QUESTION:
What Is Advantage Of Opening Representative Office In Vietnam?
Hello dear ASL LAW. I’m interested for consultation on opening representative office in Vietnam, particularly what is What is advantage of opening representative office in Vietnam? Can representative office register a trademark in Vietnam? So I need consultation on it. When we can meet and discuss this situation?
My name is Oleg, I’m from Russia.
ASL LAW’S ADVICE
Dear Mr. Oleg,
Further to our conversation at out meeting, we would like to advise you on procedure of opening a representative office (the “RO”) in Vietnam as follows:
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Scope of operation of the RO in Vietnam:
According to Vietnam’s laws, a RO is not permitted to perform any activities generating profit or any trade activities. The establishment of a RO is not considered as a legal commercial presence in Vietnam. For more detail, please refer to the scope of permissible activities of a RO:
– Operating as liaison office.
– Promoting the cooperation projects of foreign company in Vietnam.
– Researching market to push up chances to purchase commodities, supply and consume commercial services of foreign businesses in Vietnam.
– Supervising the implementation of foreign company’ contracts signed with Vietnamese partners or related to the Vietnamese market.
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The advantage of establishment of the RO in Vietnam:
In spite of the limited operational scope, the establishment of a RO will provide your company with following advantages:
– Easier to establish and register compared to a subsidiary company.
– No requirement for minimum paid up capital and other legal requirements.
– The representative office can decisively control the employees, manage the business and trading in Vietnam and can do many works other than liaison.
– Regarding tax obligations, no taxes are applicable to RO’ s operations, besides the personal income tax payable by their staff.
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Our services of RO establishment (the “Service”):
The establishment of the RO will be conducted at the Department of Industry and Trade of Hanoi city (“HN DOIT”). Our Service shall include the following works:
– Preparing the checklist of necessary documents.
– Drafting the documents of the application dossier for a License of the RO establishment.
– Submitting the application dossier, following up the status and receiving the License.
– Do the post-licensing works including tax registration, seal registration and publication of the RO establishment.
– Support for renting office in Vietnam.
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Working time:
– Applying the License for the RO: 25 working days
– Applying for the seal of the RO: 05 working days
– Applying for the tax code of the RO: 05 working days
– Publication of the RO’s establishment: 5 days
The above working time is based on the laws and HN DOIT’s regulations. Based on our experience, we always try to speed up the process for client’s benefit.
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Our fees for the Service:
– Fee for applying the License for the RO: US$
– Opening Bank account: US$
– Tax services: US$ /each month (applying for the first six months)
(The above fee excludes 10% VAT and other actual cost of translations, notarizations).
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Trademark registration in Vietnam
Beside RO establishment, we can also support you in relation to trademark registration in Vietnam.
The fee for trademark registration:
– Conducting a trademark search to check the availability of your trademark prior to official registration (optional): USD per class.
– Trademark registration for the first class: USD (Maximum 6 items in once class)
– Trademark registration for each additional class from the second: USD.
(The above fee excludes 5%VAT and other actual cost of translations, notarizations).
We hope that this letter will be helpful for your consideration in doing business in Vietnam.
If you have any further inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Best regards,
ASL LAW – VIETNAM BUSINESS LAW FIRM