Issues Related to Competition Laws

Vietnam

A. Intellectual Property Rights Regime:

Legal Framework

Unlike a majority of the countries in the world, Vietnam presently does not have an independent and separate law on intellectual property. The protection of intellectual property rights is currently stipulated in the Civil Code, which was passed by the National Assembly of Vietnam on 28 October 1995 and came into effect as of 1 July 1996. The Civil Code in Part 6 provides only general guidelines on various categories of intellectual property rights (Copyrights in Chapter I, Section. 745-779; Industrial Property in Chapter II, Section. 780-805), but it is not a comprehensive substantive legal framework for the protection of industrial property rights and copyrights as well. Hence, the intellectual property provisions of the Civil Code have been implemented by numerous more detailed implementing regulations promulgated by the Government and its functionary authorities. These include, but not limited to:

a) Decree No. 76/CP of the Government Providing Detailed Regulations and Guidelines for Implementing the Civil Code Provisions on Copyrights dated October 24, 1996;

b) Decree No. 63/CP of the Government Providing Detailed Regulations and Guidelines for Implementing the Civil Code Provisions on Industrial Property Rights dated October 24, 1996;

c) Circular No. 3055/TT/SHCN of Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment ("MOSTE") Providing Guidelines for Implementing the Provisions on Procedures for Establishing Industrial Property Rights and A Number of Other Procedures in Decree 63/CP, which took effect on January 15, 1997;

d) Decree No. 12/1999/ND-CP of the Government Providing Sanctions Against Administrative Violations in the field of Industrial Property dated 6 March 1999;

e) Decree No. 54/2000/ND-CP of the Government on the Protection of Industrial Property Rights on Trade Secrets, Geographic Indications, Trade Names and Protection of the Rights Against Unfair Competition dated 3 October 2000;

f) Decree No. 06/2001/ND-CP of the Government amending and supplementing the above-referenced Decree 63 in a number of important aspects dated 15 February 2001 ("Decree 6").

Over the years, Vietnam has been very active in joining in important multilateral agreements, including:

a) Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property Rights ("Paris Convention");

b) Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks ("Madrid Agreement");

c) Patent Cooperation Treaty ("PCT")

d) ASEAN Framework Agreement on Intellectual Property;

In addition, provisions for mutual protection of intellectual property rights may be contained in bilateral agreements between Vietnam and other foreign countries, such as:

a) Agreement Between the Government of United States of America and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the Establishment of Copyright Relations ("US-Vietnam Copyright Agreement");

b) Agreement Between the United States of America and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on Trade Relations ("US-Vietnam Trade Agreement" BTA.zip 410KB;

c) Agreement between the Republic of Switzerland and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the protection of intellectual property rights.