Laws of Vietnam

DECREES:

Article 1.- To amend and supplement a number of Articles of the Regulation on the circulation of and trading in films, video tapes and discs, music tapes and discs; sale and renting of publications; cultural activities and cultural services at public places; advertisements, writing and setting up of signboards, issued together with Decree No.87-CP of December 12, 1995 of the Government.

"Hotels, cultural houses, clubs and cultural centers which are allowed to organize dancing halls for business purpose shall have to comply with the following regulations".

Clause 1: "The karaoke room must be at least 20 square meters. The karaoke rooms already granted business licenses prior to the date of promulgation of Decree No.87-CP of the Government must be at least 14 square meters".

The following is added to Clause 5, Article 23:

"The karaoke bars operating in the countryside and not densely populated areas must meet the conditions prescribed in Clauses 2 and 4 of this Article".

a) The signboard must include the following contents:

- The name of the direct managing agency.

- The name.

- The transaction address.

- The main business line if it is a production or service establishment.

For a company or private enterprise, the words Private Enterprise, Joint Stock Company or Limited Liability Company shall be written instead of the name of the direct managing agency.

b) The already registered logos of individuals or organizations shall be painted on or affixed to the signboards.

"The signboards of foreign economic organizations or joint ventures with foreign countries must include the contents provided for in Article 30 of this Regulation.

The proper name and the international transaction name in foreign language (s) written in the decision of establishment issued by the competent State agency can be written in foreign letters larger in size than the Vietnamese letters but not larger than twice the size of the Vietnamese letters".

Article 2.- To amend Point d, Clause 2 of Article 28 of Decree No.88-CP of December 14, 1995 of the Government stipulating sanctions against administrative violations in cultural activities, cultural services, and in preventing and fighting a number of social evils, as follows:

d) "The signboards of the economic organizations designed with their abbreviated names, international transaction names and names in foreign languages displayed above the Vietnamese names or having a size two times that of the Vietnamese letters".

Article 3.- To amend and supplement Article 5 of Decree No.194-CP of December 31, 1994 of the Government on advertising activities on Vietnamese territory.

Point c, Article 3 is amended as follows:

"Advertisements which contain trademarks written in abbreviations and in foreign language(s); the international transaction names of the production, business or service establishments permitted by the competent State agencies; terms already internationalized or terms which cannot be translated into Vietnamese shall be allowed to be displayed in a size larger than the Vietnamese letters but not larger than twice the size of the Vietnamese letters. At the same time, Vietnamese letters must be written above the foreign letters".

To annul Point d, Clause 3, Article 5 of this Decree.

Article 4.- This Decree takes effect from the date of its promulgation. The earlier documents having contents contrary to this Decree are now annulled.

Article 5.- The Ministers of Culture and Information; the Minister of Finance; the Minister of Public Health; the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the General Department of Tourism shall have to implement this Decree.

Article 6.- The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the Presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decree.

On behalf of the Government