Establish a foreign-invested company in publications in Vietnam

The operate of printing and publishing services are conditional business lines under Vietnamese law. Accordingly, foreign investors who want to establish a foreign-invested company in the field of printing services and publication release services must meet the following conditions.

Conditions of market access for foreign-invested company

Provisions in International Treaties of Vietnam

Provisions in AFAS:

Printing, publishing for package only – CPC 88442: Non restricted, except that the foreign investor ownership ratio in the joint venture does not exceed 70%.

Provisions in VJEPA:

Printing and publishing service – CPC 88442: Non restricted.

Provisions in VKFTA:

Printing service (88442*), Painting and engraving services and printing-related services (CPC 88442), Publishing service (CPC 88442*), except for newspaper publishing service and periodical publications: Non restricted.

Provisions in EVFTA:

Appendix 8-B – Publishing, printing and reprinting of records (this industry includes manufacturing activities only, does not include contents related to audiovisual or cultural content introduction): Unbound.

Provisions in CPTPP:

Appeadix NCM II-VN-23 – Printing service (CPC 88442): Vietnam reserves the right to adopt and maintain any measure relating to the above sub-sectors.

Provisions in Vietnamese law

General regulation on the operate of publication release (as prescribed in Article 36 of the Law on Publishing 2012)

• The establishment of publication release includes enterprises, public non-business units, publishing business households.
• The publisher is allowed to establish publication release.
• The releasing establishments are enterprises, public non-business units must register operation register with state management agencies on publishing activities.
• Operating conditions for issuers being enterprises or public non-business units:
  • The head of the issuing establishment must permanently reside in Vietnam; have a diploma or certificate of professional knowledge and skills on publication release, granted by a training institution specialized in publishing publications;
  • Have one of the types of enterprise registration certificate, business registration certificate or decision to establish a public non-business unit as prescribed by law;
  • Having address to business publications

Condition of publication and electronic publication release

Electronic publishing shall be carried out by a publisher or an agency, organization that has a license of non-commercial material publishing and must comply with the provisions of the Law on Publication. Publishers conduct electronic publishing upon meeting the following conditions:

• Having capacity  of equipment, technology and technical personnel to operate and manage the electronic publishing process;
• Having  technical measures in accordance with regulations of state management agencies to prevent illegal copying and interference with publication contents;
• Having a Vietnamese internet domain name as prescribed by law to carry out e-publishing on the Internet;
• Having registered e-publishing activities with the state management agency for publishing activities.

Agencies, organizations and individuals that are currently publishing electronic publications must still satisfy all the above-mentioned conditions.

Conditions of the establishment of representative offices of foreign publishers and publication release organizations in Vietnam

• Foreign publishers and publication release organizations operating legally in foreign countries;
• The personnel to be appointed as the head of the representative office must permanently reside in Vietnam, have full civil act capacity as prescribed by law, have a university degree or higher, and not during the time of criminal prosecution or serving the legally effective judgment of the court;
• Foreign publishers, publication release organizations (including enterprises and organizations established in foreign countries operating in multiple industries and sectors, including publishing and publication release) was allowed to set up a representative office in Vietnam after being licensed by the Ministry of Information and Communications.
• The Government shall detail the conditions for establishment and operation contents, procedures for grant, renewal, re-grant and extension of the license to establish a representative office in Vietnam of foreign publishers and foreign publication release organizations.

Activities of representative offices in Vietnam of foreign publishers and publication release organizations

Representative offices must comply with the provisions of the Law on Publication, Decree 195/2013/ND-CP and other provisions of Vietnamese law on representative offices and may perform the following activities:

• To introduce, display, exhibit, advertise or otherwise in accordance with Vietnamese law on organizations and publications of the foreign publisher or the publication release organizations on its behalf;
• Support activities of trade promotion, co-operation, exchange of copyright, publication, printing and publication release for the foreign publisher or the publication release organizations on their behalf.

Conditions for granting a license

To do business in the import of publications

Domestic organizations and individuals, foreign organizations and individuals may import publications into Vietnam in accordance with Vietnamese law and in accordance with international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

To import non-commercial publications

The import of non-commercial publications of Vietnamese agencies, organizations and individuals, foreign organizations operating in the Vietnamese territory, and foreign individuals residing in Vietnam must be approved by state management agencies on publishing activities, granting import licenses, except for the case specified in Article 42 of the Law on Publishing 2012 (Cases where import of non-commercial publications without request of license issuance) and must submit fees as prescribed by law.

Condition of issuing the business license

A business license is issued to a foreign-invested economic organization to conduct activities at Points a, b and c, Article 5.1 of Decree No. 09/2018/ND-CP must satisfy the condition for granting business license specified in Article 9 of Decree No. 09/2018/ND-CP.

The purchase and sell of goods and activities directly related to the purchase and sell of goods is performed according to the provisions of Article 7 Decree No. 09/2018/ND-CP.

Viet An Law Firm provides comprehensive consult on legal procedures for foreign investors to establish foreign-invested companies in Vietnam. If you have needs, please contact to get the best support from experienced and professional lawyers!