On January 23, 2019, the government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 07/2019/ND-CP (Decree 07) to amend and supplement Decree No. 68/2015/ND-CP on registration of nationality and rights towards aircraft (Decree 68). Decree 07 will take effect on March 11, 2019.
Some key changes include the following:
Registration of Vietnamese nationality. Currently, any aircraft under the ownership of a Vietnamese entity must be registered for Vietnamese nationality. Under Decree 07, the registration requirement only applies to aircraft that are owned as well as operated by Vietnamese entities.
New IDERA mechanism. At present, Decree 68 is silent on procedures or applications for completion of IDERA (irrevocable deregistration and export request authorization) documents. Under Decree 07, the terms and resolution of complaints/petitions and completion of IDERA documents are added.
Cases subject to deregistration of Vietnamese nationality. Under Decree 07, seriously damaged aircraft which can no longer be repaired or recovered shall be deregistered from Vietnamese nationality.
Conditions for registration of temporary Vietnamese nationality. Under Decree 07, an aircraft registering for temporary Vietnamese nationality (for the purpose of, for example, being trialed in Vietnam) is no longer subject to the requirement of “not taking any other nationality or having foreign nationality deregistered.”
Other revisions of Decree 07 mainly aim for consistency in wording and terminology within Decree 68 itself, as well as between Decree 68 and other international treaties of which Vietnam is a member.
With the new changes in Decree 07, Vietnam moves further into compliance with its obligations under the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (commonly known as the Cape Town Treaty). Specific guidance on the IDERA documents could provide more comfort to lessors with respect to recovering their assets in the event of default. Vietnam’s growing aviation industry will benefit from this, as airlines should have more access to leased aircraft.
