1 May, 2019
Draft Law amending provisions of the Law on Insurance Business and the Law on Intellectual Property
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam (MOIT) is currently drafting a law (Draft Law) amending and supplementing the following laws:
- Law No. 24/2000/QH10, entitled the Law on Insurance Business, passed by the National Assembly on 9 December 2000, as amended by Law No. 61/2010/QH12 passed by the National Assembly on 24 November 2010 (collectively, Law on Business Insurance);
- Law No. 50/2005/QH11, entitled the Law on Intellectual Property, passed by the National Assembly on 29 November 2005, as amended by Law No. 36/2009/QH12 passed by the National Assembly on 19 June 2009 (collectively, Law on Intellectual Property); and
- Annex 4 of Law No. 67/2014/QH13, entitled the Law on Investment passed by the National Assembly on 26 November 2014, as amended by Law No. 03/2016/QH14, passed by the National Assembly on 22 November 2016 (collectively, Law on Investment);
- in order for Vietnam to comply with the provisions of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP), which has been recently ratified by the National Assembly, and with the commitments of Vietnam upon its accession to the World Trade Organisation.
Below are some highlights under the Draft Law as compared to the current Law on Business Insurance, Law on Intellectual Property, and Annex 4 of the Law on Investment.
Amendments regarding the Law on Insurance Business and Annex 4 of the Law on Investment
The Draft Law defines and creates a legal framework for insurance auxiliary services, being consultancy, risk assessment, actuarial, loss inspection, and claim settlement. In the current Law on Insurance, there are no definitions and no clear legal framework applicable to these types of services.
Under the Draft Law, an organisation shall be entitled to provide insurance auxiliary services if:
(i) it is a legal entity which is duly and properly established;
(ii) it is financially secured in providing insurance auxiliary services by professional liability insurance, bank payment guarantee, guarantee insurance, escrow, or owner equity; and
(iii) its personnel who is directly providing insurance auxiliary services to clients shall:
(a) be 18 or more years of age and having full capacity for civil acts; and
(b) adhere to the standards of the relevant degree or certificate of insurance issued by a duly and properly established foreign or local training facility and other standards pursuant to the applicable laws.
The Draft Law provides that the provision of insurance auxiliary services shall be subject to further guidance of the Government in the future.
Insurance auxiliary services are also added to the list of conditional business lines provided in Annex 4 of the Law on Investment.
Amendments regarding the Law on Intellectual property
The Draft Law provides a more favourable time limit for the novelty preservation of a patent, which is filed in Vietnam, after such patent is publicly announced. In particular, pursuant to the Draft Law, a patent will remain novel if such patent application is submitted within 12 months as from the date of the patent being published. The current time limit for such novelty preservation is only 6 months according to the Law on Intellectual Property.
The Draft Law also states that trademark license agreements are not required to be registered with the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) for effectiveness with respect to third parties, whereas, under the current Law on Intellectual Property, generally all types of industrial property (including trademark) license agreements are required to be registered with the NOIP in order to be effective against a third party.
For further information, please contact:
Mark Fraser, CEO/ Managing Partner, Frasers Law Company
mark.fraser@fraservn.com
