Amends Proposed New Competition Law

As reported in the July 2017 issue, Vietnam is proposing significant reforms to its Competition Law. In September, the latest draft of the new law was published. Among the changes from the previous draft, the following are particularly noteworthy:

• Further details are provided on the criteria that the National Competition Authority (NCA) will use when assessing whether an agreement will have substantial anti-competitive effects.
• The government is tasked with setting thresholds for mandatory filing of mergers based on:

(a)  the parties' combined assets in Vietnam

(b)  the total revenue of either the parties in Vietnam

(c)  the total value of transactions

• It is no longer proposed that the NCA will be an independent agency, but that it will remain a government department under the Ministry of Trade.