Pursuant to the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents in 2015, which was amended and supplemented in 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam has presided over and coordinated with relevant ministries and branches to develop a draft Decree regulating offshore investment in petroleum activities replacing Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP dated November 15, 2017 of the Government on regulations on offshore investment in petroleum activities.
In the process of developing and finalizing the draft Decree to replace Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam has coordinated with relevant ministries and branches to assess the current situation of offshore investment in petroleum activities, review difficulties and obstacles in the process of management and implementation of offshore investment in petroleum activities to serve as the basis for formulating the draft Decree.
The draft Decree has been sent to the related ministries, branches and localities, enterprises operating in the petroleum field (Vietnam Oil and Gas Group – PVN, PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation – PVEP, …) for opinions.
The draft Decree has also been posted on the Government’s web portal and the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s web portal for public comments from organizations and individuals. On that basis, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam has received, explained, revised and completed the draft Decree.
The need to issue the Decree to replace Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP
The basis for promulgating Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP is the Law on Investment 2014. In Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP, many articles are referred to the Law on Investment 2014.
However, many regulations on offshore investment in the Investment Law 2020 have been supplemented and amended compared to the Law on Investment 2014.
In addition, in the process of implementing Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP, some problems have arisen such as there is no regulation on the case of adjustment to increase investment capital abroad to fulfill obligations, handle the backlog before terminating the offshore investment project in accordance with the contract and the law of the host country and there is no regulation on whether the foreign legal entity/operating company can implement many projects in accordance with the laws of the host country.
Because of the inadequacy in regulations on the field of offshore investment and the need to supplement the connection between Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP and the Law on Investment 2020, Vietnam needs to develop and promulgate the new Decree replacing Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP, ensuring the effectiveness, consistency and synchronousness of the investment law for offshore investment in petroleum activities.
Currently, domestic and foreign agencies, organizations and individuals reviewing and researching the contents of the Draft Decree to replace Decree No. 124/2017/ND-CP can submit their opinions on the Government Portal in the form of submitting online opinions here.
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