Insights
The sanction by the Vietnam Competition Commission (VCC) of nearly VND 900 million by BAF Vietnam Agriculture Joint Stock Company and Thanh Xuan Clean Agriculture Development Joint Stock Company for failing to fulfill the obligation to notify economic concentration not only attracts attention because this is one of the rare cases that are publicly announced. Behind this sanctioning decision, there is also a more important legal question for the business community and the M&A consultants in Vietnam: after being sanctioned for not notifying, do enterprises still have to carry out the procedures for notifying economic concentration?
In fact, many businesses have internal regulations on anti-money laundering. However, when the management agency checks, what they are interested in is not only whether the enterprise has a set of regulations but whether that regulation is really applied in daily business activities or only exists in archived records. The gap between "regulated" and "regulated operation" is the reason why many businesses are still being dealt with despite significant investment in compliance.
In fact, many businesses still think that anti-money laundering is the story of banks or financial institutions. It is this awareness that makes many businesses only focus on business activities without paying enough attention to building a compliance system. It is not until they are inspected or sanctioned that businesses realize that their obligations do not depend on whether they participate in money laundering or not, but on whether the law defines them as subjects who must take preventive measures or not.
An expiration of the lease does not mean that the premises will automatically return to the lessor. In fact, many businesses fall into the situation that the lessee still continues to do business, leaving goods and equipment, not paying the amounts incurred but also refusing to hand over. The longer it lasts, the more the lessor loses the opportunity to exploit the property, incurs management costs and faces pressure to "get back" the premises themselves.
In warehouse lease contract disputes, the lessor often thinks that it has an advantage when the property is damaged, the handover is unsatisfactory and the actual repair costs are incurred. However, from a cracked warehouse floor to a judgment forcing the lessee to compensate is a significant legal gap.
Can a Head of a Representative Office ("RO") of a foreign trader be suspended from leaving the country because of the RO's own tax debt? This seemingly only related question to the application of the law raises a larger question: whether foreign businesses and investors can accurately forecast the legal risks they face.
In trade disputes, what gives rise to disagreements is not always one party failing to deliver on its commitments. In many cases, the parties invoke the contract itself to protect themselves, but read the same clause in completely different interpretations. The difference in interpretation not only determines when the contract ends, but also entails many other unpredictable consequences.
A patent is often seen as a recognition of research achievements and a basis for the exclusive owner to exploit the technology in the market. However, in business practice, the value of a patent is determined not only by the granting of the title, but also by the ability of the owner to effectively enforce his or her rights when infringement occurs.
This publication, “Investing in Data Centers in Vietnam: Key Legal Considerations for Investors”, has been prepared by HM&P to provide investors and businesses with a practical overview of the legal framework governing the development, construction, operation and commercialization of data center projects and services in Vietnam. Presented in a question-and-answer format, it focuses on key legal issues and compliance obligations commonly encountered in practice.
A decree guiding the implementation of the Enterprise Law usually has a relatively long lifespan before it needs to be amended. Therefore, the Government's issuance of Decree No. 296/2026/ND-CP (Decree 296) only about a year after the effective date of Decree No. 168/2025/ND-CP (Decree 168) has attracted the attention of the business and legal community in Vietnam.
Changing the address of the head office is often considered one of the simplest procedures in the life cycle of a business. However, for enterprises engaged in conditional industries, a change that seems to be related to only one line of address on the Enterprise Registration Certificate (ERC) can cause the application for a license to be returned, goods cannot be cleared from customs and business activities to be interrupted.
Vietnam is facing a big question in the global investment attraction competition: will we be bold enough to build a breakthrough investment support mechanism or will we continue to choose a safe and prudent path to limit risks to the state budget?
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