New policies take effect in March

Six decrees and one circular are scheduled to take effect in March.

Retirement pension, social insurance allowance

Retirement pension and social insurance allowance applicable for commune-level cadres who retire since January 1, 2015 shall be increased by 8%, according to the Government’s Decree No. 09/2015/ND-CP dated January 22, 2015.

The Decree will take effect since March 10.

Penalties for slow salary payment

The Government issued Decree No. 05/2015/ND-CP dated January 12, 2015 to guide the implementation of the Labor Code.

Under the Decree, which took effect since March 1, salary paid for employee who perform the simplest work in the normal working conditions and normal working hours shall not be lower than the regional minimum salary prescribed by the Government.

If the salary is paid later than 15 days, the employer shall have to pay an additional amount (to the employee) at least equal to the amount paid late multiplied with the deposit interest rates announced by the State Bank of Viet Nam at the time of payment.

Surrogacy

Under the Government’s Decree 10/2015/ND-CP dated January 28, 201, childless spouses shall have the right to ask for surrogacy for humanitarian purposes.

Surrogacy shall be carried out on the basis of voluntary agreement.

The Decree is scheduled to come into effect since March 15.

Selling of 100% State-owned enterprises

The Government issued Decree 128/2014/ND-CP dated on December 31, 2014 on selling and transferring 100% State-owned enterprises.

In case of single buyer, competent agency shall decide the sale based on direct agreement.

If the number of buyers are two or more, the selling shall be conducted by auctions.

The Decree took effect since March 1.

Priority regime for eligible businesses

Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP dated January 21, 2015 guiding customs procedures, inspection, supervision and control, which provides the application of the priority regime in the State management of customs to eligible businesses.

Accordingly, eligible businesses may be exempted from goods checks while processing customs procedures.

Calculating damages to environment

The Government issued Decree No. 03/2015/ND-CP dated January 6, 2015 which covers regulations to calculate damages caused to the environment and liabilities to compensate for the damages.

The Decree came into effect since March 1.

Change of geographic area codes

The Ministry of Information and Communications issued Circular 22/2014/TT-BTTTT dated December 22, 2014 on telecommunication number storages.

Under the document, area codes for fixed lines of provinces and centrally-governed cities shall be changed since March 1.

Accordingly, the new numbers are as follows:

- Ha Noi: 24

- Ho Chi Minh City: 28

- Da Nang City: 236

- Hai Phong City: 225

- Can Tho City: 292

- Thua Thien – Hue: 234

- Quang Ninh: 203

- Thanh Hoa: 237

- Khanh Hoa: 258

- Lam Dong: 263

- Cao Bang: 206

- Ca Mau: 290

And others./.

(Source:VGP)