Only seven months after the enactment of the new 2005 Commercial Law of Vietnam at the beginning of 2006, the Vietnamese Government has issued new regulations on foreign representative offices and branch offices in Vietnam under Government Decree No. 72/2006/ND-CP dated July 25, 2006. Compared with the regulation under the previous decree, this new decree seems to be a step backward in terms of the requirements for opening a foreign representative or branch office in Vietnam. This article describes the setbacks.

On November 29, 2005, the National Assembly of Vietnam passed, among others, two new laws: (1) the Law on Investment No. 59/2005/QH11; and (2) the Law on Enterprises No. 60/2005/QH11. Both laws will take effect on July 1, 2006. Some of the important changes in the new laws are analyzed in this article.

In this text of a presentation for the 50th anniversary of the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand, David Lyman reflects on the changes he has observed in Thailand in the 50 years since AMCHAM’s founding.