Asia Legal

"Enterprises are free to do business in any business areas that are not prohibited by law" is one of the rights of the enterprises recognized in the applicable Law on Enterprise. What are the prohibited business areas which the foreign investors should be aware of when they make plan to invest in Vietnam?  1. Prohibited bussiness areas  According to Article 6 of the applicable Law on Investment, there are 8 prohibited business areas, including:  Trade in the narcotic substances The prohibited narcotic substances are specified in Appendix I of the Law on Investment 2020, including 47 types, which can be followed by typical narcotics substances: Cetorphine, Acetyl-alpha- methylfenany, Alphacetylmethadol, Alpha-methylfentanyl, Beta-hydroxyfentanyl, Brolamphetamine, Cannabis and cannabis preparations, Heroine, opium and opium preparations…  ...

When investing in conditional business lines in Vietnam, the foreign investors need to consider whether the industry in which they intend to invest in Vietnam is a conditional business line or not. Under the law of Vietnam, there are two types of conditions applied, including: (i) Market access conditions for the foreign investors; and (ii) Conditions for doing business.  1. Market access conditions for the foreign investors   The market access conditions for the foreign investors are pre-check conditions which will be appraised by the investment registration authority of Vietnam before granting Investment Registration Certificate to the foreign investors.  According to Article 9 of the applicable Law on Investment, the foreign investors are entitled to the market access conditions applicable to the domestic investors, excep...

  On September 1, 2021, the Government published a draft amending and supplementing a number of articles Decree No.   31/2015/NĐ-CP  detailing several articles of the Law on employment regarding assessment and grant of certificates of national occupational skills was issued on March 24, 2015, and took effect from May 15 2016 (hereinafter referred to as “ Draft ”) for the purpose of enhancing the standardization and development of occupational skills of employees, promoting the development of skilled human resources, especially highly skilled human resources to help raise the level of Vietnamese labor skills, contributing to improve labor productivity and increase national competitiveness. This Draft focuses on the following amendments and supplements: Firstly, the Draft supplemented the definition and classification of certificates of national occupational skills. Accordingly, the definition of the certificates of national occupational skills as a certification that a wor...

Labor – Human resources always play an important role in a business. When doing investment in Vietnam, regulations on labor in general and labor contract in particular requires foreign-invested enterprises’ strict compliance. 1. Form and content of a labor contract Under Article 13 of the Labor Code 2019, a labor contract is an agreement between an employee and an employer on paid job, salary, working conditions, rights and obligations of each party in the employment relations. If the two parties conclude an agreement by another name but showing the following 3 elements, it is still considered a labor contract: paid job; salary; and management and supervision of a party. a. Form of labor contracts A labor contract must be made in writing which is in paper or via electronic means in accordance with regulations on electronic transactions, except for a labor contract with less than 1-month terms which may be concluded in verbal. b. Content of labor contracts A labor contract must contain ...

Advertising is the employment of various means to present the public with profitable products, goods and services; non-profitable products and services; organizations and individuals trading and providing the presented products, goods and services, except for news, social policies, and personal information. In recent years, advertising services have been a field of interest to foreign investors, but barriers and inadequacies of Vietnamese law make it impossible for many investors to do so. Specifically, according to Vietnam’s WTO service commitments, Vietnam has opened the market for advertising services for foreign investors by establishing joint ventures or cooperating with Vietnamese partners allowed to do business in advertising services. Moreover, since January 1, 2009, there has been no limit on the percentage of foreign capital contribution in the joint venture. However, investment licensing agencies in localities and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of ...

The operation duration of the investment project is recorded on the Investment Registration Certificate. Depending on the location of the investment project, the field of investment, the investment capital, the project will be determined by the investment licensing authority for its operation duration, but not exceeding the following period: Investment projects inside an economic zone shall not exceed 70 years. investment projects outside an economic zone shall not exceed 50 years. The duration of a project in a disadvantaged area or extremely disadvantaged area or a project with large investment capital but with slow rate of capital recovery may be longer but shall not exceed 70 years. If a project uses land allocated or leased by the State, but the transfer of land is delayed, the delay shall not be included in the project duration or execution schedule. The duration of the project will be considered and decided by the investment registration authority, on the basis of a comprehensiv...

Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP regulating on foreign cooperation and investment in education was issued on 6 June 2018 and took effect from 1 August 2018 (hereinafter referred to as Decree 86/2018). After 3 years of implementation, in addition to remarkable results in creating a legal framework for a foreign entity participating in the educational development of Vietnam, Decree No. 86/2018 has also revealed inadequacies and asynchronous issues. Therefore, it is necessary to promulgate a revising decree amending and supplementing articles of Decree No. 86/2018 (hereinafter referred to as Draft). This article points out a brunch of new and prominent regulations amended in the mentioned Draft. Firstly, the Draft supplemented the entities eligible for engaging in joint education: In particular, the Draft supplemented the entities eligible for engaging in joint education that are private educational institutions established and operating in Vietnam (regardless of investment capital in Vietnam or ...

In the process of foreign investors investing and doing business in Vietnam, Visa and Work permit are indispensable legal documents that play a key role in immigration and legally work in Vietnam for his/her business purposes. In this article, Asia Legal will provide some regulations and contents that foreign investors need to know about Visa and Work permit when investing and doing business in Vietnam.   I.               Visa   1.             Type of Visa   foreign investors investing in Vietnam through the form of establishment or capital contribution to companies operating in Vietnam are objects who eligible for a visa to do long-term business activities in Vietnam. According to Clause 7, Article 8 of the Law on entry, exit, transit, and residence of foreigners in Vietnam, foreign investors investing in Vietnam will be granted visas with...