Before starting a business, Investors not only do research on the market, input and output for their products/services, human recources…but also learn about the provinsions of law that regulate their business lines. In particular, the conditional investments are so important that the investors must focus on them. These business lines need to meet other specific conditions for security, national defense, social order, social morality and public health. Therefore, the procedures for implementing these business lines are more severe than those of ordinary business lines, but are not prohibited by law. The following article refers to regulations on just the list of conditional business lines that need a sublincense in the Investment Law 2014, Enterprise Law 2014 and other relevant laws.
Lists of Conditional Investments that require a sublicense:
| No. | Business Lines | Sublicense | Authority body |
| 1 | International travel service | International travel business licenses | Department of Tourism |
| 2 | Hotel services | Classification of tourist accommodation establishments | Department of Culture – Sports |
| 3 | Printing services | Licensing of printing activities | Department of Information and Communications |
| 4 | Real estate trading: for rent | Fire protection & fire safety licence | Fire and rescue police |
| Real estate trading: for rent | Certificates of sastisfaction of security and order conditions | District Police station | |
| 5 | Security services | Certificates of sastisfaction of security and order conditions | City Police station |
| 6 | Real estate trading floors | Annoucement of operting real estate trading floors | Department of Construction |
| 7 | Manufacture of bottled water | Certificate of food safety conditions | Department of Health |
| Manufacture of bottled water | Certificate of quality | Department of Health | |
| 8 | Manufacture of foods | Certificate of food safety conditions | Department of Health |
| Manufacture of foods | Certificate of quality | Department of Health | |
| 9 | Restaurant, food store and coffee shop | Certificate of food safety conditions | Department of Health |
| Restaurant | Fire protection & fire safety licence | District police station | |
| 10 | Foreign Languague/Infomatics Technology teaching centre | Permits for operation of Languague/Infomatics Technology teaching centre | Department of Education and Training |
| 11 | Trading in veterinary medicines | Qualified certificate of trading in veterinary medicines | Branch of Department of Animal Health |
| 12 | Manufacture of veterinary medicines | Certificate of eligibility for producing veterinary drugs | Department of Animal Health |
| 13 | Nusery school | License of preschool education establishment. | Department of Education and Training |
| 14 | Cosmetics production | Certificate of Free Sale | Department of Health |
| 15 | Industry that have significant effects on the environment or potentially have seriously affect the environment: using scrap, waste… | Commitment to environment protectionOr
Environmental Protection Project |
District People’s Committee |
| 16 | General consultation clinics | Certificates of medical clinics | Department of Health |
| Specialized consultation clinics | Certificates of medical clinics | Department of Health | |
| Traditional medicine consultation and therapy clinics | Certificates of medical clinics | Department of Health | |
| 17 | Import of foods | Product specification certificates | Ministry of Health |
| 18 | Import of medical equipment | Medical equipment import Permit (valid for 01 year) | Ministry of Health |
| 19 | Advertising supplement diatery, cosmetics, medicines (which are allowed by law), | Advertising Permit | Department of Health |
| 20 | Vocational Traning | Certificates of vocational training quality testing standards (valid for 05 years) | Department of Labour, War Invalidsand Social Affairs |
| 21 | Wine trading | Wine retail license | Department of Industry and Trade |
| Wine wholesale license | Ministry of of Industry and Trade | ||
| Wine production | Produce Wine license | Ministry of of Industry and Trade | |
| Small-scale production of wine for sale | Produce wine for further processing license | District People’s Committee | |
| 22 | Produce film | License of eligibility for trading in film production | Cinema Department |
| 23 | Multi-level selling of goods | Registration papers for multi-level sale of goods | Department of Industry and Trade |
| 24 | Information and establishment of websites on Internet. (ICP) | Permits for the provision of information and operation of websites on Internet. | Department of Information and Communications |
| 25 | Trade in chemicals | Permit for trading in chemicals | Department of Industry and Trade |
| 26 | Conducting commercial transportation by car | License of commercial transportation by car. | Department of Transport |
| 27 | Sales promotion activities | Permits of Sales promotion activities | Department of Industry and Trade |
| 28 | Establish overseas branches and representative offices by enterprises | Certificate of Establishment of overseas branches and representative offices | Department of Industry and Trade |
| 29 | Labour Export Services | Guest worker service provision licenses | Ministry of Labour, War Invalidsand Social Affairs |
Notes:
Since July 2016, the issuance of new decrees has eliminated more than 3,000 industries requiring sublicenses, typically in the field of study abroad consulting, contributing to create more favorable conditions for the association of some businesses. However, in practice, businesses still face many difficulties with their sublicenses such as:
– The enterprise does not have accurate and complete understanding of the conditions for obtaining a sublicense and the procedure for applying for a sublicense. Because these regulations and procedures are regulated in different legal documents such as Laws, Decrees, Circulars or Official Dispatches, enterprises will encounter difficulties in obtaining information.
– There are procedures prescribed by law but no specific guidelines, leading to delays for enterprises when carrying out these procedures. In addition, it is inevitable that the change in procedure resulting from the promulgation of the new law. During the time when the new law comes into effect, enterprises will find it hard to apply for a sublicense for their business line and they have to wait until there is specific guideline from the authorities.
– Requirements of business conditions of some sectors are quite strict, leading to the business can not meet all requirements such as: human resources, labor qualifications, facilities, financial sources, capacity. For example, in the industry of sending Vietnamese people abroad to work (“labor export”), enterprises need legal capital of 05 billion Viet Nam Dong plus deposit 01 billion Viet Nam Dong and other regulations on personnel…
From the above mentioned difficulties, enterprises should contact law firms or lawyers for better advice on procedures as well as documents to be prepared, which help to save a lot more time.
