Vietnam: Is it mandatory for a business to have an abbreviated name? Latest notes on naming the company abbreviations?
Is it mandatory for a business to have an abbreviated name in Vietnam?
Currently, the names of enterprises include Vietnamese names, foreign names (if any) and abbreviated names (if any).
The Vietnamese name of an enterprise consists of two mandatory elements, namely the type of business and its proper name:
Business name = Business type + Proper name The
type of business precedes the enterprise's proper name, specifically:
- “Limited liability company” or “limited company” for limited liability companies;
- “Joint-stock company” or “JSC” in the case of a joint-stock company;
- “Partnership” or “HD company” in the case of a partnership;
- “Private enterprise”, “private enterprise” or “private enterprise” for private enterprises.
The company's own name is set by the business owner and is written with the letters of the Vietnamese alphabet, the letters F, J, Z, W, numbers and symbols.
As prescribed at Article 37 of the Enterprise Law 2020 provides for specific enterprise names as follows:
Article 37. Names of enterprises
1. The Vietnamese name of an enterprise shall contain two elements in order:
a) The type of enterprise;
b) The proper name.
2. The type of enterprise shall be “công ty trách nhiệm hữu hạn” or “công ty TNHH” for limited liability companies; “công ty cổ phần” or “công ty CP” for joint stock companies; “công ty hợp danh” or “công ty HD” for partnerships; “doanh nghiệp tư nhân”, “DNTN” or “doanh nghiệp TN” for sole proprietorships.
3. The proper name shall consist of letters in the Vietnamese alphabet, the letters F, J, Z, W, numbers and symbols.
4. The enterprise’s name shall be displayed at the headquarters, branches, representative offices and business locations of the enterprise and printed or written on transaction documents, records and printed materials published by the enterprise.
5. Pursuant to regulations of this Article, Articles 38, 39 and 41 of this Law, the business registration authority is entitled to refuse to register enterprise’s name.
Accordingly, each company is only required to have a Vietnamese name that meets the requirements, a name in a foreign language and initials may or may not be, depending on the needs of the business owner.
Vietnam: Is it mandatory for a business to have an abbreviated name? Latest notes on naming the company abbreviations?
Can a business name have the same initials as another company in Vietnam?
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 38 of the Enterprise Law 2020 provides for specific prohibitions when naming an enterprise as follows:
Article 38. Prohibited acts of naming enterprises
1. Use of any name that is identical or confusingly similar to another enterprise’s name that is registered in accordance with Article 41 of this Article.
2. Use of the name of a state authority, the People’s military unit, political organization, socio-political organization, socio-political-professional organization, social organization, or social-professional organization as part or all of an enterprise’s name, unless it is accepted by that authority, unit or organization.
3. Use of words or symbols that against the country’s history, culture, ethical values and good traditions.
Accordingly, the name of the enterprise must not be named the same or cause confusion with the name of the registered enterprise. At the same time, the prohibited cases when naming an enterprise are as follows:
- Naming the same or confusing name with the name of a registered enterprise specified in Article 41 of this Law.
- Using names of state agencies, units of the people's armed forces, names of political organizations, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, and social organizations to do all or part of the proper name of the enterprise, unless approved by that agency, unit or organization.
- Using words and symbols that violate the historical, cultural, ethical and fine traditions of the nation.
Thus, it is not allowed to have the same initials as a registered enterprise, except for those which have been dissolved or have had an effective court decision declaring the enterprise bankrupt.
Is the initials the name of the type of business in Vietnam?
Usually, initials are usually taken from the foreign language name of the business. And while naming an abbreviation, it is mandatory to have the name of the type of business as for the Vietnamese name.
- JSC is an abbreviation used for the type of joint stock company and,
- CO., LTD is used for the type of limited liability company with one member and two or more members.
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