What are Trade Remedies in Vietnam?

When participating in the process of international economic integration, every country voluntarily cut off the trade barriers for goods to easily circulate among each other. However, in the legal framework of World Trade Organization (WTO), the countries are allowed to impose trade remedies if satisfying certain conditions. Vietnam has officially become a member of WTO since July 11 2007 and the imposing of these trade remedies are regulated in Law on foreign trade management 2018.

According to Law on foreign trade management 2018, trade remedies includes anti-dumping measure, countervailing measure and safeguard measure. Specifically, (i) Anti-dumping measure imposed on imports into Vietnam is a measure imposed on products that are dumped when being imported to Vietnam, which causes material injury or threaten to cause material injury to domestic industry or retard the establishment of the domestic industry; (ii) Countervailing measure imposed on imports into Vietnam is a measure imposed on products that are subsidized when being imported to Vietnam, which causes the material injury or threat of material injury to the domestic industry or retards the establishment of the domestic industry; (iii) Safeguard measure imposed on foreign products imported into Vietnam is measure imposed on increased imports of particular products to Vietnam, which causes the serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry.

The domestic industry mentioned above refers to the producers as a whole of the like products within the territory of Vietnam or those whose collective output of the like products constitutes a major proportion of domestic production of those products. Besides, the injury to domestic industry shall be determined on each level: (i) Material injury to domestic industry; (ii) threat of material injury to domestic industry; (iii) material retardation of establishment of a domestic industry; (iv)serious injury to domestic industry; (v) threat of serious injury to domestic industry.

Due to the imposing of these remedies directly affecting to foreign producer/exporter as well as domestic industry, thus, it is required to comply to six following rules when imposing these remedies:

Firstly, impose measures within the reasonable scope and level for a certain period of time to protect domestic industry, prevent or limit the injury to it;

Secondly, only impose measures after the investigation is carried out transparently and fairly in accordance with regulations of law and based on determinations of the investigation;

Thirdly, decisions on the investigation and the imposition of trade remedies shall be published;

Fourthly, if the duty rate of an official trade remedy is higher than those of a provisional trade remedy, the difference of duty will not be collected;

Fifthly, if the duty rate of an official trade remedy is lower than those of the provisional trade remedy, the difference of duty will be returned;

Sixthly, if the Minister of Industry and Trade does not impose an official trade remedy, the duty of provisional trade remedy that has been collected or the amount for ensuring the payment of temporary trade remedy duties shall be returned.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice regarding trade remedies measures including: anti-dumping, counterveiling duty and safeguard measures or international trade dispute matters, our international trade lawyers at ANT Lawyers could be of help.

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Marriage and family in Vietnam

Marriage and family matters are of importance to each individual. Decision on such will impact their life for a long period of time. Marriage and family lawyers could help clients make right decisions and provide services required. At ANT Lawyers, a law firm in Vietnam with offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, we assist clients on:

-Consulting the general provisions of the Law on Marriage and Family in Vietnam;

-Reviewing and drafting prenuptial agreement;

-Advising on marriage with foreigners;

-Advising on divorce involving foreigners;

-Consulting on division of property, children in divorce;

-Consulting on lawsuit to protect interests;

-Lawyers representing and protecting the clients at competent authorities;

-Consulting on child adoption procedures.

Please contact us for inquiries through email ant@antlawyers.vn, call our office at +84 28 730 86 529 or talk to our partner directly at + 84 912 817 823

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What Are Rights and Obligations of Foreigners Owning Properties in Vietnam?

According to the current Vietnamese law, the ownership of houses in Vietnam by foreigners has changed significantly towards more openness. However, home ownership of foreigners and Vietnamese citizens are still different.

Foreign house ownership is allowed in commercial housing construction projects only (i.e., only in newly formed residential areas), not an area of national defense and security purpose. In case of house donation or inheritance of house not subject to this regulation, the foreigener only receives the value of that house.

The foreigners combined may not buy, rent and purchase, receive, inherit and own more than 30% of apartments in an apartment building; or not more than 250 houses of separate houses including villas, row houses in an area whose population is equivalent to a ward-administrative division

In an area whose population is equivalent to that of a ward, if there is a commercial housing construction project for sale or lease-purchase, the quantity of detached houses that may be owned by foreigner is specified below: where the quantity of detached houses of an project is fewer than 2,500, foreigner may own up to 10% of the houses of such project; where there is only one project whose quantity of detached houses is equivalent to 2,500 houses, foreigners may own up to 250 houses of them; where there are two or more projects where the total quantity of detached houses does not exceed 2,500 houses, foreigners may own up to 10% of the houses of each project. In case a house is donated or inherited in excess of the number of houses under this regulation, only the value of that house is entitled.

The foreigners are eligible for the homeownership as agreed in agreements on housing sale, lease purchase, gifting, or inheritance for not more than 50 years from the date of issuance of the Certificate and have can be extended further according to the Government’s regulations if the need arises; house ownership period must be specified in the Certificate.

In case a foreign individual marries a Vietnamese citizen or an overseas Vietnamese, he/she can own a stable, long-term house and has the same rights as a Vietnamese citizen.

The foreign organization are eligible for the homeownership as agreed in agreements on housing sale, lease purchase, gifting, or inheritance for not longer than duration stated in their Certificate of investment, including extension duration, the duration of the homeownership shall be determined from the day on which the organization is granted the Certificate and stated in such Certificate.

In addition, foreign organizations and foreign individuals permitted to enter Vietnam have the same obligations as Vietnamese citizens but must comply with the following provisions:

If the homeowner is a foreign individual, he/she is entitled to lease house for lawful purposes provided that he/she notifies the agency of district in charge of housing where the house is located of housing lease as prescribed in regulations of the Minister of Construction and pays taxes on housing lease as prescribed before leasing houses. If a foreign individual gets married to a Vietnamese citizen or an oversea Vietnamese, he/she qualifies for stable and long-term homeownership and has all rights of homeowner similarly to Vietnamese citizens.

If the homeowner is a foreign organization, its house is/are only provided for their employees but it is not allowed to use their house for lease, offices, or other purposes.

The above are provisions on rights and obligations of foreign organizations and individuals when owning properties in Vietnam.  For specific matters, please consult with property, real estate lawyers for legal advice for the property transaction from deposit agreement, house sales and purchase agreement, and registration of ownership with authorities for certificate of land use right, or house owernship certificate of to avoid property disputes in Vietnam, where the house ownership, land use rights are restricted for foreigners.

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Receiving the Exemption Dossier of Imposing Anti-Dumping Measure in AD07 Case

On August 25, 2020, Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV) – Ministry of Industry and Trade issued the notification on receiving exemption dossier of imposing anti-dumping measure to some plastic products and products from plastic made of polyme from propylen originated from republic People's ofChina, Kingdom of Thailand and Malaysia.

The products which subjected to impose anti-dumping measure with the following HS code: 3920.20.10, 3920.20.91.

According to Article 10 Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT, Minister of Ministry on Industry and Trade consider to exempt the imposing of temporary anti-dumping measure, official anti-dumping measure to some imported products which imposed trade remedies in the following cases:

1. Goods cannot be domestically produced;

2. The good has characteristics which are different from and cannot be substituted by the domestically produced products;

3. The goods are special products of the like or directly competitive products produced by domestic industry;

4. There are no sale of the like or directly competitive products produced by the domestic industry in the ordinary course of trade in the domestic market;

5. The like or directly competitive products produced by the domestic industry are not enough to satisfy the needs of the domestic market;

6. The imports within the total quantities of imports requesting for exclusion prescribed in above 5 cases are intended for serving research and development purposes as well as other non-commercial purposes.

Requesting exemption dossiers must be submitted online or at TRAV office before 5p.m on September 24^th, 2020.

Lawyers at ANT Lawyers, anti-dumping and countervailing duties practice, and international trade disputes always follow up with Vietnam government agencies on developments to update clients on related matters.

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Ministry of Industry and Trade initiates the Investigation of Imposing Anti-dumping Measure to some H shaped steel products (AD12)

On August 24^th 2020, Minister of Ministry of Industry and Trade signed the Decision No. 2251/QD-BCT regarding the Investigation of imposing Anti-dumping measure to some H shapedsteel products from Malaysia. Related parties may by themselves or authorize to experienced law firm in Vietnam on international trade to work with Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV) to cooperate.

Background

On November 06, 2020, Trade Remedies of authority of Vietnam (TRAV), Ministry of Industry and Trade received the dossiers on requesting the anti-dumping measure to some H shaped steel products from Malaysia. The requester is Posco Yamato Vina Steel Joint stock Company – the sole company which produced H shaped steel in Vietnam.

The requester provided the reasonable bases for calculation of dumping margin originated from Malaysia. The requester provided the reasonable information to prove the significant damage of domestic industry. The requester’s dossier proved the existence of causal relationship between imported products and the significant damage of domestic industry.

Hence, TRAV determined dossier of the requester satisfied the law of anti-dumping and petition of Minister of Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Investigation’s details

i) Products under investigation

Product’s name: H shaped steel

The H shaped steel product with the following HS code: 7216.33.11, 7216.33.19, 7216.33.90, 7228.70.10 and 7228.70.90

The products which are excluded from investigation scope includes:

The H shaped steel with the height more than 700 mm (± 4mm) or the width more than 300 mm (± 3mm);

H steel beam with the size of 100mm x 55mm or 120mm x 64mm (the description size is height x width).

The Ministry of Industry and Trade may amend and supplement the list of HS codes of the product under investigation to be in accordance with the description of the product under investigation and other changes (if any).

ii) Originated of products under investigation: Malaysia

iii) Period of investigation (POI)

-Period of investigation to determine the anti-dumping action: from April 1^st 2019 to March 31^st 2020

-Period of investigation to determine the damage of domestic industry:

The first year: from April 1^st 2017 to March 31^st 2018

The second year: from April 1^st 2018 to March 31^st 2019

The third year: from April 1st 2019 to March 31st 2020

iv) Duty Levels Proposed by Requester:

The anti-dumping duty which is requested by the requester is 10,2%.

Register as related parties:

Pursuant to Article 6 of Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT, organizations and individuals stipulated in Article 74 of Law on foreign trade management may register as related parties in this case with TRAV in order to access to publicly circulated information during the investigation process, send comments, information and evidence related to the investigation content within sixty (60) working days from the day on which the decision on investigation takes effect via post or email.

In order to ensure rights and interests, the investigating authority recommend that organizations and individuals which produce, import or use products under investigation register as related parties to carry out the right to access information, provide information and express opinions during the investigation process.

Investigation Questionnaire:

Within 15 days after the issuance of the investigation decision of the Minister of Industry and Trade, the Investigating Authority shall send the investigation questionnaire to the Related Parties, including:

-The applicant requests for application of Anti-dumping measures;

-Other domestic manufacturers which Investigating Authority knows;

-Parties requesting for application investigation of anti-dumping measures which Investigating Authority knows;

-Importers of products under investigation;

-Diplomatic authorities of the country where the origin of products under investigation;

-Other related

Cooperating in the investigation process

Any related party refuses to participate in the case or does not provide necessary evidences or significantly ​obstructs the completion of the investigation, the investigation conclusion regarding such relevant party shall be based on available information.

Any related party provides false or misleading evidences, such evidences shall not be reviewed and investigation conclusion regarding such relevant party shall be based on available information.

TRAV recommends that related party participate and cooperate fully in the process in order to ensure legitimate rights and interests and avoid potential disputes.

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How Licensing of Trademark Works?

Licensing of industrial property subject in general or of trademark in specific is regulated in Intellectual Property law.  Accordingly, in trademark licensing, the owner (licensor) grants permission to another (licensee) to use that trademark on mutually agreed terms and conditions. The licensing of trademark must be established in written form to avoid dispute intrademark licensing.

Accordingly, licensing of trademark includes the following types: exclusive contract, non-exclusive contract; sub-license contract.

Firstly, exclusive contract means a contract under which, within the licensing scope and term, the licensee shall have the exclusive right to use the licensed trademark while the licensor may neither enter into any trademark license contract with any third party nor, without permission from the licensee, use such trademark.

Secondly, non-exclusive contract means a contract under which, within the licensing scope and term, the licensor shall still have the right to use the trademark and to enter into a non-exclusive trademark license contract with others.

Thirdly, trademark sub-license contract means a contract under which the licensor is a licensee of the right to use such trademark pursuant to another contract.

In any type of the contracts, it is required to have the following contents: full names and addresses of the licensor and of the licensee; grounds for licensing; contract type; licensing scope including limitations on use right and territorial limitations; contract term; licensing price; rights and obligations of the licensor and of the licensee.

Besides the above contents, the parties also need to take note on the validity of this contract. Different from assignment contract of trademark when it is required to register at National office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam to take effect, the licensing contract of trademark does not required this kind of registration for taking effect. Licensing contract shall automatically be terminated upon the termination of the licensor's trademark right.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice regarding licensing of trademark or dispute in trademark licensing contract, our Intellectual Propertyattorney in Vietnam at ANT Lawyers will be of help.

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TRAV Receiving Review Application of Products of Chinese and Korean origins (case No. AD04)

TRAV Receiving Review Application of Anti-Dumping Measures for flat-rolledalloy/non-alloy steel products, varnish painted or scanned or coated withplastics or other covers from China and Korea (AD04).

On August 20^th, 2020, Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV) – Ministry of Industry and Trade notified on receiving the dossier for reviewing flat-rolled alloy/non-alloy steel products, varnish painted or scanned or coated with plastics or other covers from China and Korea imported into Vietnam.

Specifically, on November 24^th 2019, Minister of Industry and Trade issued the Decision 3198/QĐ-BCT on imposing the official decision to some of the flat-rolled alloy/non-alloy steel products, varnish painted or scanned or coated with plastics or other covers from China and Korea.

According to Article 82.1.a Law on foreign management 2017: “After 1 year from the day on which the decision on imposition of anti-dumping measures is issued, the Minister of Industry and Trade may decide to review anti-dumping measures at the request of one or multiple interested parties and evidence provided by them.”

Regarding the right to submit request dossiers regulated in Article 58.1 Decree 10/2018/NĐ-CP: “Within 60 days before the end of one year from the date of issuance of the decision on the imposition of official anti-dumping measures and countervailing measures or the latest decision on the results of the review of anti-dumping measures, countervailing measures, the concerned parties as prescribed in Article 59 hereof may submit the dossiers for review, except for cases where the submission deadline is less than 09 months before the time limit for the Minister of Industry and Trade to decide whether to carry out the final review of anti-dumping or countervailing measures”.

Accordingly, the scope of review request of the interested parties regulated in Article 74  includes but not limited to the following contents:

-The product scope subject to anti-dumping measures;

-The anti-dumping margin imposing to some specific foreign enterprises;

-The damage of domestic industry.

After finishing the reviewing period, based on the investigating result, TRAV will propose Minister of Industry and Trade one of the following options:

-Continue to impose the anti-dumping measure in accordance with the current law; and/or

-Adjust the anti-dumping measure in accordance with the reviewing result; or

-Bring the anti-dumping measure to an end.

The performing of the procedures related to the reviewing period will not affect to the effective anti-dumping measures imposed currently.

The reviewing dossiers must be filed sufficiently and timely to TRAV before 5 p.m on October 24^th 2020 (Hanoi time)

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