Regrant of alcohol retail licenses in Vietnam

Currently, consumers have a great demand for retail alcohol products. According to the law, business establishments are required to You can only do business with a retail license for alcohol, this is one of the documents issued for a limited time. So when encountering certain situations such as expiration or the license being lost or damaged, traders will have to carry out some legal procedures to have the license re-issued. So what should I do if I want to re-issue a alcohol retail license? To answer customers’ questions, Viet An Law Firm provides an article on the regrant of alcohol retail licenses in Vietnam below.

Legal basis

• Decree No. 105/2017/ND-CP on alcohol business, amended and supplemented by Decree No. 17/2020/ND-CP.
• Decree No. 24/2020/ND-CP detailing a number of articles of the Law on Prevention and Control of Harmful Effects of Alcohol and Beer;

Conditions for regranting of alcohol retail licenses in Vietnam

• Firstly, it must be an enterprise, cooperative, cooperative union, or business household established according to the provisions of law;
• Second, have the right to legally use a fixed business location with a clear address;
• Third, there is a written introduction or principal contract of the wine producer, wine distributor, or wine wholesaler.

Alcohol retail license re-issuance process

Step 1. Submit application

Traders are requested to submit applications for re-issuance of alcohol retail licenses directly or by mail or online at the Department receiving documents and returning results of administrative procedures of the People’s Committee.

In case traders submit directly, one-stop civil servants guide citizens to operate on the unit’s computer system (if any) or proactively operate on the system for dossiers submitted by post.

Step 2. Receive and check the accuracy and completeness of the documents

step will take about ½ day.

One-stop civil servants receive documents on the system and check :

• If in case the declared information and attached files on the system are not complete and accurate according to regulations, the One-Stop Officer shall notify and send instructions to traders to supplement and complete the dossier according to form No. 02.
• If in case of refusal to receive the application, the OSS Officer shall send a notice and clearly state the reason according to form No. 03.
• If the declared information and attached files on the system are complete and accurate according to regulations, the one-stop civil servant receives the documents according to Form No. 01, prepares a control sheet according to Form No. 05, and updates the records. Follow up according to form number 06 and transfer the records on the system to the leaders of the Economic Department.

Note: Forms 01, 02, and 03 are created on the system by the One-Stop Official and sent to the Trader via the email address that the Trader has registered. Control sheets according to Form 05 are created and authenticated on the system and have the same value as paper process control sheets signed by relevant units.

Step 3: Assign documents to handle

This step usually takes place in ½ day. Leaders of the Economic Department approve the documents, assign specialists to process them, and transfer them to the system.

Step 4: Examination of documents

This step usually takes place within 3 days. The assigned specialist receives documents on the system and conducts review and examination, one of the following two cases will occur:

• In case the dossier does not meet the requirements and needs explanation and supplementation, the dossier processing specialist shall draft a written request for supplementation according to Form 02 or reason for refusal according to Form 03 and submit it to the department leader.
• If required: Perform physical verification and move to the next step.

Step 5: Report examination results

The specialist processes the application to complete the re-issued alcohol retail license and transfer it to the system and at the same time prints a hard copy and submits it to the department leadership for review.

Note: In case the application is late, it must be accompanied by an apology Form No. 04.

Step 6. Review examination results

Department leaders receive the appraisal results and review the documents then:

• In case of agreement, the department leader will sign the re-issued alcohol retail license.
• In case of disagreement, the department leader will send it back to the specialist handling the file and clearly state the reason.

Step 7. Seal & backup

The dossier processing specialist receives results, transfers documents to numbers, stamps, and issues documents, tasks that usually take place within 1 day.

Perform duplication and statistics, monitor and store in the room according to regulations. Transfer results to the Results Return Department.

Step 8. Return results

final step is to notify and return the results to the Merchant, collect fees according to regulations (if any), and request the Merchant to sign the book according to form 06.

Dossier components

Depending on each specific case, the application will have different documents:

In case of regranting due to the license expiry date

In this case, the dossier includes:

• Application for re-grant of Alcohol Retail License according to Form No. 03 issued with Decree 17/2020/ND-CP;
• Copy of Certificate of registration of enterprise, cooperative, cooperative union, or business household;
• Copy of lease or loan contract or documents proving the legal right to use the proposed premises as a retail location;
• A copy of the introductory document or principle contract of the wine producer, wine distributor, or wine wholesaler;

In case of regranting due to loss or damage

In this case, the dossier requires an application for re-issuance of the Alcohol Retail License according to Form No. 03 issued with Decree 17/2020/ND-CP and the original or copy of the issued License (if any).

Note: The number of documents is 01 set.

Submitting the application

Applications for regrant of an Alcohol Retail License can be submitted in the following ways:

• Method 1: Submit the application directly to the Receiving and Returning Results Department of administrative procedures of the People’s Committee.
• Method 2: Submit an online application at the Online Public Service Portal.
• Method 3: Send via public postal service.

How are Alcohol Retail Licenses saved and submitted?

The saving and sending of alcohol business licenses is carried out based on the provisions of Article 28 of Decree 105/2017/ND-CP (amended by Clause 21, Article 16 of Decree 17/2020/ND-CP), specifically for Alcohol Retail License:

• The license is made in multiple copies: 02 copies are kept at the licensing agency; 01 copy is sent to the licensed trader; 01 copy is sent to the Department of Industry and Trade; 01 copy sent to the Market Management Department; 01 copy sent to the wine producer or other wine business listed in the license.

Duration of execution

Within 07 working days from the date of receipt of complete and valid documents, the Economic Department will review and re-issue the Alcohol Retail License. If you refuse to grant, you must respond in writing and clearly state the reason; In case there are not enough valid documents, within 02 working days from the date of receiving the documents, the Economic Department will issue a written request for supplementation.

Fees need to be paid to re-grant an alcohol retail license

Fees for assessing operating conditions to re-issue an Alcohol Retail License (In case of re-issuance due to the license expiry date) include:

• For business households: 400,000 VND/establishment/time.
• For organizations and businesses: 1,200,000 VND/establishment/time.

Duration of new alcohol retail license

Pursuant to Article 27 of Decree 105/2017/ND-CP, the re-grant of a new license depends on the following cases:

In case of re-issuance due to the expiration of the validity period

The term of the new license is 5 years based on Clause 1, Article 28 of Decree Decree 105/2017/ND-CP which stipulates that the term of the Alcohol Retail License is 05 years.

In case of re-issue of license due to loss or damage:

The term of the license will remain the same.

Customers who need advice on the procedure to regrant of alcohol retail licenses in Vietnam, please contact Viet An Law Firm for the best support.