Is it possible to have the same household business name in Vietnam?

1. What is a household business?

Article 79 of Vietnam's Decree 01/2021/ND-CP states that business households must:

"1. A household business is established by an individual or family household members that shall take responsibility for business operations of the household business with all of their property. If a household business is established by members of a family household, one of them shall be authorized to act as the representative of the household business. The individual applying for registration of household business or the person authorized by the family household members to act as the representative of the household business shall be the owner of the household business.

2. Households engaged in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, salt production, street vendors, nomadic or seasonal businesspeople, and service providers earning low revenues are not required to apply for establishment of household businesses, except for conditional business lines. The provincial People’s Committees shall specify the low revenues applied within their provinces."

2. Registration of household businesses

The representative shall submit an application for business household registration at the business registration office of the district where the business household is located.

A business household registration dossier includes:

- An application for business household registration;

- Legal papers of the individual, for the head of the household business, the household member registering the business household in case the household members register the business household;

- A copy of the minutes of the meeting of household members on the establishment of the business household in case members of the household register as a business household;

-A copy of the household member's authorization letter for one member to be the head of the household business, in case household members register as a household business.

Within 3 days from the date of receipt of the application, the business registration authority of the district shall hand over the receipt and grant the business household registration certificate to the business household.

In the event that the application is invalid, within 3 working days from the date of receipt of the application, the business registration authority of the district must notify in writing the applicant or the person establishing the business household. The notice must clearly state the reason and the request to amend and supplement the dossier (if any).

If, after three working days from the date of submission of the business household registration dossier, the business household registration certificate is not received or the notice requesting amendment and supplementation of the business household registration dossier is not received, the founder of a business household or a business household has the right to make complaints and denunciations in accordance with the law on complaints and denunciations.

3. Household business naming regulations

The principles stipulated in Article 88 of Decree 01/2021/ND-CP when naming business households are as follows:

The name of a household business shall consist of two elements as follows:

- The phrase “Hộ kinh doanh”;

- The proper name.

The proper name consists of letters in the Vietnamese alphabet, the letters F, J, Z, W, digits, and symbols.

- It is prohibited to use words or symbols that contradict Vietnam’s tradition, history, culture, and ethics in the proper name of the household business.

- The name of a household business must not consist of the phrase “công ty” or “doanh nghiệp”.

- The proper name of the household business must not coincide with the name of another household business which has been registered within the same district.

Thus, when naming, individuals and households need to check with other business households within the district where the business household is registered so as not to use the same name. The name lookup of business households can be done in two ways:

- Manual check:

Use search engines on the Internet to find out basic information, including the name of the household business. Individuals and households can look up the name of the business they want to put on websites to check if the name is already given at the district level.

Normally, the name of the business household will be used in the same way as the name and brand name of that business establishment. The displayed information of the household business will include the address so that it can be checked where the business household is located.

- Check through the case resolution specialist:

Individuals and households can directly contact the one-stop specialist of the District People's Committee or an expert of the Finance-Planning Department to ask for information on the name of the business household to be registered.

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