23 November, 2018
On November 12, 2018, the National Assembly of Vietnam (“NAV”) has promulgated a resolution to approve and ratify the CPTPP agreement and relevant documents (“Resolution”). As a result, Vietnam formally became the 7th member of the CPTPP. Since six other nations have passed the CPTPP trade deal by 30 October 2018, the CPTPP will come into effect on 30 December 2018, after more than 8 years of negotiation.
In fact, the Resolution’s official contents have not yet been published. However, it appears that at least 15 groups of commitments of Vietnam under CPTPP will be directly applied and implemented in Vietnam, without the need of localization (i.e., not subject to guiding laws and regulations of Vietnam). Such commitments will be included in Appendix 02 of the Resolution. We will keep you informed with such direct commitments after the Resolution is published.
In order to ratify and implement the CPTPP, the Standing Committee of the NAV confirmed that 265 laws and regulations (effective by April 30, 2018) have been investigated by the Ministry of Justice and the Government. If there is any discrepancy / contradiction, such local laws and regulations would be promptly revised and amended by Vietnam accordingly.
The Standing Committee of NAV also instructed the Government to ensure now certain undergoing draft laws on anti-corruption, labor, crimes, criminal procedure, intellectual properties, and insurance business to be amended in line with Vietnam’s commitments under CPTPP.
For further information, please contact:
Oliver Massmann, Partner, Duane Morris
omassmann@duanemorris.com
