Procedures for licensing the establishment of Representative offices of foreign advertising agencies in Vietnam

Procedures for licensing the establishment of Representative offices of foreign advertising agencies in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

Procedures for licensing the establishment of Representative offices of foreign advertising agencies in Vietnam are prescribed in Decision 3808/QD-BVHTTDL 2023, taking effect on January 15, 2024, as follows:

1. Application for a license to establish a representative office of a foreign advertising enterprise in Vietnam

- Document components:

(1) Application for a License to establish a Representative Office signed by an authorized representative of the foreign advertising enterprise according to the form prescribed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism;

(2) A copy of the business registration or documents of equivalent value of the foreign enterprise certified by the competent authority where the enterprise was established or registered;

(3) Audited financial statements or other documents of equivalent value proving the existence and operations of the foreign advertising enterprise in the most recent fiscal year;

(4) Documents specified in Points 2 and 3 above must be translated into Vietnamese and certified by Vietnamese diplomatic missions and consulates abroad and consular legalization performed according to the provisions of Vietnamese law.

- Number of documents: (01) set.

- Submission method: Send directly to the People's Committee of the province/city directly under the Central Government where the Representative Office is located.

2. Procedures for granting licenses to establish Representative offices of foreign advertising agencies in Vietnam

- Foreign advertising enterprises directly submit 01 (one) set of application documents for a Representative Office Establishment License to the People's Committee of the province/centrally-run city where the Representative Office is located.

- Within 10 days from the date of receipt of complete and valid documents,
The Provincial People's Committee reviews and issues the License to establish a Representative Office and sends a copy of that license to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. In case the dossier is not valid, within 03 days from the date of receiving it, the Provincial People's Committee will send a written request to the foreign advertising enterprise to supplement and complete the dossier.

3. Cases of not granting a License to establish a representative office of a foreign advertising enterprise in Vietnam

Cases of not granting a License to establish a representative office of a foreign advertising enterprise in Vietnam are specified in Article 21 of Decree 181/2013/ND-CP, including:

- There is evidence that the establishment of the representative office threatens the national sovereignty, national defense and security, culture, ethical values, fine traditions and customs of Vietnam.

- The applicant fails to complete the application at the request of the license issuer.

- Other cases prescribed by law.

4. Regulations on representative offices of foreign advertising agencies in Vietnam

- Foreign advertising agencies are entitled to establish representative offices in Vietnam.

- The representative offices are allowed to operate after obtaining the license from the provincial People’s Committee where the foreign enterprise request the representative office establishment.

- The representative offices are only allowed to promote advertising, not directly providing advertising services.

(Article 41 of the Law on Advertising 2012)

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