BUSINESS LICENSE

BUSINESS LICENSE

Vietnam is one of the developing countries that attracts a large number of foreign investors to invest and conduct business. Under Vietnamese law, in order to legalize investment activities, investors are required to carry out certain procedures to obtain licenses. Depending on the field of investment and business, investors must obtain different types of licenses. Let’s join CELIGAL in exploring the legal regulations on business licenses in the article below!

What is a Business License?

Currently, Clause 15 Article 4 of the Law on Enterprises 2020 provides that:

“An Enterprise Registration Certificate is a document in paper or electronic form that records information on enterprise registration issued by the business registration authority to an enterprise.”

As for a Business License, current laws do not provide a specific legal definition of this type of license. However, it can be understood that a business license is a document permitting an individual or organization to conduct business activities after fully satisfying the business conditions applicable to the registered business lines in accordance with the law.

Therefore, an Enterprise Registration Certificate and a Business License are two (02) completely different types of documents.

Legal Regulations on Prohibited Business Lines

Prohibited business lines are stipulated in Article 6 of the Law on Investment 2020 as follows:

Article 6. Prohibited business lines

1.      The following investment and business activities are prohibited:

a) Trading in narcotic substances specified in Appendix I of this Law;

b) Trading in chemicals and minerals specified in Appendix II of this Law;

c) Trading in specimens of wild flora and fauna sourced from natural exploitation as specified in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora; specimens of endangered, precious and rare forest flora, forest fauna, and aquatic species of Group I sourced from natural exploitation as specified in Appendix III of this Law;

d) Prostitution business;

đ) Trading in humans, human tissues, organs, body parts, or human fetuses;

e) Business activities related to human cloning;

g) Trading in firecrackers;

h) Debt collection services.

2.      The production and use of products specified at Points a, b, and c Clause 1 of this Article for analysis, testing, scientific research, medical purposes, pharmaceutical production, criminal investigation, and national defense and security shall be carried out in accordance with Government regulations.

Accordingly, prohibited business lines include:

• Trading in narcotic substances specified in Appendix I of the Law on Investment 2020;
• Trading in chemicals and minerals specified in Appendix II of the Law on Investment 2020;
• Trading in specimens of wild flora and fauna sourced from natural exploitation as prescribed by law;
• Prostitution business;
• Trading in humans, human tissues, organs, body parts, or human fetuses;
• Business activities related to human cloning;
• Trading in firecrackers;
• Debt collection services.

CELIGAL’s Business License Services

Business license services can be understood as services provided by organizations that assist clients in obtaining business licenses. These organizations will act on behalf of clients to carry out tasks such as preparing the complete application dossier, submitting the dossier to the competent authorities after the client signs the documents, and more. In addition, they also provide free legal consultation prior to enterprise establishment as well as tax-related advice.

Clients only need to provide basic information to the business license service provider, including:

• Proposed company information: company name, address, business lines, charter capital, and capital contribution ratio of each member/shareholder;
• Notarized copies (issued within the last 6 months) of ID cards/Citizen ID cards/passports of the legal representative, owner, capital-contributing members, or founding shareholders (depending on the type of enterprise).

Common business license services currently include:

• Enterprise establishment services for obtaining an Enterprise Registration Certificate;
• Household business registration services for obtaining a Household Business Registration Certificate;
• Business license amendment services in cases where changes arise in enterprise registration information (such as changes in company name, business lines, etc.).

In addition, CELIGAL also provides consultation and support for post-licensing procedures such as registering accounting methods, asset depreciation, digital signature services, electronic tax payment, notification of bank accounts to the managing tax authority, procedures for establishing branches, representative offices, business locations, procedures for suspension or dissolution of enterprises, and other related procedures.