VI In the context of Vietnam’s increasingly deep integration into the global market, the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) remains strong. To operate stably and comply with the legal framework, a business license is considered a mandatory “passport” for foreign-invested economic organizations when conducting goods trading and activities directly related to goods trading. However, during operation, businesses inevitably face unforeseen circumstances, leading to the urgent need to apply for license renewal to avoid business disruption and the risk of administrative penalties. To better understand the current regulations and optimize the process of carrying out this procedure as quickly and accurately as possible, let’s delve into the details below with Pham Consult.
- Cases of Business License Reissuance
According to Clause 1, Article 5 of Decree 09/2018/ND-CP, a business license is a legal document issued by a competent state agency to economic organizations with foreign investment capital to carry out the following activities:
– Exercising the right to retail distribution of goods, excluding goods specified in point c, Clause 4, Article 9 of Decree 09/2018/ND-CP;
– Exercising the right to import and wholesale distribution of goods specified in point b, Clause 4, Article 9 of Decree 09/2018/ND-CP;
– Exercising the right to retail distribution of goods specified in point c, Clause 4, Article 9 of Decree 09/2018/ND-CP; – Providing logistics services; excluding logistics service sub-sectors for which Vietnam has committed to market opening in international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory;
– Leasing of goods, excluding financial leasing; excluding leasing of construction equipment with operators;
– Providing trade promotion services, excluding advertising services;
– Providing commercial intermediary services;
– Providing e-commerce services;
– Providing services for organizing bidding for goods and services.
According to Article 17 of Decree 09/2018/ND-CP, a business license is reissued to a foreign-invested economic organization in the following cases:
– Relocating the head office from one province/city under central authority to another province/city under central authority.
– The business license is lost or damaged.
- Application for Reissuance of Business License
According to Article 18 of Decree 09/2018/ND-CP, the application for reissuance of a business license includes the following documents:
– Application for reissuance of a business license;
– Copy of the Business Registration Certificate in the case of reissuance of a business license due to a foreign-invested economic organization relocating its head office from one province/city under central authority to another.
- Procedure for Reissuing a Business License
The foreign-invested economic organization prepares one set of documents and submits them within 10 working days from the date of issuance of the Business Registration Certificate recording the adjustments in the case of reissuance due to relocation of the head office from one province/city under central authority to another.
One set of documents must be submitted directly, by post, or electronically (if applicable) to the Licensing Authority at the new location.
Within 3 working days of receiving the documents, the Licensing Authority will review them and request amendments or additions if the documents are incomplete or invalid.
Within 5 working days of receiving complete and valid documents, the Licensing Authority will reissue the business license. In case of refusal, a written response stating the reasons must be provided. The Licensing Authority will reissue the business license in the case stipulated in Clause 1, Article 17 of Decree 09/2018/ND-CP and send one copy of the business license to the Licensing Authority at the previous location for updating in the database system.
Within 05 working days from the date of re-issuance of the Business License, foreign-invested economic organizations, in the cases stipulated in Clause 1, Article 17 of Decree 09/2018/ND-CP, are responsible for returning the previously issued Business License to the Licensing Authority of the place of origin.
