card numbers issued when a person turns 14 years old.

The Law stipulates the establishment of an electronic civil status database to store personal civil status information (in parallel with the paper database), and at the same time connect with the National Population Information Database.

The law opens up opportunities for people to choose the most suitable and convenient method to carry out their civil status registration requests, such as submitting documents directly, by post or through the online registration system under conditions where the information technology infrastructure allows. Individuals have the right to choose their own civil status registration agency regardless of their previous place of residence.

The law also clearly stipulates exemption of household registration fees for people from families with revolutionary contributions, people from poor households, and people with disabilities.

With the view of implementing strong decentralization to local and grassroots authorities, the Law stipulates that the People's Committee at the district level handles all civil status registrations involving foreign elements and changes and corrections of civil status for people aged 14 and over, except for birth registration for children born in Vietnam whose father or mother is a Vietnamese citizen permanently residing in the border area and the other is a citizen of a neighboring country permanently residing in the border area with Vietnam; marriage, recognition of father, mother, and child of a Vietnamese citizen permanently residing in the border area with a citizen of a neighboring country permanently residing in the border area with Vietnam, and death registration for foreigners residing stably and permanently in the border area of ​​Vietnam. The People's Committee at the commune level registers the remaining civil status matters.

The civil status registration procedure is regulated in a simple manner, minimizing unnecessary paperwork. To overcome the shortcomings and weaknesses of the current civil status and judicial civil status staff, the Law has codified regulations on civil status standards, especially civil status and judicial civil status staff must have intermediate level or higher, be trained in civil status and have appropriate computer skills according to job requirements.

Removing difficulties and obstacles in civil judgment enforcement

The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement takes effect from July 1, 2015, specifically regulating the rights and obligations of the judgment enforcer, the judgment obligee and the persons with related rights and obligations in the direction of enhancing the initiative and responsibility of the parties in the process of organizing the judgment enforcement.

On the other hand, to be consistent with reality, the amended Law moves the verification of the conditions for execution of judgments from the obligation of the judgment beneficiary to the responsibility of the civil judgment enforcement agency to reduce difficulties for the judgment beneficiary, and at the same time stipulates that the judgment beneficiary does not have to bear the verification costs.

The Law supplements a number of new tasks and powers of the Court to ensure a clear and reasonable division of responsibilities between the Court and the civil enforcement agency in enforcing the Court's judgments and decisions; strengthens responsibility and improves legal processes and procedures so that the Court, in accordance with its functions, can explain and clarify the content of the judgments and decisions it declares and resolve related legal issues in cases where the content of the Court's judgments and decisions is changed...

Ensuring stable revenue for the State budget on the basis of reasonable mobilization of a number of goods.

The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Special Consumption Tax takes effect from January 1, 2016.

Accordingly, the amended and supplemented Law stipulates that “all types of gasoline” are subject to special consumption tax. According to the above regulation, from January 1, 2016, naphtha (including condensate), reconstituted preparations and other preparations for blending gasoline are not subject to special consumption tax.

The supplementary law stipulates that the taxable price for goods subject to both environmental protection tax and special consumption tax is the price excluding environmental protection tax and value added tax to ensure consistency of the tax law system.

Regarding tax rates on tobacco products, the Law stipulates a roadmap for increasing special consumption tax from 65% to 70% from January 1, 2016; from January 1, 2019, it will increase from 70% to 75%.

For alcohol with 20 degrees or more: apply tax rate of 55% from January 1, 2016, 60% from January 1, 2017 and 65% from January 1, 2018.

For alcohol under 20 degrees: apply tax rate of 30% from January 1, 2016 and 35% from January 1, 2018.

For beer, from January 1, 2016, it will increase from 50% to 55%; from January 1, 2017, it will be 60%; from January 1, 2018, it will be 65%.

To further encourage the use of biofuels and domestically produced alcohol fuels, contributing to environmental protection, the Law stipulates preferential special consumption tax rates for biofuels of 8% for E5 gasoline and 7% for E10 gasoline.

The Law stipulates that special consumption tax will not be collected from individuals who win prizes in casinos or electronic games with prizes because the winning income cannot be determined in reality. In order to ensure consistency with this amendment, the Law stipulates that the special consumption tax rate on casino business (including electronic games with prizes) will be increased from 30% to 35%.

Facilitate taxpayers

The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Laws on Taxes stipulates exemption of corporate income tax on income from agricultural and aquatic product processing activities of cooperatives and enterprises in particularly difficult areas.

Apply a tax rate of 10% to income from agricultural and aquatic product processing activities of cooperatives and enterprises in disadvantaged areas. Apply a tax rate of 15% to income of enterprises engaged in cultivation, animal husbandry, and processing in the agricultural and aquatic product sectors not located in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions or areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions.

Regarding value added tax, the Law adds non-taxable objects for offshore fishing vessels; changes three groups of goods subject to the 5% tax rate to non-taxable objects: fertilizers; animal feed, poultry and other livestock feed; machinery and specialized equipment serving agricultural production.

The Law also adds income exempted from personal income tax for income from salaries and wages of Vietnamese crew members working for foreign shipping companies or Vietnamese shipping companies engaged in international transport; personal income of ship owners, individuals with the right to use ships from activities of providing goods and services directly serving offshore fishing and exploitation activities; and income of crew members working on ships...

The law comes into effect from January 1, 2015.

Ensuring citizens' freedom to invest and do business

Effective from July 1, 2015, the Investment Law consists of 7 chapters and 76 articles, stipulating contents to ensure the implementation of the Constitutional principle on citizens' freedom of investment and business in industries not prohibited by law; consolidating and perfecting the investment guarantee mechanism in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and international treaties to which Vietnam is a member.

In addition, the Law also completes regulations on investment incentive sectors and occupations to improve the quality and efficiency of investment attraction; continues to reform administrative procedures associated with enhancing investors' responsibility in implementing investment projects; completes the decentralization regime, improves the effectiveness of State management of investment activities; completes regulations on overseas investment activities.

Improving the effectiveness of state management of enterprises

The important amendments and supplements to the Enterprise Law are: fully institutionalizing the right to freedom of business according to the 2013 Constitution; reducing risks, increasing proactiveness and responsiveness in business activities of enterprises; facilitating the process of market entry; reducing time and costs in business establishment procedures.

In addition, the Law also amends and supplements the contents to reduce costs, create a flexible and effective operating mechanism for corporate governance, restructure enterprises, better protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors, shareholders, and company members; enhance the effectiveness of State management of enterprises; and facilitate relevant parties to participate in monitoring enterprise operations.

The Enterprise Law consists of 10 chapters and 213 articles, effective from July 1, 2015.

Overcoming limitations in management and use of state capital in enterprises

The Law on Management and Use of State Capital Invested in Production and Business at Enterprises takes effect from July 1, 2015, consisting of 10 chapters and 66 articles.

The Law assigns the Government to prescribe the roadmap for State capital divestment in enterprises not on the list of enterprises in which the State holds 100% of charter capital. Forms of restructuring State capital in enterprises: conversion of ownership and reorganization of enterprises; transfer of the right to represent State capital ownership in enterprises; transfer of State capital invested in joint stock companies and limited liability companies with two or more members.

The Law also stipulates the content of supervision, inspection and examination of State capital investment activities in enterprises; management and use of capital and assets at enterprises in which the State holds 100% of charter capital; management of State capital invested in joint stock companies and limited liability companies with two or more members and restructuring of State capital in enterprises.

The National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Ethnic Council, the National Assembly Committees, the National Assembly delegations, and National Assembly deputies supervise investment activities, management, and use of State capital in enterprises in accordance with the provisions of law on National Assembly supervision activities; the Government and the Prime Minister organize inspections and audits according to their authority; the representative agency of the owner conducts supervision, inspections and audits according to assignment and decentralization; enterprises in which the State holds 100% of charter capital are responsible for conducting internal supervision.

Perfecting the legal system on vocational education

Effective from July 1, 2015, the Law on Vocational Education consists of 8 chapters and 79 articles regulating vocational education institutions; training activities and international cooperation; rights and responsibilities of enterprises in vocational training and education activities; teachers and learners; vocational education quality assessment; and State management of vocational education.

The Law on Vocational Education amends and supplements a number of articles of the Law on Vocational Training in the direction of expanding the scope, adjusting to the subjects of vocational secondary schools, colleges, general technical centers - career guidance, perfecting the legal system on vocational education in the spirit of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education.

Accordingly, the training levels of vocational education include: Primary, intermediate and college. Vocational education institutions include: Vocational education centers, intermediate schools and colleges. Colleges are separated from university education, becoming a vocational education institution.

The Government shall uniformly manage vocational education and shall specify the central State management agency for vocational education. The central State management agency for vocational education shall be responsible to the Government for implementing the State management of vocational education.

According to Vietnam+