Law

A view of the National Assembly discussions on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo HÀ NỘI — The National Assembly continued their working session on Monday, with discussions centred on the amendments to the Law on Criminal Procedures which is set to be voted on for adoption in this session. The amendments are mostly about realising Việt Nam’s commitments when it acceded to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and making changes to adapt to the COVID-19 era. The CPTPP said member countries’ relevant authorities could initiate legal action against violations of industrial property rights or trademarks without the need for a lawsuit from a third-party or from the infringed rights' holder. This is in conflict with the current law on criminal proceedings. Most agreed that changes to the law are needed to fit CPTPP provisions, but the handling of violations of geographical indications (as part of the industrial property rights category) – …

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Pham Huy Long, born in 1989, and Tran Dang Kiet, born in 1994, both in the Northern Province of Lao Cai have been held in custody. At around 2am on August 22, police officers in Phu Tho Province in collaboration with the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security discovered Ly Van Thu, born in 1997 in Lao Cai Province was driving a car on the Hanoi - Lao Cai highway in Phu Tho Province’s Viet Tri City. Driver Thu couldn’t produce certificates of commodity origin on his car. Among goods on the vehicle, there were nearly 7,000 Covid-19 rapid test kits priced at nearly VND1 billion (US$43,902). During the investigation process, police officials found that Kiet and Long were involved in the case. Long confessed he was hired to transport the commodities by a person in the capital city of Hanoi while Kiet was verified to be the importer of the above goods with the amount of VND112 million. To cover up his illegal acts, Kiet declared that the import goods were …

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Workers in a seafood factory in southern Bình Dương Province. The EU is among the largest export markets for Vietnamese seafood. — VNA/VNS Photo HÀ NỘI — Foreign direct investment (FDI) is to continue flowing into Việt Nam from Europe in the medium to long-term thanks to the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), which was ratified in August last year, experts said. A year later, two-way trade and investment have seen significant progress. Việt Nam-EU trade has increased by 11.9 per cent year-on-year to reach US$54.6 billion. By the end of September this year, EU members were running 2,242 projects in the Southeast Asian country with a total investment registered of $22.2 billion, 5.58 per cent of all foreign investment in Việt Nam. The agreement, which focuses on the liberalisation of non-direct investments and the procedure for settling disputes between investors and the State, replaced the 20 previous bilateral investment agreements between Việt Nam and 21 …

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Useful measures in seafood fishing help fishermen in Hoai Nhon Town increase their output. (Photo: SGGP) Equipment upgrades have obviously saved much time and effort of Vietnamese fishermen while helping them earn more money. “In addition to modern tools, we go in groups of 5-15 ships. When an ideal fishing spot is identified, small ships anchor there to operate for 2 months while larger fishing vessels bring products to the mainland, then take essential commodities back to the fishing site. This method can increase 50 percent of the performance and reduce unnecessary ship movement, thus minimizing violation of international laws”, explained Mr. Vang. Modern fishing ships are also installed with radar equipment, locator machine, fish detector machine to rise the fishing capacity by over 50 percent and decrease fuel consumption by 25 percent, informed Chairman of Tinh Ky Commune Fisheries Union Phan Huu Nhat (in Quang Ngai Province). This commune has also been remarkably …

[Read more...] about Vietnam aiming at sustainable exploitation of sea resources

As of Monday morning, over 700 residents of Hoc Mon District had contacted authorities to return the Covid-19 support money they got during the third round of distribution. They were found to have employed numerous tricks to receive the money several times. Some falsely declared certain information, taking advantage of the fact that people aged 14 and under have yet to have personal IDs, to collect support money many times over, or used their husbands and wives' address to sign up for Covid-19 support. Le Thuy My Chau, deputy chairwoman of the Hoc Mon People’s Committee, said besides the many who have voluntarily contacted authorities to return the money, others have remained silent. Authorities are still trying to persuade people to return their falsely claimed support money voluntarily by October 27. After this date, the issue would be dealt with in accordance with the law. In District 11, around 6,000 recipients did not belong to the categories eligible to get Covid-19 support …

[Read more...] about Thousands game system to steal Covid support money in HCMC

Economic experts say that for over 30 years of development, Vietnam has not yet built a strong team of private enterprises which play the role of a "launch pad" for the country's economic development. The report on "Strengthening the private sector’s capacity in the new period" published recently by the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) shows an increasing number of private enterprises in the list of the top 500 largest enterprises in Vietnam in the past five years. Six private corporations are included in the list of large groups in Asia and the world. In addition, the private sector contributes up to 40% of the country’s GDP and creates millions of jobs. It has an increasingly important position of in the Vietnamese economy. In 2015-2020, the number of newly established private enterprises increased steadily every year, from about 70,000/year on average in the period of 2006-2014, to 120,000 in the period of 2015-2020. In 2011, there were about …

[Read more...] about Private sector: the driving force for recovery and breakthrough

In a bid to continue successfully controlling inflation this year amid a rise in local consumption, the government is taking drastic action, with the stabilisation of prices of key items in the market a priority. The government has ordered localities to use sound solutions to bring inflation under control. Although the four-month consumer price index (CPI) remains low, at 0.89% as compared to that of the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has just sent a document to leaders of localities nationwide requiring them to apply sound solutions to keep prices in the market on the right track. Close control Specifically, the MoF has asked the people’s committees of provinces and centrally-ruled cities to increase their management, monitoring, and stabilisation of prices, and take the initiative in calculating and formulating pricing schemes for items whose prices are determined by the government. The MoF’s fresh move is aimed at supporting the …

[Read more...] about Inflation expected to be reined in for 2021

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told UK lawmakers Monday that posting content featuring anger and hate "is the easiest way to grow" on the social media platform as she urged better regulation. Haugen, who earlier this year shared a trove of internal documents alleging Facebook knew its products were harming children's mental health, argued the platform was "unquestionably" fuelling hate. Haugen said Facebook used "engagement-based rankings" prioritising the most clicked — and invariably divisive — content. "It pushes you to the extremes and it fans hate," she told a panel of British MPs probing regulatory options, weeks after she testified to US Congress. "Anger and hate is the easiest way to grow on Facebook... bad actors have an incentive to play the algorithm, and they figure out all the ways to optimise Facebook." Haugen worked for companies including Google and Pinterest before starting at the world's largest social media platform in 2019 with the hope of helping …

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A housing project built for workers in Kim Chung commune of Dong Anh District. — Photo courtersy of HNM The Ministry of Construction has proposed a VND30 trillion (US$ 1.3 billion) credit package to build low-cost homes for workers. According to the Ministry of Construction (MoC), the package will help ensure social welfare for vulnerable people, enhance economic recovery and development, remove the difficulties plaguing enterprises and support the development of the housing and real estate market. Although the Government has issued multiple solutions to develop affordable housing for workers, the supply of homes for workers at industrial parks have yet to meet the demand. Across the country, there are 266 social housing projects with more than 142,000 units totalling more than 7.1 million square metres. Another 278 projects including 276,000 units with a total area of 13.8 million square metres are under development. Cities and provinces have completed 121 social housing …

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