Reissue retail alcohol license in Vietnam

Currently, consumers have a great demand for retail alcohol products. According to the law, businesses are required to have a retail alcohol license to do business, which is one of the documents issued for a limited time. Therefore, when causing some cases such as expired or lost or damaged license, traders will have to go through some legal procedures to be re-licensed. So how to reapply for a retail alcohol license? To answer this questions, Viet An Law Firm offers an article on re-issuance of retail alcohol license below.

Legal basis

• Decree No. 105/2017/ND-CP on alcohol trading, amended and supplemented by Decree No. 17/2020/ND-CP.
• Decree No. 24/2020/ND-CP detailing a number of articles of the Law on Prevention and Control of harmful effects of alcohol and beer;

Conditions to reissue a retail alcohol license in Vietnam

Provisions to reissue a retail alcohol license include:

• First, it must be an enterprise, cooperative, cooperative union or business household established in accordance with law;
• Second, having the legal right to use a fixed business place with a clear address;
• Third, there are written introductions or principle contracts of alcohol producers, alcohol distribution merchants or alcohol wholesale traders.

The process to reissue a retail alcohol license in Vietnam

Step 1. Apply

Traders shall request to submit dossiers for alcohol retail license reissuance in person or by post or online at the Dossier Receiving Department and return the results of administrative procedures of the People’s Committee.

In case traders submit directly, one-stop civil servants shall guide citizens to operate on the unit’s computer system (if any) or actively manipulate on the system for dossiers submitted by post

Step 2. Receive and check the accuracy and completeness of dossiers

This step should take about 1/2 day.

One-stop civil servants receive documents on the system and perform:

• In case the declared information and attachments on the system are incomplete and accurate as prescribed, the one-stop civil servant shall notify and send additional instructions to traders and complete the dossier according to form No. 02.
• If in case of refusal to receive the application, the one-stop civil servant shall send a notice clearly stating the reason in form No. 03.
• If in case the declared information and attachments on the system are complete and accurate as prescribed, the one-stop civil servant receives the dossier according to form No. 01, makes a control slip according to form No. 05, updates the monitoring book according to form No. 06 and accumulates the file on the system to the head of the Economic Department.

Note: Forms 01, 02, 03 are prepared on the system by one-stop civil servants and sent to the Trader via the email address registered by the Trader. Control slips according to form 05 prepared and authenticated on the system are as valid as paper process control slips signed by related units

Step 3: Assignment of application processing

This step usually takes place in 1/2 day. Leaders of the Economic Department approve applications, assign experts to process applications and accumulate on the system.

Step 4: Appraisal of documents

This step usually takes place over 3 days. The specialist assigned to receive the application on the system and perform the review and appraisal, one of the following two cases will occur:

• In case the dossier does not meet the requirements, needs explanation and supplementation, the dossier processing specialist drafts an additional request document according to form 02 or the reason for refusal according to form 03 and submits it to the head of the department.
• If required: Perform physical verification and move on to the next step.

Step 5: Report appraisal results

The application processing specialist completes the reissued alcohol retail license and transfers it on the system and prints a hard copy and submits it to the department leader for review.

Note: In case the application is delayed, it must be accompanied by an apology form No. 04.

Step 6. Review of appraisal results

Leaders of the department receive the appraisal results, review the dossier afterwards:

• In case of consent, the head of the department shall sign the re-issued alcohol retail license.
• In case of disagreement, the head of the department shall transfer it to the application processing specialist and clearly state the reason.

Step 7. Stamp & Backup

The application processing specialist receives the results, transfers the letter to the number, stamps, issues documents, the tasks usually take 1 day.

Perform duplication and statistics, monitoring, and storage in the room as prescribed. Transfer the results to the Results Return Department.

Step 8. Return results

The final step, notify and return the result to the Trader, collect the prescribed fee (if any) and request the Trader to sign the book according to form 06.

Dossier composition

Depending on each specific case, the application will have different documents:

In case of re-issuance due to the expiration of the license validity period

In this case, the profile includes:

• An application for re-issuance of a alcohol retail license according to Form No. 03 issued together with Decree 17/2020/ND-CP;
• A copy of the certificate of registration of an enterprise, cooperative, union of cooperatives or business households;
• A copy of the lease, loan agreement or document evidencing the legal right to use the proposed premises as a retail location;
• A copy of the written introduction or contract of principle of the merchant of alcohol production, distribution or wholesale of alcohol;

In case of re-issuance of a license due to loss or damage

In this case, the dossier should contain an application for re-issuance of a alcohol retail license according to Form No. 03 issued together with Decree 17/2020/ND-CP and the original or a copy of the granted license (if any).

Note: The number of documents is 01 set.

How to apply

An application for a retail alcohol license reissuance can be submitted in the following ways:

• Option 1: Submit the application directly to the Receiving Department and return the results of handling administrative procedures of the People’s Committee.
• Option 2: Apply online at the Online Public Service Portal.
• Option 3: Send via public postal service.

How are retail alcohol license saved and submitted in Vietnam?

The saving and sending of alcohol trading license shall be based on the provisions of Article 28 of Decree 105/2017/ND-CP (amended by Clause 21 Article 16 of Decree 17/2020/ND-CP), specifically for alcohol retail license:

• The license is made in several copies: 02 copies kept at the licensing agency; 01 copy to licensed traders; 01 copy to the Department of Industry and Trade; 01 copy to the Market Management Agency; 01 copy to the alcohol producer or other alcohol trading enterprise named in the license.

Deadline for settlement

Within 07 working days from the date of receipt of a complete and valid dossier, the Economic Department will consider and re-issue the alcohol retail license. If refusing to grant, they must reply in writing clearly stating the reasons; In case there are not enough valid dossiers, within 02 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier, the Economic Department shall make an additional request.

Costs to be paid to get a retail alcohol license reissued in Vietnam

The fee for appraisal of operating conditions for a retail alcohol license reissuance (in case of re-issuance due to the expiry of the license) includes:

• For business households: VND 400,000/establishment/time.
• For organizations and enterprises: VND 1,200,000/establishment/time.

Duration of the new retail alcohol license

Pursuant to Article 27 of Decree 105/2017/ND-CP, the re-issuance of a new license depends on the following cases:

In case of re-issuance due to the expiration of the validity period

The term of the new license is 5 years based on Clause 1, Article 28 of Decree Decree 105/2017/ND-CP which stipulates: The term of a retail alcohol license is 05 years.

In case of re-issuance of a license due to loss or damage:

The term of the license will remain the same.

If you need advice on re-issuance of retail alcohol license, please contact Viet An Law Firm for the best support.