THE GOVERNMENT
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SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness
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No. 49/2006/ND-CP
Hanoi, May 18, 2006
 
DECREE
ON SHIP REGISTRATION, PURCHASE AND SALE
THE GOVERNMENT
Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;
Pursuant to Vietnam's Maritime Code of June 14, 2005;
At the proposal of the Minister of Transport,
 
DECREES:
 
Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1.- Scope of regulation
1. This Decree provides for the registration, purchase and sale of ships.
2. The provisions of this Decree shall not apply to ship purchase and sale in the following cases where:
a/ Ships are purchased and sold at home;
b/ Ships are built at home by Vietnamese enterprises under contracts;
c/ Foreign ships are coercively auctioned in Vietnam under decisions of competent state bodies.
3. The provisions of this Decree shall also apply to the registration, purchase and sale of public-duty ships.
Article 2.- Subjects of application
This Decree shall apply to Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals involved in ship registration, purchase and sale.
 
Chapter II
SHIP REGISTRATION
Section 1. VIETNAM SHIP REGISTRARS
Article 3.- Vietnam ship registrars
Vietnam ship registrars include the national ship registrar and regional ship registrars.
The national ship registrar is Vietnam Maritime Administration.
The director of Vietnam Maritime Administration shall decide the regional ship registrars to be the Maritime Sub-Departments or Port Authorities.
Article 4.- Tasks of the national ship registrar
1. To guide and examine activities of Vietnam ship registration at regional ship registrars.
2. To synthesize, list, maintain and update databases related to ship registration and ship mortgage registration; to supply relevant information to interested organizations or individuals.
3. To perform the unified management of the printing and issuance of ship registration certificates and ship mortgage registration certificates.
4. To enter into international cooperation on ship registration.
5. To perform other tasks according to regulations.
Article 5.- Tasks of regional ship registrars
1. To effect shipregistration and ship mortgage registration according to assigned scope and competence.
2. To compile and manage Vietnam National Ships Registration Books in assigned regions; to supply relevant information to interested organizations or individuals.
3. To collect, remit and use fees for ship registration and ship mortgage registration according to regulations.
4. To make statistics and reports, update databases on ship registration and ship mortgage registration.
5. To perform other tasks according to regulations.
Section 2. VIETNAM SHIP REGISTRATION
Article 6.- Forms of Vietnam ship registration
1. The ship registration covers indefinite registration, time registration, re-registration and change registration.
a/ Indefinite registration means the registration of ships which satisfy all conditions for being granted Vietnam ship registration certificates;
b/ Time registration means the registration of ships for a given period of time; the time registration shall apply to foreign ships chartered by Vietnamese organizations or individuals under contracts for ship charter or hire-purchase or to foreign ships registered for a given period of time in Vietnam;
c/ Re-registration means the registration of ships which were previously registered in Vietnam National Ships Registration Books, but later the registration is suspended;
d/ Change registration means the registration of ships which have been already registered in Vietnam National Ships Registration Books, but have seen changes of ship names or shipowners, structures and technical particular, regional ship registrars, ship registers.
2. Provisional registration of ships means the ship registration in the following cases where:
a/ Charges and/or fees have not yet been paid under regulations;
b/ There have been no ship deregistration certificates yet but the commitment in ship trading contracts that the sellers shall hand over the ship deregistration certificates to the purchasers within 30 days after the minutes on ship handover are signed. In this case, the certificates of provisional registration of Vietnam ships shall be valid only from the date the purchasers and the sellers sign the handover minutes;
c/ The newly built ships are tested or received for delivery to registration places on the basis of ship­building contracts;
d/ It is so provided for by the Minister of Transport in special cases.
A certificate of provisional registration of Vietnam ships provided for in this Clause shall be valid for 180 days as from the date of its issuance; in cases of force majeure circumstances, the validity duration shall be decided by the Minister of Transport.
Article 7.- Permits for temporarily flying Vietnamese flag
Where Vietnamese organizations or individuals buy foreign ships as provided for in Clause 2, Article 6 of this Decree but have not yet made provisional registration of ships in Vietnam, the diplomatic representative offices or consulates of Vietnam in foreign countries shall issue permits for temporarily flying Vietnamese flag in order to deliver the ships home.
Article 8.- Limits of the ages of ships registered in Vietnam for the first time
1. In case of first-time registration in Vietnam, the used ships must be of the following ages counting from the year of their construction:
a/ Not more than 10 years, for passenger ships;
b/ Not more than 15 years, for ships of other types.
For special cases, the ship age shall be decided by the Minister of Transport but must not exceed 5 years of age for each type of ship defined at Points a and b of this Clause.
2. For foreign ships coercively auctioned in Vietnam under decisions of competent bodies, the ship ages specified in Clause 1 of this Article shall not apply.
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