Law No. 42/2019/QH14 amending the Intellectual Property Law and the Insurance Business Law

On the 14th of June 2019, the Vietnamese National Assembly ratified Law No. 42/2019/QH14 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Insurance Business and the Intellectual Property Law. This amendment aims at reflecting Vietnam’s commitments under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and it also aims at bringing the Vietnamese intellectual property legal framework closer to international standards, so as to contribute to a better protection of intellectual property rights owners and individuals. An other important point of this recent Law is that it addresses the notion of “insurance auxiliary services” for the first time in the Law of Vietnam. This Law shall come into effect on the 1st of November 2019, except for certain provisions amending the Law on Intellectual Property that retroactively take effect from the 14th of January 2019 (the day on which the CPTPP came into effect), such as:

• Trademark license contracts signed and entered into by parties but not registered at the NOIP before the 14th of January 2019 shall be legally valid against third party Intellectual Property infringement only from 14th of January 2019.
• Lawsuits, filed before the 14th of January 2019 against the infringement of Intellectual Property rights, initiated in a court recognized as competent in this matter and having jurisdiction, that did not yet reach a settlement, shall continue the dispute resolution in accordance with the current Intellectual Property Law.

Whereas the following points shall come into effect on the 1st of November 2019:

• The Law amends several aspects of the Intellectual Property Law, including inventions, geographical indications, trademarks, measures against abuse of Intellectual Property, protection procedures and measures to enforce Intellectual Property rights.
• The Law confirms Notification No. 1926/BT-SHTT published by the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) on the 1st of February 2019 that announces the application of certain articles of the CPTPP relating to intellectual property. It stipulates that from now on a trademark license contract is valid against a third party regardless of its registration at the NOIP. Nonetheless, license contracts for other industrial property objects (other than trademarks), must still be registered at the NOIP so as to be able to prove the validity of the Intellectual Property against third parties. 
• In cases if goods are suspected of infringing Intellectual Property rights, customs procedures (import/export) can still be suspended. However under the new Law, the customs authority shall provide the Intellectual Property rights holder with necessary information regarding the suspected violator and the goods within a period of 30 days from the date of the issuance of a suspension decision, so as to give to the Intellectual Property rights holder enough time to consider whether he should initiate legal proceedings against the suspected violator of Intellectual Property.

Law No. 42/2019/QH14 also amends and supplements the already existing Law on Insurance Business mentioned above, and its main point is that it addresses the practice of “insurance auxiliary services” for the first time in an official way since Vietnam joined the WTO in 2007.

The new Law states the principles and conditions for the provision of insurance auxiliary services, such as the conditions for the establishment of a service provider and required qualifications for its staff. It also sets out the service providers' responsibilities, such as the obligation of purchasing professional liability insurance for each type of insurance auxiliary service and it emphasizes clients' information and confidentiality protection as well.

From the 1st of November 2019 insurance auxiliary services shall be defined by the Law of Vietnam as follows:

• Insurance consultancy
• Insurance risk assessment
• Insurance calculation (risk evaluation as an actuarial service)
• Insurance loss assessment
• Insurance indemnity settlement support
   

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