1.    New Circular on foreign borrowing and debt repayment of the enterprise

The State Bank of Vietnam promulgated Circular 12/2022/TTNHNN (replacing Circular 03/2016/TT-NHNN) hereinafter referred to as “Circular”) in order to improve the legal framework on foreign borrowing and debt repayment of the enterprise. In the Circular, some notable provisions include:

(i)    Loans subject to registration:

-    Mid-term and long-term foreign loans.

-    Short-term loans whose principal repayment period is renewed which have more than 01 (one) year of maturity term.

-    Short-term loans which are not covered by any loan renewal contract but remain the outstanding principal owed (including outstanding interest included in principal) on the anniversary of the date of first withdrawal of loan proceeds in a full 01 (one) calendar year, except to the extent that borrowers have already paid their principal debt within a permitted duration of 30 (ten) days after the anniversary of the date of first withdrawal of loan proceeds in a full 01 (one) year.

(ii)    Entities subject to application for registration or registration for changes of loans:

-    Borrowers who are parties to foreign borrowing agreements with non-resident creditors.

-    Entities liable for making repayment to the trustor in case the credit institutions, foreign bank branches sign an agreement for on-lending with non-resident trustors.

-    Parties who are obliged to repay debts according to debt instruments issued outside the Vietnamese territory to non-residents.

-    Lessees who are parties to finance lease contracts with non-resident lessors.

-    The successor of foreign loan repayment obligation shall make registration or registration for change in accordance with this Circular in case the borrower is fully or partly divided, consolidated or acquired while arranging the foreign loan.

The Circular takes effect from November 15, 2022.

2.    Amending the relevant regulations of the Law on Chemicals

The Minister of Industry and Trade has just issued promulgated 17/2022/TT-BCT (hereinafter referred to as “Circular”) amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 32/2017/TT-BCT dated December 28, 2017 of the Minister of Industry and Trade detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Chemicals and Decree No. 113/2017/ND-CP dated October 9, 2017 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Chemicals.

(i)    Term of the production and trade in chemicals restricted from production and business in the industrial sector License (Article 1 of the Circular):

-    The new license is valid for 5 years from the date of issue. For persistent organic chemicals (POPs), the term of the License is 5 years from the date of issue or equal to the exemption registration term specified in Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP dated January 10, 2022 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection, whichever comes first.

-    The term of the license for re-issuance and adjustment is equal to the remaining term of the issued License.

(ii)    Amending a number of clauses of Article 6 of Circular No. 32/2017/TT-BCT as follows (Article 1 of Circular):

-    Amending clause 3 as follows:

•    The labeling of chemicals is carried out in accordance with the regulations of Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP dated April 14, 2017 of the Government on goods labels, Decree No. 111/2021/ND-CP dated May 9 In December 2021, the Government amends and supplements a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP on merchandise labels and is guided in Appendix 8 attached to this Circular.

-    Amending clause 5 as follows:

•    The warning picture in the transport of dangerous chemicals is specified in Appendix III Models and logos of dangerous goods labels issued together with the Government's Decree No. 42/2020/ND-CP dated April 8, 2020 prescribe the List of dangerous goods, the transportation of dangerous goods by road motor vehicles and the transportation of dangerous goods. dangerous goods on inland waterways;

The Circular takes effect from December 22, 2022.