VI With the development of the global economy and the increasingly strong trend of international integration, foreign traders establishing Representative Offices in Vietnam is one of the important activities to promote trade, investment and economic cooperation between Vietnam and countries around the world. One of the important procedures for foreign enterprises is to renew the License to establish a Representative Office. This procedure not only ensures the legitimate rights of foreign traders but also creates a solid legal basis for the long-term operation of the Representative Office in Vietnam. Through today’s article, let’s learn about this issue with Pham Consult!
1. What is a representative office of a foreign trader in Vietnam?
Clause 6, Article 3 of the 2005 Law on Commerce stipulates that the Representative Office of a foreign trader in Vietnam is a dependent unit of a foreign trader, established in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law to research the market and carry out a number of trade promotion activities permitted by Vietnamese law. Accordingly, the Representative Office of a foreign trader in Vietnam will have the rights and obligations prescribed by Vietnamese law and the foreign trader will be responsible before Vietnamese law for all activities of the representative office.
2. Cases in which the License to establish a Representative Office of a foreign trader in Vietnam must be extended
According to Article 7 of Decree 07/2016/ND-CP of the Government on Representative Offices and Branches of Foreign Traders in Vietnam, foreign traders are granted a License to establish a Representative Office when meeting the conditions prescribed by law. The license to establish a representative office of a foreign trader is valid for 05 years but must not exceed the remaining term of the Business Registration Certificate or equivalent document of the foreign trader in case such document has a term.
The foreign trader is allowed to extend the license to establish a representative office when the term specified in the license expires, except in cases of violations falling under the cases of revocation of the license to establish a representative office as prescribed in Article 44 of Decree 07/2016/ND-CP.
3. Application for extension of the License to establish a Representative Office of a foreign trader in Vietnam
According to Article 22 of Decree 07/2016/ND-CP, the application for extension of the License to establish a Representative Office of a foreign trader in Vietnam includes the following types of documents:
– Application for extension of the License to establish a Representative Office according to form MD-4 issued with Circular No. 11/2016/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade signed by the authorized representative of the foreign trader;
– Copy of the Business Registration Certificate or equivalent document of the foreign trader: must be translated into Vietnamese and certified or consularly legalized by a diplomatic representative agency or consular agency of Vietnam abroad in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law;
– A copy of the audited financial report or a document confirming the implementation of tax or financial obligations in the most recent fiscal year or a document of equivalent value issued or certified by a competent agency or organization where the foreign trader is established, proving the existence and operation of the foreign trader in the most recent fiscal year: must be translated into Vietnamese and certified in accordance with Vietnamese law;
– A copy of the License to establish a Representative Office that has been granted.
4. Procedures for extending the License to establish a Representative Office of a foreign trader in Vietnam
The application for extending the License to establish a Representative Office of a foreign trader in Vietnam must be submitted at least 30 days before the License expires.
The foreign trader prepares 01 set of documents and submits it directly or by post or online (if applicable) to the Licensing Authority.
Within 03 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier, the Licensing Authority shall examine and request for additional documents if the dossier is incomplete or invalid. The request for additional documents shall be made a maximum of once during the entire dossier processing process. Within 05 working days from the date of receipt of a complete and valid dossier, the Licensing Authority shall extend the License to establish a Representative Office. In case of refusal to extend, a written document stating the reasons must be provided.
In case the extension of the License to establish a Representative Office is not regulated in specialized legal documents, the Licensing Authority shall send a document to the specialized management ministry for comments within 03 working days from the date of receipt of a complete and valid dossier. Within 05 working days from the date of receipt of the document from the Licensing Authority, the specialized management ministry shall issue a document stating its approval or disapproval of the extension of the License to establish a Representative Office. Within 05 working days from the date of receipt of the opinion from the specialized management ministry, the Licensing Authority shall extend or not extend the License to establish a Representative Office for the foreign trader. In case of non-extension, there must be a document stating the reasons.
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