IntroductionSince the outbreak of COVID-19, clauses for force majeure events have become extraordinarily important to businesses. People have reached out to law firms to ask: “How can we understand force majeure events and their consequences according to the Vietnamese laws?” The persons who pose these questions are suppliers, banks, insurers, airlines, tourism companies, and other parties who are subject to payment obligations. Unfortunately, the more widely and extensively the epidemic spreads, the longer the list above will be.

On March 9, 2020, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) issued Circular No. 04/2020/TT-BNNPTNT (“Circular 4”) on National Technical Regulations on animal feed and raw materials for production of aquafeed. Circular 4 will take effect on July 1, 2020, and will have an impact on entities engaging in animal feed and aquafeed activities in Vietnam. Some of the major changes are set out below.Safety Parameters

On April 2, the prime minister of Laos issued the Decision on the Policies and Measures to Reduce the Impact from the COVID-19 Pandemic. A number of the measures announced will affect locally established business operators.Relief Measures

Thailand’s Ministry of Labor is soon expected to issue two regulations and an announcement to formalize and implement the Social Security Office’s policy on COVID-19 assistance measures, reflecting two recent cabinet resolutions. Drafts are now being considered by the Office of the Council of State, after which they will be sent for the minister’s signature and announced in the Government Gazette. The following measures are expected to be announced:

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led Thailand’s Ministry of Finance, with the approval of the cabinet, to implement tax and non-tax relief measures to aid the general public, workers, and entrepreneurs. The tax relief measures, two phases of which have been released to date, are detailed below.Phase I Tax Relief Measures – March 10, 2020Reduction of withholding tax rates. This measure, which is already in effect, reduces withholding tax from 3% to 1.5% for the following types of payments made between April 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020:

On March 31, 2020, Vietnam issued Directive No. 16/CT-TTg of the Prime Minister of Vietnam, setting out a wide range of social distancing measures, which we covered in an earlier client alert (click here for details). Following this nationwide announcement, local authorities in various provinces and cities have released their own guidance on implementation of measures for preventing and controlling the COVID-19 outbreak.

On March 27, 2020, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) issued a directive to all banks and financial institutions to restructure loans in order to maintain financial stability, support economic activity, and ease the burden of debtors facing major revenue declines who may find it difficult to repay loans during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.