SERVICE OF APPLYING FOR A BUSINESS LICENSE FOR GOODS AND ACTIVITIES DIRECTLY RELATED TO GOODS

 

I. SERVICE PROVISION PROCESS AT VINASC:

 

Step 1. Vinasc receives information about the enterprise’s application for a business license with the following basic contents:

• Current business lines of the Enterprise;
• Information about the owner/Investor: Legal documents (ID card/ Passport/ Enterprise registration certificate);
• Business activities that the enterprise intends to carry out. Specifically as follows: Exercising the right to retail goods; exercising the right to import and wholesale goods with products being oil and lubricants; providing logistics services; leasing goods (excluding financial leasing); providing trade promotion services, excluding advertising services; providing e-commerce services; providing commercial intermediary services; providing services for organizing bidding for goods and services.
• Goods in need of distribution: Cosmetics, rice, bags,…
• The situation of the enterprise’s performance of state obligations in the most recent year;
• Financial capacity of the enterprise to carry out the activity requested for a Business License; Vinasc will review the specific legal requirements involved to develop a service implementation plan.

Step 2. Depending on each specific case, Vinasc will consider to advise and guide on the procedures for applying for a business license. The two parties discuss to agree on the content of the service. Then Vinasc drafts the contract and sends it back to the customer for signing.

Step 3. Vinasc guides customers to prepare their own documents related to the Procedure for applying for a business license as follows:

Confirmation of commercial bank/Newspaper proving that the Investor has contributed enough investment capital;

– Copy of Investment Registration Certificate;

– Copy of Enterprise Registration Certificate;

– Confirmation from the tax authority that there is no outstanding tax debt.

Step 4. Vinasc prepares the following documents and transfers them to the customer for signing:

Step 5. Receive the signed documents from the customer and check the authenticity of the documents;

Step 6. Submit documents to the Department of Industry and Trade where the foreign-invested economic organization is headquartered;

Step 7. Deliver specific results to the Customer.

II. SPECIFIC RESULTS

– Business License

III. ESTIMATED IMPLEMENTATION TIME

Apply for a Business License: 45-60 working days

The estimated time above is calculated from the date Vinasc receives all the required documents sent to you.

IV. SOME REGULATIONS RELATED TO THE ISSUANCE OF BUSINESS LICENSES FOR GOODS OF FOREIGN TRADERS IN VIETNAM

1. Conditions for granting a Business License:

• In the case of foreign investors from countries or territories participating in international treaties to which Vietnam is a member, with commitments to open the market for the purchase and sale of goods and activities directly related to the purchase and sale of goods:
  • Meeting the conditions for market access in the international treaty to which Vietnam is a member;
  • Having a financial plan to carry out the activity requested for a Business License;
  • No outstanding tax debt in case of establishment in Vietnam for 01 year or more.
• In the case of foreign investors not from countries or territories participating in international treaties to which Vietnam is a member; in the case of business services that have not yet been committed to open the market in international treaties to which Vietnam is a member:
  • Having a financial plan to carry out the activity requested for a Business License;
  • No outstanding tax debt in case of establishment in Vietnam for 01 year or more.
  • Complying with the provisions of specialized law;
  • Complying with the level of competition of domestic enterprises in the same field of activity;
  • Ability to create jobs for domestic workers;
  • Ability and level of contribution to the state budget.
• In the case of goods that have not yet been committed to open the market in international treaties to which Vietnam is a member: Oil, lubricants; rice; sugar; recorded items; books, newspapers, and magazines:
  • Having a financial plan to carry out the activity requested for a Business License;
  • No outstanding tax debt in case of establishment in Vietnam for 01 year or more.
  • Complying with the provisions of specialized law;
  • Complying with the level of competition of domestic enterprises in the same field of activity;
  • Ability to create jobs for domestic workers;
  • Ability and level of contribution to the state budget.
  • For goods that are oil and lubricants: Consider granting licenses to exercise the right to import and wholesale to foreign-invested economic organizations that carry out one of the following activities:

Producing oil and lubricants in Vietnam;

Producing or being allowed to distribute in Vietnam machinery, equipment, and goods using special types of oil and lubricants.

• • For goods that are rice, sugar, recorded items, books, newspapers, and magazines: Consider granting licenses to exercise the right to retail to foreign-invested economic organizations that have retail establishments in the form of supermarkets, mini supermarkets, and convenience stores to retail at those establishments.

2. Procedures for granting a Business License:
3. a) In the case of granting a License to retail goods that are not rice, sugar, recorded items, books, newspapers, and magazines:

• The company submits 01 set of documents;
• Licensing agency: Department of Industry and Trade;
• Working procedure: In case the dossier is valid, the Department of Industry and Trade shall issue a written approval for the Business License; in case of refusal, there must be a written reply stating the reason.

1. b) In the case of granting a license to retail goods that are rice, sugar, recorded items, books, newspapers, and magazines:

• The company submits 03 sets of documents;
• Licensing agency: Department of Industry and Trade;
• Agency for licensing opinions: Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Industry and Trade.

3. Regulations on administrative sanctions in case of non-compliance with regulations?

According to Article 70 of Decree 98/2020/ND-CP:

” Article 70. Violations against regulations on purchase and sale of goods and activities directly related to the purchase and sale of goods of foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam

1. A fine ranging from VND 10.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 shall be imposed for committing one of the following violations:
2. a) Providing false information in the application for issuance, re-issuance, modification or renewal of the business license or license for establishment of retail outlet;
3. b) Failing to report the loss of business license or license for establishment of retail outlet to competent authorities;
4. c) Failing to submit reports or provide documents or explanations about issues concerning the enterprise’s operation at the request of competent authorities.
5. A fine ranging from VND 20.000.000 to VND 30.000.000 shall be imposed for committing one of the following violations:
6. a) Failing to carry out procedures for modification of the business license or license for establishment of retail outlet upon occurrence of any changes in its contents;
7. b) Failing to carry out procedures for re-issuance of the business license or license for establishment of retail outlet in case it is lost, torn, damaged, burned or otherwise destroyed.
8. A fine ranging from VND 30.000.000 to VND 40.000.000 shall be imposed for committing one of the following violations:
9. a) Organizing a system for purchase of goods in Vietnam for export inconsistently with the Law of Vietnam or an international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory;
10. b) Organizing or participating in a distribution system in Vietnam inconsistently with the Law of Vietnam or an international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory;
11. c) Trading in goods or services against Vietnam’s market opening commitments or the Law of Vietnam;
12. d) Operating beyond the scope specified in the business license or license for establishment of retail outlet;
13. dd) Illegally establishing a retail outlet in Vietnam.
14. A fine ranging from VND 40.000.000 to VND 50.000.000 shall be imposed for continuing operations after the business license or license for establishment of retail outlet has been revoked by a competent authority or has been expired without renewal granted.
15. Additional penalty:

The business license or license for establishment of retail outlet shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months or business operations shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months if one of the violations prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article is committed.

6. Remedial measure:

The violating entity is compelled to return any benefits illegally obtained from the commission of one of the violations in Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article.”

Thus, violations of the purchase and sale of goods and activities directly related to the purchase and sale of goods of foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam can be fined up to VND 50,000,000.

No.	Required documents	Implementer
		Customer (1)	Vinasc Group (2)	Vinasc Group handles on behalf of our client (3)
NEW ISSUANCE OF BUSINESS LICENSE
1	Application for Business License		X
2	Power of Attorney for Service		X
3	Explanation of conditions for granting a business license		X
4	Tax authority’s confirmation of no outstanding tax debt	X
5	Copy of Enterprise Registration Certificate	X		X
6	Copy of Investment Registration Certificate	X		X
CASES OF ADJUSTMENT OF BUSINESS LICENSES IN CASE OF CHANGE OF NAME, ENTERPRISE CODE, HEAD OFFICE ADDRESS (EXCEPT FOR MOVING HEAD OFFICE FROM ONE PROVINCE/CITY DIRECTLY UNDER THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TO ANOTHER PROVINCE/CITY DIRECTLY UNDER THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT) AND LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE
7	Application for adjustment of business license		X
8	Power of attorney		X
9	Copy of Enterprise Registration Certificate recording the adjusted content	X		X
CASES OF ADJUSTMENT OF BUSINESS LICENSES IN CASE OF CHANGE OF OWNER, CAPITAL CONTRIBUTOR, FOUNDING SHAREHOLDER; DISTRIBUTION OF GOODS; ACTIVITIES DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF GOODS;
10	Application for adjustment of business license		X
11	Power of attorney		X
12	Explanation of business licensing conditions; business plan; financial plan		X
13	Tax authority’s certification of no overdue tax debts	X
14	Copy of Enterprise Registration Certificate	X		X
15	Copy of Investment Registration Certificate	X		X
CASES OF RE-ISSUANCE OF BUSINESS LICENSES
16	Application for re-issuance of Business License		X
17	Copy of Enterprise Registration Certificate in case of re-issuance	X		X

 

(*) According to the process, the customer is obligated to carry out the procedures in column (1) and Vinasc will be obligated to carry out the procedures in column (2).

(*) In some cases, if customers have difficulties in preparing documents, Vinasc can replace the documents in column (3). However, in this situation, we have to consider each specific case and the following issues will arise:

• Costs incurred for processing documents (these costs will vary depending on each state agency, the legal regulations in Vietnam at each stage are also different)
• Additional time incurred due to having to prepare these documents

(*) During the preparation time, customers scan all the above documents so that we can prepare the documents in a timely manner.

(*) In some special situations, state agencies may request additional information to supplement the application. Such as Tax Report…

For any information regarding the issuance of a business license for goods, please contact Vinasc Group Joint Stock Company for detailed advice.