Conditions for establishing an infomation website business company in Vietnam

What is a information website?

Website means an information system used to establish one or more information pages presented in the form of symbols, numbers, scripts, images, sounds and other forms of information for the provision and use of information on the Internet.

Information website classification in Vietnam

Information Websites are classified as follows:

• Online newspapers in the form of websites.
• General website means a website of an agency, organization or enterprise that provides general information on the basis of quoting verbatim and accurate official news sources and clearly stating the name of the author or agency of the official news source, the time posted, Play that information.
• Internal website means a website of an agency, organization or enterprise that provides information on functions, powers, tasks, organization of apparatus, services, products, industries and other information serving the operation of the agency or organization itself, that business and does not provide aggregated information.
• Personal website means a website established or established by an individual through the use of social networking services to provide information of that individual, does not represent other organizations or individuals and does not provide aggregated information.
• Specialized application website means a website of agencies, organizations and enterprises providing application services in the fields of telecommunications, information technology, radio, television, commerce, finance, banking, culture, healthcare, education and other specialized fields and does not provide general information.

Manage information website setup

• E-newspapers in the form of websites shall be established and operate in accordance with the law on the press.
• Specialized application websites shall be established and operate in accordance with specialized laws and relevant provisions of this Decree.
• Personal websites and internal websites must comply with regulations on registration and use of Internet resources and relevant regulations in this Decree.
• An enterprise may only set up a general website when it has a license to set up a general website.

Conditions for establishing an information website business company in Vietnam

Conditions on the entity establishing a company trading websites

All organizations and individuals establishing information websites must satisfy the following conditions:

• Organizations with legal status;
• Individuals from full 18 years old; have full capacity for civil acts;
• Not in the case that organizations and individuals do not have the right to establish and manage enterprises in Vietnam as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 17 of the Enterprise Law 2020.

Conditions on charter capital

• Depending on the industry and business size, enterprises can apply for charter capital in accordance with their financial capabilities.
• Enterprises must ensure sufficient capital contribution and the right type of assets committed when registering for business establishment within 90 days from the date of issuance of the Certificate of Business Registration, excluding the time for transporting and importing assets contributed as capital, carrying out administrative procedures to transfer ownership of assets.
• In case after 90 days from the time of commitment to contribute capital, when the actual capital contribution is insufficient, the enterprise must carry out procedures for reducing charter capital.

Company name conditions

• According to Article 37 of the Enterprise Law 2020, the name of the company trading the website must ensure two elements: type of enterprise and proper name;
• The enterprise name must be affixed at the head office, branch, representative office, business location of the enterprise.
• The business name must be printed or written on transaction papers, documents and publications issued by the enterprise.
• Not falling into the prohibited cases as prescribed in Article 38 of the Enterprise Law 2020.

Conditions for head office

• The head office of the enterprise is located in the territory of Vietnam, is the contact address of the enterprise and is determined according to the boundaries of administrative units; have a phone number, fax number and email (if applicable).
• Do not locate the business office at the address of an apartment (except for apartments with commercial functions) or a group house.

Conditions for issuance of an information website establishment license in Vietnam

The Company shall be granted a license to establish an information website when it fully meets the following conditions:

• Being an enterprise established under Vietnamese law with functions, tasks or lines of business registration in accordance with the services and information provided posted on the National Business Registration Portal;
• Having organizations and personnel meeting the provisions of Decree 27/2018/ND-CP;
• Have registered domain names used to establish general websites and social networks and meet the provisions of Article 23b of Decree 27/2018/ND-CP;
• Meet technical conditions as prescribed in Article 23c of Decree 27/2018/ND-CP;
• Take measures to ensure information security, information security and information management as prescribed in Article 23d of Decree 27/2018/ND-CP.

Conditions on organization and personnel for information websites

Conditions on personnel responsible for managing information content

• At least 01 employee responsible for managing information content is a Vietnamese national or for foreigners with a temporary residence card issued by a competent agency valid for at least 06 months in Vietnam from the time of submission;
• There is an information content management department.

Conditions on personnel of the technical department

There is at least 01 information content management personnel and 01 technical management personnel.

Domain name conditions

• For organizations or enterprises that are not press agencies, the sequence of characters that make up the domain name must not be the same or identical to the name of the press agency.
• The information website uses at least 01 domain name “.vn” and stores information at the server system with an IP address in Vietnam.
• Information websites of the same organization or enterprise must not use the same domain name with the same character range (including secondary domain names, e.g. forum.vnn.vn, news.vnn.vn domain names with different character ranges).
• Domain names must comply with regulations on management and use of Internet resources. For international domain names, there must be confirmation of the use of a legal domain name.

Technical conditions for information websites

Establish technical equipment systems capable of meeting the following requirements:

• For information websites: Store at least 90 days for aggregated information content from the time of posting; store at least 02 years for posted information processing logs;
• Receive and handle warnings of infringement information from users;
• Detect, warn and prevent illegal access, forms of attacks in the network environment and comply with standards to ensure information security;
• Have a backup plan to ensure the maintenance of safe and continuous operation and remedy when incidents occur, except for force majeure cases as prescribed by law;
• Ensure that there must be at least 01 server system located in Vietnam, allowing at any time to meet the inspection, inspection, storage and provision of information on all websites and social networks owned by organizations or enterprises.

Conditions on information content management for information websites

• Have a public information management process: Determine the scope of exploited information sources, management mechanisms, and check information before and after posting;
• There is a mechanism to control sources, ensuring that the aggregate information posted must be accurate according to the source information;
• There is a coordination mechanism to immediately remove contents that violate Clause 1, Article 5 of this Decree no later than 03 hours after self-detection or at the request of the Ministry of Information and Communications or licensing agencies (in writing, telephone, email).

Procedures for establishing an information website business company in Vietnam

Company establishment procedures

Step 1: Draft a dossier for establishment of an information website business company

• Application for business registration;
• The company’s charter;
• List of founding members or shareholders;
• A valid copy of ID card/CCCD/passport of the owner, capital contributing members, founding shareholders, the legal representative of the enterprise and the authorized representative to submit the application (if any).
• In case the capital contribution is an organization, it is necessary to enclose the Establishment Decision/Business Registration Certificate or other equivalent document and a valid copy of the personal certificate of the representative authorized to manage the contributed capital.
• Investment registration certificate in case the enterprise is established by a foreign investor or a foreign-invested economic organization according to the provisions of the Law on Investment and implementation guiding documents.

Step 2: Submit the application for business establishment registration and pay the enterprise information disclosure fee

• A dossier of registration for establishment of a website business company shall be submitted to the Business Registration Office through the National Business Registration Portal for content appraisal.
• Procedures for payment of fees for disclosure of business registration information will be carried out in parallel with the procedures for submitting enterprise establishment dossiers.
• If the dossier is invalid, the Business Registration Office will notify in writing clearly stating the reason and requirements to amend and supplement the dossier for the enterprise to know.
• If the application is valid, the enterprise will proceed to submit 01 set of documents (paper dossier) at the dossier receiving department at the Business Registration Office.
• After receiving the dossier (paper copy) of the enterprise, the Business Registration Office will issue an Enterprise Registration Certificate and publish business information on the National Business Registration Portal.

Step 3: Procedures after establishing an information website business company

• Engraving of seals and publication of seal samples
• Sign up for a bank account
• Buy invoices
• Pay license fees and charges as prescribed

Procedures for applying for a website establishment license

Step 1: Prepare a dossier of application for an information website establishment license

A dossier of application for a license shall be made into 01 set, including:

• An application for a license to establish a general website according to Form No. 23 in Appendix I enclosed with Decree 27/2018/ND-CP;
• A valid copy includes a copy issued from the original book or a certified copy or a copy compared to the original of one of the documents: Certificate of Business Registration, Investment Registration Certificate, Establishment Decision (or a valid copy of the Certificate, other valid equivalent licenses issued before the effective date of the Law on Investment No. 67/2014/QH13 and the Law on Enterprises No. 68/2014/QH13); Operation charter (for associations and mass organizations).
• The establishment decision or operation charter must have functions and tasks consistent with the content of information provided on the general website;
• The operation scheme shall be signed and sealed by the head of the organization or enterprise applying for a license, including the main contents: Purpose of providing information; information content, tentative categories; official news sources, homepage printouts and main section pages; human, technical, information management and financial plans to ensure the operation of general websites in accordance with the provisions of Points b, c, d and dd, Clause 5, Article 23 of this Decree; information about the location of the server system in Vietnam;
• Written consent of the organizations providing the source to ensure the legitimacy of the source.

Step 2: Apply

Dossiers of application for licenses shall be sent directly, by post or via the Internet to the Departments of Information and Communications of provinces and centrally-run cities.

Step 3: Grant an information website setup permit

• Within 10 working days after receiving a valid dossier, the competent agency shall consider granting a license to establish a general website according to Form No. 24 in Appendix I enclosed with Decree 27/2018/ND-CP. In case of refusal, the competent authority shall issue a written reply, clearly stating the reasons.
• Within 05 working days after receiving valid dossiers from local press agencies, provincial/municipal Departments of Information and Communications shall appraise and transfer dossiers enclosed with written requests for licenses to the Ministry of Information and Communications (Department of Radio, television and electronic information) consider licensing in accordance with the law. In case the dossier does not meet the conditions, the Department of Information and Communications shall issue a written reply clearly stating the reason.

If you want to establish a company and set up an information website, please contact Viet An Law Firm for the fastest support!