Our Newsletter #10 would lead you on the following:
LEGAL UPDATE
I. Process, procedures and powers for issuance and management of APEC Business Travel Cards
The Prime Minister issued Decision No. 09/2023/QD-TTg dated 12 April 2023 on the process, procedures and powers for issuance and management of APEC Business Travel Cards with some notable contents as follows:
– Definition and form of APEC Business Travel Cards:
The APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) is a card issued to any business traveler by his/ her APEC home economy after pre-clearance is granted thereto by other participating economies. The form of ABTC:
- An ABTC can be physical or virtual. A physical ABTC and a virtual ABTC have the same legal validity.
- A physical ABTC is a rectangular card made of special materials using technology shared by participating economies, conformable to the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
- A virtual ABTC is a digital version of ABTC displayed on a smart device app with an Internet connection.
– A new ABTC shall be issued in the following cases:
- Initial issuance;
- The old card is no longer valid;
- A business traveler has been re-issued a card;
- A business traveler has his/her personal information changed;
- A business traveler has his/her position or office changed;
- A business has its corporate type or name changed;
- A business traveler has completed a sentence passed by the Court.
– Eligibility criteria for an ABTC:
- Eligibility criteria for the agency or organization where the business traveler is working: in need of frequently sending employees on short-term business travel to attend APEC meetings, conferences, seminars and events about economic cooperation and development.
- Eligibility criteria for the business where the business traveler is working:
- Have operated continuously for 12 months or more, strictly abides by the law and regulations on trade, tax, customs, labor, social insurance and other relevant laws;
- Being directly engaged in business cooperation with partners of APEC participating economies;
- In need of frequently sending employees on short-term business travel within APEC participating economies to carry out business cooperation, trade, investment, service or other economic purposes.
- An ABTC applicant must be a business person with the following conditions:
- Being fully 18 years old and with full legal capacity;
- Being a bona fide business person working at an agency, organization or business for 12 months or more by the time of applying for the ABTC;
- Being not suspended from exit from Vietnam under the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese citizens.
– Timeline for an ABTC application:
- Within 03 working days after receiving a complete and valid dossier, the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security shall exchange the personnel data of the applicant with the authorities of the APEC participating economies and cancel the existing ABTC.
- Within 21 days after exchanging personnel data, the applicable APEC participating economies shall review the applicant.
- Within 03 working days after receiving feedback from the authorities of all participating economies, the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security shall issue the ABTC to the applicant.
If feedback from all participating economies is not fully received and the applicant requires an ABTC, his/her agency, organization or business shall send a written request to the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security. Within 03 working days after receiving the written request, the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security shall issue the ABTC to the applicant.
II. Extension of deadlines for payment of value-added tax, enterprise income tax, personal income tax, and land rental
The Government issued Decree No. 12/2023/ND-CP dated 14 April 2023 on the extension of deadlines for payment of value-added tax, enterprise income tax, personal income tax, and land rental with notable contents as follows:
– For enterprise income tax:
- To extend the deadlines for payment of enterprise income tax amounts to be temporarily paid for tax periods of the first and second quarters of 2023 of enterprises and other organizations. The extended duration is 03 months from the deadline for enterprise income tax payment as prescribed by the law on tax administration.
- If an enterprise or organization has branches or affiliated units that make separate enterprise income tax declarations with their managing tax offices, such branches or affiliated units will also be entitled to an extension of the enterprise income tax payment deadline.
– For land rental:
- To extend the deadlines for payment of 50% of the land rental amounts payable in 2023 of enterprises, organizations, households, business households and individuals that are leased land directly by the State under decisions of or contracts signed with competent state agencies in the form of a land lease with an annual payment of land rental. The extension duration is 06 months from 31 May 2023 to 30 November 2023.
- This provision applies also to enterprises, organizations, business households and individuals that are leased land directly by the State under more than one decision or contract and conduct production and different business activities.
III. Personal data protection
The Government issued Decree No. 13/2023/ND-CP dated 17 April 2023 regulating the protection of personal data with notable contents as follows:
- Definition of personal data: Personal data means any information in the forms of symbols, letters, figures, images, sounds or similar forms in the electronic environment that is associated with a particular person or may lead to the identification of a particular person. Personal data includes basic personal data and sensitive personal data.
- Rights of the data subject include:
- Right to be informed;
- Right to consent;
- Right of access by the data subject;
- Right to the withdrawal of consent;
- Right to erasure of personal data;
- Right to restriction of data processing;
- Right to provision of data;
- Right to object;
- Right to complaint, denunciation, and initiation of lawsuits;
- Right to request compensation for damage; and
- Right to self-defense.
- Principles for personal data protection:
- Personal data shall be processed under law.
- The data subject has the right to be informed about activities relating to his/her data processing unless otherwise provided by law.
- Personal data is processed only for personal data processing that has been registered and declared by the controller, processor, controlling and processing entity, or third party.
- Collected personal data must be appropriate and within the scope and purposes of the processing. Purchase and sale of personal data in any form shall not be permitted unless otherwise provided by law.
- Personal data shall be updated and supplemented in conformity with the processing purposes.
- Measures for protection and security shall be applied to personal data during processing, including protection against breaches of personal data protection regulation and prevention and control of loss, destruction or damage due to incidents, and the use of technical measures.
- Personal data shall be only stored for a period suitable for data processing unless otherwise provided by law.
- The controller, controlling, and processing entity shall be responsible for complying with the data processing principles and demonstrating their observance of such principles.
- Measures to protect personal data are taken from the very beginning and throughout the processing of personal data, including:
- Management measures taken by organizations and individuals involved in personal data processing;
- Technical measures taken by organizations or individuals involved in personal data processing;
- Measures were taken by competent state management agencies under Decree 13/2023 and relevant laws;
- Investigation and procedural measures are taken by competent state agencies;
- Other measures as prescribed by law.
Decree No. 13/2023/ND-CP will take effect on 01 July 2023.
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Maybe you are interested in reading other Newsletters of BLawyers Vietnam: Newsletter on April 2023 / Newsletter on March 2023 / Newsletter on February 2023 / Newsletter on January 2023
