The Law on Competition in Vietnam aims to reduce monopolistic business practices, such as economic collusion that results in unfair competition for other businesses and ultimately higher prices for consumers.  The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), the National Assembly, and the USAID Governance for Inclusive Growth (GIG) program have worked together since 2016 to gather feedback from various stakeholders on monopolistic practices and to provide recommendations for the revised Law on Competition, which was adopted by Vietnam’s National Assembly in June 2018.

Last week, the USAID GIG program organized a workshop for businesses, experts, and researchers in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss the follow-on draft decree, which will focus on the investigation and detection of monopolistic practices and increasing punitive damages for such practices. This workshop followed a similar one held in September in Ninh Binh that included officials from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The follow-on draft decree will be submitted to the Vietnamese government in January 2019 and is expected to take effect in July 2019.

So What? A high-quality decree will help level the economic playing field for all businesses and will help Vietnam to comply with its international trade commitments, particularly regarding state-owned enterprises.