The Competition
Law, which became effective in 2004, should contain more specific language about
penalties and fines, experts said.

Nguyen Trong Nghia, a member of the Viet
Nam Competition Council (VCC), said that “warnings” and “penalties” in the law
needed to be clarified.

“It should identify which cases apply to
warnings or to penalties. This would help avoid the uncontrolled use of
penalties applied to violators,” he said, adding that many companies had
received penalties unfairly.

Nghia spoke at a workshop held yesterday in
HCM City on the five-year implementation of the law and policies related to
anti-competitive behaviors.

Nghia said a “warning” was often sufficient
as punishment for some companies.

Currently, the highest penalty for a
violation is 10 per cent of the company’s total sales turnover of the previous
year.

However, the penalty seems to be
inappropriate for a multi-sector company, he added.

A multi-sector company that violates one
kind of brand or service also has to pay a fine of 10 per cent of total sales
turnover.

The workshop was attended by ministry
officials, judges and experts from the Supreme People’s Court, Administrative
Courts under the People’s Courts in central and southern provinces of Viet Nam,
domestic and foreign law firms, representatives from the business community,
academics and trade associations.

Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan, director general of
Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Legal Affair Department, said “the current
problem is the lack of specific regulations on punishments for violators of the
law.”

Proposals made during the workshop to amend
the law would be submitted to the ministry, Tan said.

During the eighth Party Congress, it was
pointed out that a healthy competitive environment was needed for a
market-oriented economy, and that competition was good for the country’s
development, Tan said.

Speaking at the meeting, Do Khac Tuan,
chief justice of the HCM City People’s Supreme Court, said “the law had aimed to
ensure the rights of businesses and Viet Nam’s market economy.”

However, many companies still lacked
information about the Competition Law, and continued to participate in
activities that include monopoly and market domination.

Tuan said the Ministry of Industry and
Trade and relevant agencies should disseminate more information about the law
and organise training courses and seminars.

Le Danh Vinh, deputy minister of the
ministry, who is also chairman of the VCC, said businesses must raise their
awareness about the Competition Law.

In the last five years, more than 40 cases
related to the violation of the Competition Law have been investigated, all of
which included sanctions.

Three of the 40 companies were involved in
abuse of monopoly, abuse of market dominance and anti-competitive agreements.

Trinh Minh Hien, a member of the Viet Nam
Competition Council, spoke about his experience in dealing with some of the
cases, including one involving the Viet Nam Air Petrol Company (VINAPCO), which
stopped selling petrol to Pacific Airlines.

Pacific Airlines had not accepted the
higher price of petrol suggested by VINAPCO.

However, VINAPCO was found abusing its
monopoly to harm other businesses and faced a fine of 0.025 per cent of its 2007
turnover.

Evidence and information collected by the
Viet Nam Competition Authority was the key factor in helping the Viet Nam
Competition Council deal with the lawsuit, Hien said.

She said the council should publicise
information on lawsuits and the Competition Law on its website in Vietnamese and
English to help domestic and foreign businesses gain better insight into the
law.

Since the Competition Law was promulgated
on December 3, 2004, enforcement has been the responsibility of the Viet Nam
Competition Council and Viet Nam Competition Authority.

The Competition Law has given these two
organizations two major responsibilities: controlling anti-competitive behavior
and controlling unfair competition behaviours.

Among the assigned tasks, controlling
anti-competitive behaviors are complicated and inter-disciplinary, which
requires of law enforcement agencies a greater capacity in investigation and
economic and technical analysis.

The workshop was organised by the Viet Nam
Competition Council in collaboration with the Multilateral Trade Assistance
Project, Phase III (EU–Viet Nam MUTRAP III).

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News