Set-up business in Vietnam
Law on amendment and supplement to Article 6 and Annex 4 on the list of conditional business lines stipulated in the Law on Investment has been ratified by the 14th national assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the second meeting session dated November 22nd, 2016.
Accordingly, pursuant to the constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the National Assembly issues the list of conditional business lines stipulated in the Law on Investment no. 67/2014/QH13.
The enterprises which are established to operate in the area of conditional business have to comply with conditions regulated by law before conducting business operation in Vietnam.
Foreign investor if wishing to set up company in the conditional areas has to meet additional investment conditions depending on international treaties, WTO commitment by Vietnam, and other specialized laws in Vietnam. It is advised that the foreign investor to contact Vietnam law firms to be advised on the establishment of company in Vietnam to receive the proper legal advice.
We are listing the conditional business lines for the reference below.
| No. | LINES OF BUSINESS |
| 1. | Manufacture of seals |
| 2. | Sale (and repair) of combat gear |
| 3. | Sale of fireworks other than firecrackers |
| 4. | Sale of camouflaged software and equipment used for audio and video recording and positioning; |
| 5. | Paintball gun business |
| 6. | Sale of military equipment and military goods for the use of the armed forces, military weapons, specialized military equipment and vehicles for the use of the army and police; special military components, accessories, materials and equipment and military engineering |
| 7. | Pawning services |
| 8. | Massage services |
| 9. | Sale emergency signaling devices |
| 10. | Debt collection services |
| 11. | Security services |
| 12. | Fire safety services |
| 13. | Lawyer’s practice |
| 14. | Notary’s practice |
| 15. | Judicial assessment in the fields of finance, banking, construction, antiques, relics, copyrights |
| 16. | Auctioneering services |
| 17. | Commercial arbitration services |
| 18. | Bailiff’s practice |
| 19. | Liquidation and safeguarding of assets of enterprises and cooperatives in the pending time of bankruptcy |
| 20. | Accounting services |
| 21. | Auditing services |
| 22. | Tax agent services |
| 23. | Customs brokerage services |
| 24. | Sale of duty-free goods |
| 25. | Bonded warehouse and container freight station business |
| 26. | Premises for conducting customs procedures, customs gathering, inspection and supervision for rent. |
| 27. | Securities trading |
| 28. | Securities registration, depository, offsetting, and liquidation services by Vietnam Securities Depository/organizations trading in listed securities and other securities. |
| 29. | Insurance business |
| 30. | Reinsurance business |
| 31. | Insurance brokerage |
| 32. | Insurance agents |
| 33. | Property assessment service |
| 34. | Lottery business |
| 35. | Casino video games for foreigners |
| 36. | Debt trade services |
| 37. | Ratings services |
| 38. | Casino business |
| 39. | Betting business |
| 40. | Voluntary pension fund management services |
| 41. | Oil and gas business |
| 42. | Gas trading |
| 43. | Manufacture and repair of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottles |
| 44. | Commercial assessment services |
| 45. | Sale and destruction of industrial explosives |
| 46. | Sale of explosive precursors |
| 47. | Industrial explosives and explosive precursors –based business |
| 48. | Blasting services |
| 49. | Sale of chemicals other than prohibited chemicals stipulated in the International Convention on prohibition of development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons on their destruction |
| 50. | Alcohol business |
| 51. | Sale of tobacco, cigarette, machinery and equipment for tobacco industries |
| 52. | Sale of foods under the administration of the Ministry of Industry and Trade |
| 53. | Commodity exchange operation |
| 54. | Electricity generation, transmission, distribution, wholesale, retail, import, export and consultancy |
| 55. | Rice export |
| 56. | Temporary import and re-export of goods subjected to special excise duty |
| 57. | Temporary import and export frozen foods |
| 58. | Temporary import and re-export of goods on the List of used goods |
| 59. | Franchising |
| 60. | Logistics services |
| 61. | Sale of minerals |
| 62. | Sale of industrial precursors |
| 63. | Commodity trading and business activities directly related to commodity trading by foreign investors and foreign-invested business entities |
| 64. | Multi-level marketing business |
| 65. | E-commerce business |
| 66. | Petroleum business |
| 67. | Energy audit |
| 68. | Vocational training |
| 69. | Assessment of the quality of vocational education |
| 70. | Occupational skill assessment services |
| 71. | Occupational safety inspection services |
| 72. | Occupational safety and health training |
| 73. | Employment agencies |
| 74. | Overseas employment services |
| 75. | Voluntary drug detoxification services |
| 76. | Outsourcing |
| 77. | Road transport services |
| 78. | Automobile maintenance |
| 79. | Manufacture, assembly and import of automobiles |
| 80. | Motor vehicles inspection services |
| 81. | Driver training services |
| 82. | Traffic safety inspector training services |
| 83. | Driving test services |
| 84. | Traffic safety inspection services |
| 85. | Waterway transport services |
| 86. | Building, repair and renovation of watercraft |
| 87. | Inland watercraft crewmen and operator training services |
| 88. | Training, recruitment and supply of marine crews |
| 89. | Maritime safety services |
| 90. | Shipping services and shipping agencies |
| 91. | Towage services |
| 92. | Import and demolition of used ships |
| 93. | Building, renovation and repair of ships |
| 94. | Seaport operation business |
| 95. | Air transport business |
| 96. | Design, manufacture, maintenance and testing of aircrafts, their engines, propellers, avionics and equipment thereof in Vietnam |
| 97. | Airport operation business |
| 98. | Aviation service at airports |
| 99. | Air navigation services |
| 100. | Flight crew training services |
| 101. | Rail transport business |
| 102. | Rail infrastructure business |
| 103. | Urban railway business |
| 104. | Multimodal transport |
| 105. | Transport of dangerous goods |
| 106. | Pipeline transport business |
| 107. | Real estate business |
| 108. | Provision of training in real estate brokerage and property exchange operation |
| 109. | Provision of training in apartment building operation. |
| 110. | Construction management consulting services |
| 111. | Construction surveying services |
| 112. | (Construction) design and assessment services |
| 113. | Construction supervision services |
| 114. | Construction services |
| 115. | Construction activities by foreign contractors |
| 116. | Construction cost management services |
| 117. | Construction quality assessment services |
| 118. | Construction experiment services |
| 119. | Apartment building operation services |
| 120. | Cremation facility operation services |
| 121. | Construction planning services |
| 122. | Urban planning consulting services provided by foreign entities |
| 123. | Sale of white asbestos of Serpentine group |
| 124. | Postal services |
| 125. | Telecommunications services |
| 126. | Certification of digital signatures |
| 127. | Publishing |
| 128. | Printing services, except for printing of package |
| 129. | Publication services |
| 130. | Social networking services |
| 131. | Online game business |
| 132. | Paid radio and television services |
| 133. | News website development services |
| 134. | Processing, recycling, repair and renovation of used IT products of foreign owners which are on the List of used IT products banned from import |
| 135. | Provision of information via telecommunications and internets |
| 136. | “.vn” domain name registration and maintenance services |
| 137. | Cybersecurity products and services |
| 138. | Civil cryptography services and products |
| 139. | Sale of potable jamming devices |
| 140. | Preschool education business |
| 141. | Secondary school education business |
| 142. | Higher education business |
| 143. | Operation of foreign-invested education institutions, representative offices of foreign education institutions in Vietnam and branches of foreign-invested education institutions |
| 144. | Continuing education business |
| 145. | Operation of special schools |
| 146. | Association in education with foreign countries |
| 147. | Education quality assessment |
| 148. | Overseas study consulting services |
| 149. | Fishing |
| 150. | Sale of aquatic products |
| 151. | Sale of aquatic feed and animal feeds |
| 152. | Animal feed and aquatic feed testing services |
| 153. | Sale of biological preparations, microorganism, chemicals and environmental remediation agents used for aquaculture |
| 154. | Building and renovation of fishing vessels |
| 155. | Breeding, raising, artificial propagation of wild animals and plants according to CITES Appendix |
| 156. | Breeding, raising, artificial propagation of wild, endangered and rare animals and plants according to CITES Appendix |
| 157. | Breeding and raising of normal wild animals |
| 158. | Export, import, re-export, transit and introduction of marine specimens stipulated in CITES Appendix |
| 159. | Export, import and re-export of specimens bred, raised and artificially propagated according to CITES Appendix |
| 160. | Sale of forest animals and plants restricted from use for commercial purposes |
| 161. | Sale of plant protection products |
| 162. | Processing of items subjected to undergo plant quarantine |
| 163. | Pesticide testing services |
| 164. | Plant protection services |
| 165. | Sale of veterinary medicines, vaccines, biological preparations, microorganisms and chemicals used in veterinary medicine |
| 166. | Veterinary technical services |
| 167. | Animal testing and surgery |
| 168. | Provision of vaccination, diagnosis, prescription, treatment and healthcare services for animals |
| 169. | Veterinary medicine testing and assay (including veterinary medicines, aquatic veterinary medicines, biological preparations, microorganisms and chemicals used for veterinary medicines, aquatic veterinary medicines) |
| 170. | Concentrated husbandry |
| 171. | Slaughtering |
| 172. | Sale of foods under the administration of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development |
| 173. | Animals and animal product quarantine services |
| 174. | Sale of fertilizers |
| 175. | Fertilizer testing services |
| 176. | Sale of plant varieties and animal breeds |
| 177. | Sale of aquatic breeds |
| 178. | Testing of plant varieties and animal breeds |
| 179. | Aquatic breed testing services |
| 180. | Testing and assay of biological preparations, microorganism, chemicals and environmental remediation agents used for aquaculture |
| 181. | Sale of genetically modified products |
| 182. | Medical treatment and examination |
| 183. | HIV testing services |
| 184. | Tissue banking services |
| 185. | Reproduction assistance, sperm and embryo cryopreservation |
| 186. | Testing of microorganisms causing infectious diseases |
| 187. | Vaccination |
| 188. | Opioid substitution therapy |
| 189. | Plastic surgery |
| 190. | Surrogacy service |
| 191. | Pharmaceutical business |
| 192. | Cosmetics production |
| 193. | Sale of chemicals, pesticides, germicides for the use in medical appliances |
| 194. | Sale of foods under the administration of the Ministry of Health |
| 195. | Sale of medical equipment |
| 196. | Medical equipment classification services |
| 197. | Medical equipment testing services |
| 198. | Appraisal of intellectual property (including appraisal of the copyrights and others relevant, appraisal of industrial properties and plant breeder’s rights) |
| 199. | Radiological services |
| 200. | Assistance in application of atomic energy |
| 201. | Assessment of conformity |
| 202. | Testing, calibration and inspection of measuring instruments and measurement standards |
| 203. | Manufacture of biker helmets |
| 204. | Technology assessment and evaluation services |
| 205. | Intellectual property presentation services |
| 206. | Film production and distribution |
| 207. | Antique appraisal services |
| 208. | Development of project planning, construction, project supervision, maintenance, renovation and restoration of relics |
| 209. | Karaoke and nightclub business |
| 210. | Travel services |
| 211. | Sport business and professional sport clubs |
| 212. | Business involving art and fashion shows, model contests and beauty pageants |
| 213. | Sale of art performance video and audio recording |
| 214. | Accommodation services |
| 215. | Advertising |
| 216. | Trading in national relics, antiques and treasures |
| 217. | Export of relics and antiques other than those under the ownerships of the Government, political organizations and political-social organizations; import of cultural products under the administration of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism |
| 218. | Museum services |
| 219. | Video game business (other than casino video games for foreigners and online casino video games) |
| 220. | Land assessment and survey consulting services |
| 221. | Land use planning services |
| 222. | Information technology infrastructure and land information software system development services |
| 223. | Land database development services |
| 224. | Land pricing services |
| 225. | Geodesic and cartographic services |
| 226. | Meteorological and hydrological forecasting services |
| 227. | Groundwater drilling and exploration services |
| 228. | Extraction and use of water resources, discharge of wastewater into water sources |
| 229. | Basic survey and consulting services for preparation of water resource planning, schemes and reports |
| 230. | Mineral exploration |
| 231. | Mineral extraction |
| 232. | Transport and treatment of hazardous wastes |
| 233. | Import of scraps |
| 234. | Environmental monitoring services |
| 235. | Sale of biological preparations from waste treatment |
| 236. | Commercial bank business operations |
| 237. | Non-credit institution business operations |
| 238. | Business operations of cooperatives, people’s credit funds and microfinance institutions |
| 239. | Payment intermediary services |
| 240. | Credit information services |
| 241. | Foreign exchange activities by non-credit institutions |
| 242. | Gold trading |
| 243. | Money printing and minting |
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