Private postal services regulated

Businesses offering international postal services must have a minimum charter capital of VND5 billion (US$250,000) under a new Government decree.

Decree 47/2011/ND-CP, which comes into effect on August 15, also specifies that businesses providing local and interprovincial postal services are required to have a minimum charter capital of VND2 billion ($100,000).

Under the decree, applications for international and interprovincial postal services must be approved by the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Prime Minister must ratify foreign invested postal projects which have more than VND15 billion ($750,000) in capital.

It also states that compensation for damage shall be based directly on the contract signed between the postal services provider and the customer. Specifically, compensation will be equal to four times the fees paid by the customer for domestic postal services.

The decree also provides a schedule of specific compensation for packages damaged during international air freight.

Postal franchises and representatives of foreign companies who were operating in Viet Nam prior to the decree coming into effect must register to announce their operations are in compliance with the Law on Post and the decree within six months of its issuance.

According to an official of Viet Nam Post, the decree marked a milestone in improving the legal framework for postal services and created a fair playing field for all domestic and foreign postal operations.

This was also a necessary step in the preparations for opening the domestic postal market to include wholly foreign invested enterprises by the beginning of next year as part of Viet Nam’s commitment to the World Trade Organisation. — VNS

Tags: postal services