Conditions for establishing a postal company in Vietnam

Conditions for establishing a postal company are the total requirements that an enterprise wishing to do postal business must meet in order to submit a dossier to a competent state agency for a postal operation license.

Conditions on subjects (also known as individuals and organizations eligible to establish a company):

The law stipulates that organizations and individuals have the right to establish and manage enterprises in Vietnam in accordance with this Law, except for cases falling under Article 17 of the Enterprise Law 2020.

Conditions on business lines

Enterprises have the right to freely do business in industries not prohibited by law. In addition, the company is not allowed to trade in industries prohibited from business investment such as: Trading in narcotic substances; Trading in chemicals and minerals; Trading in specimens of plants and wildlife; Prostitution business; Buying and selling people, tissues and body parts; Business activities related to human cloning; Debt collection service business;…

In addition, the company is also not allowed to do conditional business lines when it does not meet the business conditions prescribed by the Law on Enterprises and the Law on Investment or does not ensure the maintenance of sufficient business conditions during operation.

Note: The company must register the business with the business registration authority before operating.

Company name conditions

When naming a company, it is necessary to note the basic conditions specified in Article 37 of the Enterprise Law 2020 as follows: The Vietnamese name of an enterprise consists of two elements in the following order: type of enterprise and proper name

Note:  When naming a business, it should be noted not to violate the following prohibitions:

• Naming the same name or confusing name with the name of the registered enterprise specified in Article 41 of the Enterprise Law 2020;
• Use the names of state agencies, people’s armed forces units, names of political organizations, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations to make all or part of the proper name of the enterprise, unless otherwise approved by the agency,  that unit or entity.
• Using words and symbols that violate the historical, cultural, moral and fine traditions and customs of the nation.

Conditions on the head office of the enterprise

The head office of the enterprise is the contact point of the enterprise in the territory of Vietnam, whose address is determined including the number of houses, niches, alleys, alleys, streets, streets or villages, hamlets, hamlets, communes, wards, townships, districts, districts, towns, cities of provinces, provinces or centrally-run cities; telephone number, fax number and email (if applicable).

The law does not allow the use of collective houses and condominiums to register the establishment of companies, branch offices, representative offices, business locations of the company.

Conditions on the company’s charter capital

Charter capital is the amount of capital that the enterprise commits to contribute at the time of enterprise registration. Within 90 days from the date of business registration, the members/shareholders of the company need to contribute the full amount of capital committed to contribute. If after the above time limit, members/shareholders of the company still have not contributed or have not contributed enough, the company must adjust the charter capital down to the actual contributed value.

In addition to the above conditions, to establish a postal company, it is necessary to comply with the provisions of the Postal Law 2010 as follows:

Conditions for licensing postal service business in Vietnam:

Firstly, an enterprise providing mail services with a receiving address with a single weight of up to 02 kilograms (kg) must have a license for provision of postal services (hereinafter referred to as a postal license) issued by a competent state agency in charge of postage.

Secondly, an enterprise shall be granted a postal license when it fully meets the following conditions:

• Having a certificate of business registration of postal activities or an investment certificate in the postal sector;
• Have financial and personnel capabilities suitable to the business plan according to the contents of the license application;

Conditions on financial capability are specified in Decree 47/2011/ND-CP as follows:

• In case of providing postal services within the province or inter-province, the enterprise must have a minimum capital of VND 02 billion;
• In case of providing international postal services, enterprises must have a minimum capital of VND 05 billion.
• Having a feasible business plan in accordance with regulations on freight rates and quality of postal services;
• Take measures to ensure information security and safety for people, post and postal networks.

Market access conditions of foreign-invested companies for the postal business line in Vietnam

Vietnam’s commitment to join the WTO

Based on Section 7 of Vietnam’s Schedule of commitments in the WTO stipulating delivery services, it can be seen that when Vietnam joined the WTO, it committed to open the door for foreign investors to access the market after joining the 5-year WTO commitment for insurance and courier services, ie collection services, split, pick, ship, and deliver nationally or internationally.

Vietnam’s commitments in CPTPP Vietnam’s commitments to open courier services in the CPTPP are similar to commitments in the WTO. Accordingly, in Chapter 10 of the Schedule of commitments on financial services, Vietnam commits without limitation to courier services.

The provisions of the current law on the conditions for establishing a postal company are quite clear, but in fact, when carrying out the above procedures, many businesses have encountered many unnecessary troubles. For the establishment to take place smoothly and quickly, please contact us for advice and support!