Conditions for establishing a foreign-invested advertising company in Vietnam

Legal grounds:

• Law on Advertising 2012;
• Law on Investment 2020;
• Law on Enterprises 2020;
• Decree No.01/2021/ND-CP;
• Schedule of commitments on services of Vietnam in WTO.

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; personal information.

Foreign investors wishing to establish a foreign-invested advertising company in Vietnam should note the following conditions:

Conditions on capital:

Currently, for advertising services, foreign investors are not allowed to set up 100% foreign-owned companies in Vietnam, but according to the Schedule of commitments on services of Vietnam in WTO (CPC 871, excluding advertising for cigarettes), foreign service suppliers are permitted to establish a joint venture or business cooperation contract with Vietnamese partners who are legally authorized to do advertising services.

Conditions on investors:

Foreigners must have full capacity for civil acts, have sufficient legal papers, organizations must have Certificates of registration of establishment of enterprises abroad, and must be consular legalized. Vietnamese enterprises: Must operate in the field of advertising, have an enterprise registration certificate, and registered lines must be in the field of advertising.

Business conditions:

According to the Schedule of commitments on services of Vietnam in WTO, the advertising for wines and spirits shall be subject to State regulations, which are applied on a non-discriminatory basis. In addition, according to current Vietnamese law, advertising is not a conditional business. After establishing a foreign-invested advertising company, an investor is allowed to provide advertising services but must satisfy the conditions prescribed by the Law on Advertising. Viet An Law Firm would like to provide information that foreign investors need to pay attention to when setting up an advertising company in Vietnam:

Products, goods, and services banned from advertising

• Goods and services banned from trade as prescribed by law.
• Wine that contains 150alcohol or above.
• Dairy being breast milk substitute for children under 24 months old, dietary supplements for children under 06 months old; artificial feeding bottles, and pacifiers.
• Prescription drugs, and non-prescription drugs recommended by competent State agencies to use restrictively or under the doctor’s supervision.
• Pornographic products.
• Shotguns and cartridges, sporting weapons, and products that might incite violence.
• Other products, goods, and services are banned from advertising specified by the Government depending on the actual requirements.

In addition, when foreign investors establish an advertising company in Vietnam, it is necessary to note several prohibited acts in advertising activities specified in Article 8 of the Law on Advertising 2012.

Advertising conditions

• Having a Certificate of business registration when advertising goods and services.
• Having the documents proving the standard and regulation conformity of products, goods, and services as prescribed by law when advertising all kinds of products, goods, and services.
• Having the ownership certificate or the use right certificate when advertising property of which the ownership certificate or use right certificate is compulsory.
• The advertisements for special products, goods, and services must satisfy the following conditions:
• Having the unexpired Circulation license and the medicine instruction sheet approved by the Ministry of Health when advertising medicines allowed to be advertised as prescribed by law provisions on medicines;
• Having the cosmetics announcement sheet as prescribed by law provisions on medicines when advertising cosmetics;
• Having the circulation registration certificate issued by the Ministry of Health when advertising domestic and medical chemicals, pesticides, and antiseptics;
• When advertising milk and dietary products for small children not being specified in Clause 4 Article 7 of this Law, it is compulsory to have the standard certificate, food safety, and hygiene certificate must be obtained regarding dietary products domestically produced, or the product quality certificate issued by the competent agency of the producing country, and the circulation license for imported dietary products.
• Having the food hygiene, safety, and quality registration certificate when advertising food and food additives in the list of compulsory food quality safety and hygiene registration, or having the standard announcement dossier receipt from the competent State agency when advertising food and food additives in the list of the compulsory standard announcement;
• Having the practice qualification issued by the Health sector when advertising medical examination and treatment services;
• Having the circulation license when advertising medical equipment domestically produced, or having the import license when advertising imported medical equipment;
• Having a certificate of registration of pesticides when advertising for pesticides, plant protection drug ingredients, and plant protection supplies. Having the Phytosanitary license issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development when advertising for beneficial organisms used in plant protection.
• Having the circulation license and the product property summary sheet when advertising veterinary medicines and equipment;
• Having the product quality certificate or the written product quality announcement when advertising fertilizers, biological preparations serving farming, animal feed, and biological preparations serving to breed.

Customers wishing to establish an advertising company in Vietnam with foreign capital, please contact Viet An Law Firm for detailed support!