Licensing services refer to services related to obtaining licenses for conditional business operations that require specific licenses under Vietnamese law.
Licensing
How we can help:
- E-commerce licenses: PLF helps Clients to obtain licenses for e-commerce platforms (trading license), and register these platforms, including website and mobile applications, with state agencies;
- License for retail distribution, wholesale of specific products (e.g. lubricants, rice, sugar, recorded items, books, newspaper, and magazines), logistics (except for specific cases), commercial intermediary, bid-holding, commercial promotion (excluding advertising services). Unlike Vietnamese-owned companies, FDI companies need to obtain trading licenses when executing these activities in Vietnam;
- Food safety and Hygiene: This license is required for all food and beverage-related activities such as food production facilities, restaurants or bars. PLF will assist Clients in obtaining this license before starting operations;
- Job-recommending activities: PLF also helps companies to obtain this license for headhunting activities in Vietnam by advising on legal requirements on facilities, capital, employees, etc.;
- License for foreign contractors’ operation office in Vietnam: PLF will help foreign contractors carrying out construction work in Vietnam to obtain the operation license.
How to proceed?
- Organize direct meetings with our team to clarify our Clients’ requirements, targets, and concerns;
- Review and compare current business activities of Clients to advise on the corresponding legal requirements on specific licenses;
- Advise on legal requirements on facilities, capital, employees, scales and other contents in accordance with Vietnamese law;
- Provide list of documents and legal forms translated from Vietnamese to English to prepare complete applications for licenses;
- Provide a CRM account so our Clients can monitor the legal services and licensing procedures;
- Deliver licenses and guiding documents to complete our scope of work.
Bui Cong Thanh
Managing Partner
Alex Ho Thanh
Senior Associate
Nguyen Thi Phong Lan
Senior Associate
La Thi My Huong
Associate
Le Thi Tuyet Mai
Junior Associate
Le Tan Canh
Paralegal
Nguyen Ngoc Tri
Paralegal
Doan Thi My Trinh
Senior Accountant
Phan Thi Chuc Y
Accountant
Banh Anh Nguyen
Admin - HR
Hua Thi Minh Thu
Communications Administrator
Ho Nhat Dan Ngan
Communications Administrator
Most Frequent Questions & Answers
Finding expert guidance in our FAQs section, which address common concerns and provide insights into corporate legal, accounting, and secretarial matters.
Registering a 100% foreign-owned company in Vietnam is possible. However, foreign investment is subject to regulatory limitations applied on each specific business sector.
In most cases, investors shall implement the following steps to establish a company:
Step 1: Obtaining an Investment Registration Certificate, abbreviated IRC (if any non-Vietnamese investors).
Step 2: Obtaining an Enterprise Registration Certificate, abbreviated ERC or BRC for Business Registration Certificate.
The company is established but the following steps are required for regulatory compliance:
Step 3: Post establishment procedures.
Step 4: Obtaining sub-licenses (if any).
IRC stands for Investment Registration Certificate which shall be obtained (in most cases) when a foreign investor wants to set up a project (such as establishing a company) in Vietnam at the beginning.
ERC stands for the Enterprise Registration Certificate which every company in Vietnam must have. In other jurisdiction it is sometimes referred to as the “Incorporation Certificate” or “Company Certificate”.
Joint Stock Company (“JSC“) and Limited Liability Company (“LLC“) are the most common types of company in Vietnam since they offer the following advantages:
- Limitation in liabilities of their shareholders/ members/ proportionate to their capital contribution;
- Flexible management structure;
- Conversion from JSC to LLC and conversely is possible.
In general, there is no minimum capital required by law when registering a company in Vietnam. Only some conditional business sectors such as real estate trading, banking or education have specific capital requirements.
However, the capital shall be sufficient in light of the intended business sectors and scale of operation.
For non-conditional business sectors, we usually need from 6 to 8 weeks to setup a foreign-invested company and 1 week for a Vietnamese-invested one.
However, especially for foreign-owned companies, the time can be extended due to various reasons such as additional requirements from the licensing authorities.
Contact Our Legal Team for Expert Guidance & Support
We welcome inquiries, consultation requests, and any legal concerns you may have. Please do not hesitate to contact us for reliable guidance and exceptional service.
