10 laws taking effect from July 1, 2024

Issuing and managing electronic identification cards

The Law on Identification officially took effect from July 1, officially changing the name of the citizen identification card to the identity card.

Accordingly, the Law on Identification stipulates that the new identification card will remove information on hometown, permanent residence, fingerprints, and identification features, and replace it with information on the citizen's place of birth registration and place of residence.

The Ministry of Public Security has expanded the subjects eligible for ID cards to include: Vietnamese citizens under 14 years old are issued ID cards upon request; Vietnamese citizens who are not eligible for permanent or temporary residence registration if their current residence information is updated in the National Population Database.

In addition, this is the first time that people under 6 years old are issued an ID card. To issue this card to this subject, the legal representative of the person under 6 years old completes the procedure through the public service portal or the national identification application. The authorities do not collect identification and biometric information for people under 6 years old.

Also from July 1, the authorities will issue identity certificates to people of Vietnamese origin whose nationality is undetermined. This is an identification document containing information about the identity of people of Vietnamese origin whose nationality is undetermined and who have been living in Vietnam for 6 months or more. According to this new regulation, the identity certificate is valid as proof of identity for conducting transactions and exercising legal rights and interests in Vietnam.

The new law adds provisions on integrating information into identity cards, including: health insurance cards, social insurance books, driver's licenses, birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc. People request to integrate information into identity cards when needed or when issuing identity cards. Using information integrated into identity cards has the same value as providing information or using documents containing that information in performing administrative procedures, public services, etc.

Notably, the Law also adds a provision that each Vietnamese citizen is granted an electronic identity card. The electronic identity card is created by the identification management agency of the Ministry of Public Security immediately after the citizen completes the procedure for granting a level 2 electronic identification account on VNeID.

Also effective from July 1, the Law on Forces Participating in Protecting Security and Order at the Grassroots Level in 2023 stipulates that the forces participating in protecting security and order at the grassroots level are one of the mass forces, arranged in villages and residential groups, acting as the core to support the Commune-level Police to help the People's Committees at the same level in protecting security and order and building the movement of All people protecting national security.

Vietnamese citizens who wish and meet the following standards and conditions: from 18 to 70 years old; have a clear background; good moral qualities; themselves and their families comply well with the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws; have a diploma or have completed secondary school education or higher; have been residing permanently or temporarily for 1 year or more and regularly live in the place where the application is submitted; have good health according to the certificate of a medical examination and treatment facility established and operating in accordance with the provisions of law... will be considered and selected to join the force to participate in protecting security and order at the grassroots level.

Auction of telecommunication number warehouse, Internet resources

A highlight of the Law on Credit Institutions 2024 is the prohibition on the sale of optional insurance associated with loans. Specifically, the Law strictly prohibits credit institutions, foreign bank branches, managers, operators, and employees of credit institutions and foreign bank branches from associating the sale of optional insurance products with the provision of banking products and services in any form.

Also regarding prohibitions, the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023 adds provisions that prohibited acts in electronic transactions include: Taking advantage of electronic transactions to infringe upon national and ethnic interests, national security, social order and safety, public interests, and the legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organizations, and individuals; illegally obstructing or preventing the process of creating, sending, receiving, and storing data messages or committing other acts aimed at destroying the information system serving electronic transactions; illegally collecting, providing, using, disclosing, displaying, disseminating, and trading data messages. Some other prohibited acts are forging, falsifying, or illegally deleting, destroying, copying, or moving part or all of a data message; creating data messages to commit illegal acts; Fraud, forgery, appropriation or illegal use of electronic transaction accounts, electronic certificates, electronic signature certificates, electronic signatures; hindering the selection of electronic transaction implementation...

Regarding the auction of telecommunications numbers and Internet resources, the 2023 Telecommunications Law specifically stipulates the types of telecommunications resources allocated through auction. The selection of codes and telecommunications numbers allocated through auction will be decided by the market; after the auction is unsuccessful, direct and sequential allocation will be returned. The Law stipulates the determination of the starting price for auction for each type of code, telecommunications number, and Internet domain name.

Enterprises providing services without network infrastructure are obliged to authenticate, store, use telecommunications subscriber information and handle SIM cards with incomplete or inaccurate telecommunications subscriber information (junk SIM cards); prevent and block illegal messages and calls according to Government regulations; and stop providing telecommunications services to telecommunications subscribers violating telecommunications laws.

6 items not subject to the Price Law

Six items not subject to the 2023 Price Law include: land prices (implemented according to regulations of the law on land); housing prices (implemented according to regulations of the law on housing); Electricity prices and prices of electricity services (implemented according to the provisions of the law on electricity; prices of medical examination and treatment services (implemented according to the provisions of the law on medical examination and treatment); tuition fees and prices of services in the fields of education - training, vocational education (implemented according to the provisions of the law on education, higher education, vocational education); royalties when exploiting and using works, audio recordings, video recordings in cases of copyright restrictions, related rights restrictions, compensation for the right to use an invention transferred under a mandatory decision in cases where the person to whom the right to use the invention is transferred and the person holding the exclusive right to use the invention cannot reach an agreement, compensation for the right to use plant varieties (transferred under a mandatory decision implemented according to the provisions of the law on intellectual property).

One of the notable points of the Law on Consumer Protection in 2023 is that organizations and individuals selling multi-level products are strictly prohibited from acts such as requiring others to deposit, pay a sum of money or buy a certain quantity of goods to participate in multi-level sales; providing false and misleading information to consumers and individuals participating in multi-level sales; conducting multi-level business without a multi-level sales registration certificate. In addition, organizing activities to introduce multi-level business activities without a multi-level sales registration certificate; conducting multi-level business for services or other forms other than the sale of goods; developing a multi-level sales network not based on the sale of goods... are also strictly prohibited.

Ensuring national water security

The 2023 Law on Civil Defense stipulates the principles and activities of civil defense; the rights, obligations and responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals in civil defense activities; state management and resources to ensure the implementation of civil defense. In particular, the Civil Defense Fund is given priority to carry out the following activities: Emergency relief of food, drinking water, medicine and other essential necessities for those affected by incidents and disasters; support for repairing and building houses, medical facilities and schools at locations affected by incidents and disasters. The Fund is formed from financial sources: Voluntary contributions from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals; regulatory sources from non-budgetary state financial funds related to activities of responding to and overcoming the consequences of incidents and disasters.

The 2023 Law on Cooperatives will also take effect from July 1, regulating the establishment, management organization, reorganization, dissolution, bankruptcy and related activities of cooperative groups, cooperatives, and cooperative unions; State policies on the development of cooperative groups, cooperatives, and cooperative unions. The 2023 Law on Cooperatives has many new contents on the group of regulations: The nature of cooperatives, development of cooperative members; expanding the market, improving the ability to mobilize capital, creating motivation for cooperative development; improving the effectiveness of cooperative governance and management; cooperative groups and representative organizations; improving the effectiveness of state management in the collective economic sector.

The 2023 Law on Water Resources consists of 10 chapters and 86 articles. Ensuring national water security is the guiding principle in the development process until the National Assembly passes the Law on Water Resources. One of the core principles of the law is to ensure sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, national interests, fairness and rationality in protecting, regulating, distributing, restoring, developing, exploiting, using water resources, preventing, combating and overcoming harmful effects caused by water; ensuring water security so that all people can access and use water fairly and reasonably.