On 1 January 2021, the new Labour Code ("New Labour Code"), which was enacted by the National Assembly in November 2019, will come into effect. It will replace the existing Labour Code which was enacted in 2012.
The New Labour Code maintains an approach that favours the protection of employee rights. Unilateral termination rights for the employers under the New Labour Code remain unchanged, however employees will have the ability to terminate their labour contracts without notice in certain circumstances.
The key changes contained in the New Labour Code relate to the overhaul of the existing labour contract regime and the definition of a labour contract (and hence, labour relationship). The New Labour Code will not allow seasonal or specific job contract (permitting only the definite-term and indefinite-term contracts) and will extend the definition of a labour contract to any contracts that contain certain “labour-like” terms (e.g. tasks to be completed, compensation or salary and supervision from the payor).
On 6 November 2019, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) issued an updated draft decree to amend Decree 101/2012/ND-CP on non-cash payments ("Draft Decree"), which was opened to public comments.
A notable change introduced by the Draft Decree is the proposed 49% foreign ownership cap on companies engaging in payment intermediary services (PIS). Currently, most PIS companies are foreign-owned. Operations of these existing PIS companies are expected to be affected, as the Draft Decree does not include a full grandfather clause. The Draft Decree proposes to apply the foreign ownership cap to an existing PIS upon the earlier of the expiry of its PIS licence or a change in shareholders to the company.
Among other changes, the Draft Decree also proposes to regulate “mobile money” service under the Vietnamese law. This service comprises electronic money issued by a PIS provider providing telecommunications services by identifying clients through mobile subscriber databases.
