New policies, penalties come into effect this month

A range of new policies will come into effect this month, including fines of up to 100 million VND (4,192 USD) for business owners who fail to pay their employees.

The highest penalties will be reserved for enterprises owned by organisations, which fail to pay more than 300 of their staff.

The new fines are part of Decree No 28/2020/ND-CP, issued by the Government on March 1, regarding administrative sanctions for violations in the field of labour and social insurance.

The decree is set to come into effect on April 15.

For individual business owners, the decree sets out fines of 5-10 million VND (209-418 USD) if failing to pay the salary for 1-10 workers; 10-20 million VND (418-836 USD) for failing to pay 11-50 workers; 20-30 million VND (836-1,250 USD) for failing to pay 51 to 100 workers; 30-40 million VND (1,250-1,680 USD) for failing to pay 101 to 300 workers; and fines of 40-50 million VND (1,680-2,097 USD) for failing to pay the salary of more than 300 workers.

The fine will be doubled if an organisation runs an enterprise.

Following the 2014 enterprise law, every organisation and individual is entitled to establish and manage enterprises in Vietnam.

Also, from April 15, Decree No 15/2020/ND-CP, issued by the Government on February 3, will come into effect. The decree says that a person found spreading fake news on social media sites will be fined 10-20 million VND (418-836 USD).

The decree will replace the old decree No 174/2013/ND-CP, issued in 2013 by the Government. 

Also, this month, Circular No 28/2019/TT-NHNN, issued by the State Bank of Vietnam, will take effect as of April 1.

The circular states that a person over 15 years old, who has not lost or limited their civil act capacity, can use a secondary credit card, debit card, prepaid card (supplementary cards) without requiring the written consent of their legal representative as before.