5 New Prominent Policies Effective from Mid-April

1. Food Production Facility Owners Must Have Periodic Health Check-ups

According to Circular 57/2015/TT-BCT stipulating the conditions for ensuring food safety (FS) in small-scale food production under the management responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the production facilities must meet the following general conditions:

- The owner and the persons directly involved in production must have a valid Certificate of Food Safety Knowledge issued by a competent authority.

- The owner and the persons directly involved in production must undergo periodic health check-ups at least once a year at district-level or higher medical establishments and possess a Health Certificate for food production issued by district-level or higher medical establishments.

Additionally, Circular 57 also sets forth requirements for production areas, food ingredients, food additives, food processing aids, and water used for food production and processing.

Circular 57/2015/TT-BCT takes effect from April 15, 2016.

2. Cases of Violations Warned on the Enterprise Registration System

From April 15, 2016, Joint Circular 01/2016/TTLT-BKHDT-BTC guiding the exchange of enterprise (EN) information between the National Enterprise Registration Information System and the Tax Information System comes into effect.

Cases of legal violation (LV) warnings on the National Enterprise Registration Information System include:

- Founders and managers of enterprises with signs of criminal LV, transferred to investigative authorities by tax agencies as prescribed.

- Enterprises where founders and managers were previously founders and managers of enterprises officially notified by tax agencies of having ceased operations at their registered address.

- Private enterprise owners and general partners in partnership companies violating provisions under Article 175 and Article 183 of the Enterprise Law.

Upon receiving the application for EN establishment registration, registration of amendments, and business suspension request of the enterprise, the Business Registration Office must verify and review the above-mentioned cases for handling in accordance with the Enterprise Law.

More details can be found in Joint Circular 01/2016/TTLT-BKHDT-BTC.

3. Transactions Paid from Foreign Currency Loan and Debt Repayment Accounts

Circular 03/2016/TT-NHNN guiding the management of foreign exchange for enterprise foreign loans and debt repayments was issued on February 26, 2016.

Foreign currency loan and debt repayment accounts shall be used to perform the following disbursement transactions:

- Transfer funds to repay principal and interest of foreign loans.

- Transfer funds abroad to settle mandatory receivables for non-resident guarantors as prescribed in Chapter V of this Circular.

- Transfer funds to the foreign currency payment account of the borrower.

- Sell foreign currency to authorized credit institutions.

- Transfer funds to the borrower's foreign currency account opened abroad to fulfill commitments under the foreign loan agreement.

- Transfer funds to pay fees as agreed under the foreign loan agreement.

- Convert foreign currency to repay (principal and interest) of the foreign loan in cases where the repayment currency is not the currency of the loan and debt repayment account.

Circular 03/2016/TT-NHNN takes effect from April 15, 2016.

4. Procedures for Issuing, Exchanging, and Reissuing Citizen Identification Cards

On March 4, 2016, the Ministry of Public Security issued Circular 11/2016/TT-BCA stipulating procedures for issuing, exchanging, and reissuing Citizen Identification Cards (CIC).

After receiving the application for issuing, exchanging, or reissuing CIC, the responsible officer shall perform the following tasks:

- Collect the identity card, cut the corner and return it to the citizen (if available); collect the CIC for exchange cases.

- Enter information about the type of CIC issuance (issue, exchange, reissue), personal details, and identifying characteristics of the citizen.

- Collect the citizen’s fingerprints.

- Take the citizen’s portrait photo.

- Print the CIC information receipt, hand it to the citizen for verification, signature, full name, and have the receipt officer check, sign, and fully name.

- Collect fees if issuing or reissuing CIC in accordance with regulations.

- Issue a receipt for CIC issuance, exchange, or reissue result return to the citizen.

- Hand over the CIC application for classification to the responsible officer.

Circular 11/2016/TT-BCA takes effect from April 20, 2016, and replaces Circular 07/2014/TT-BCA.

5. Guidance on Fees for Fire Fighting Equipment Inspection

On March 3, 2016, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular 42/2016/TT-BTC guiding fees, policies, collection, management, and use of fire fighting equipment inspection fees.

Individuals and organizations submitting applications for the inspection of fire fighting equipment by competent authorities must pay inspection fees.

The inspection fee rates for fire fighting equipment are detailed in the Fee Schedule attached to this Circular.

Necessary material costs, travel expenses incurred during inspection; costs of printing and affixing inspection stamps shall be borne by the requesting organization or individual according to actual expenses and aligned with legal regulations.

The fee-collecting agency may retain 90% of collected fees for fire fighting equipment inspection activities, the remaining 10% shall be submitted to the state budget.

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for addressing issues arising during the implementation of Circular 42.

Circular 42/2016/TT-BTC takes effect from April 20, 2016.

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