CIRCULAR

Amendments to Circulars of the Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam regarding commercial franchising, representative offices and branches of foreign traders, goods trading and operations directly relating to goods trading of foreign service providers

Pursuant to Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents dated June 22, 2015;

Pursuant to Law amending certain articles of the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents dated June 18, 2020;

Pursuant to the Law on Investment dated June 17, 2020;

Pursuant to Decree No. 31/2021/ND-CP dated March 26, 2021 on elaboration of some Articles of the Law on Investment;

Pursuant to Decree No. 120/2011/ND-CP dated December 16, 2021 on amendments to administrative procedures in some Decrees of the Government of Vietnam elaborating the Commercial Law;

Decree No. 34/2016/ND-CP dated May 14, 2016 of the Government of Vietnam elaborating on certain Articles and measures for implementation of the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents;

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Decree No. 96/2022/ND-CP dated November 29, 2022 of the Government on functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

At the request of the Director General of the Department of Planning and Finance;

The Minister of Industry and Trade hereby promulgates a Circular on amendments to Circulars of the Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam regarding commercial franchising, representative offices and branches of foreign traders, goods trading and operations directly relating to goods trading of foreign service providers.

Article 1. Amendments to certain Articles of Circular No. 09/2006/TT-BTM dated May 25, 2006, Circular No. 34/2013/TT-BCT dated December 24, 2013 and Circular No. 11/2016/TT-BCT dated July 05, 2016

1. Amendments to certain Articles of Circular No. 09/2006/TT-BTM dated May 25, 2006 providing guidance on registration of commercial franchising

a) Amendments to Part IV:

“IV. CANCELLATION OF COMMERCIAL FRANCHISING REGISTRATION

The commercial franchising registration of traders shall be cancelled in the cases prescribed in Article 22 of Decree No. 35/2006/ND-CP. Within 05 working days from the date of cancelling commercial franchising registration of traders, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall be responsible for publicly disclosing the cancellation of registration using Form TB-6A Appendix II enclosed herewith on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam”.

b) Amendments to Section 2 Part V:

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2. Amendments to Clause 1 Article 3 of Circular No. 34/2013/TT-BCT dated December 24, 2013 on disclosure of roadmaps for goods trading and operations directly relating to goods trading of foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam:

“1. The classification of goods prescribed in the Appendices of this Circular according to HS codes and description of goods shall comply with Circulars promulgated by the Minister of Finance on issuance of the List of imports and exports of Vietnam from time to time”.

3. Amendments to certain Articles of Circular No. 11/2016/TT-BCT dated July 05, 2016 on Forms complying with Decree No. 07/2016/ND-CP dated January 25, 2016 of the Government elaborating the Commercial Law on Representative offices and branches of foreign traders in Vietnam

a) Amendments to Article 2:

“1. Codes of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall be provided according to the List of codes of provinces and central-affiliated cities where citizens apply for birth registration according to regulations of the Minister of Public Security from time to time.”

b) Amendments to Clause 2 Article 4:

“Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency of the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall establish, manage, run and maintain the operation of representative offices and branches of foreign traders in Vietnam and provide training and instructions for use of database of representative offices and branches of foreign traders in Vietnam at http://vpdd.dvctt.gov.vn”.

Article 2. Replacement and annulment of certain Articles of Circular No. 09/2006/TT-BTM dated May 25, 2006, Circular No. 34/2013/TT-BCT dated December 24, 2013 and Circular No. 11/2016/TT-BCT dated July 05, 2016

1. Replacement and annulment of certain Articles of Circular No. 09/2006/TT-BTM dated May 25, 2006

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a1) The phrase “Bộ Thương mại" ("Ministry of Trade") prescribed in the entire Circular is replaced with the phrase "Bộ Công Thương" (“Ministry of Industry and Trade").

a2) The phrase “Vụ Kế hoạch và đầu tư” (“Department of Planning and Investment”) prescribed in Section 1 Part V, Form S1, Form TB-2A, Form TB-3A, Form TB-4A, and Form TB-6A is replaced with the phrase “Vụ Kế hoạch - Tài chính” (“Planning and Finance Department”).

a3) The phrase “Vụ Thương mại điện tử" ("E-commerce Department") prescribed in Section 3 of Part V is replaced with the phrase "Cục Thương mại điện tử và Kinh tế số" (“Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency ").

b) The following regulations of Circular No. 09/2006/TT-BTM are annulled: Section 2 Part I; Clause d Section 3 part I; Section 3, Sections 7 and 8 Part II; Regulations on codes of provinces in Clause c Section 6 Part II; Appendix I; Form MD-2, Form S2, Form TB-1B, Form TB-2B, Form TB-3B, Form TB-4B, Form TB-6B and Form TB-6C in Appendix II.

2. Replacement or annulment of certain Articles of Circular No. 34/2013/TT-BCT:

a) The phrase “doanh nghiệp có vốn đầu tư nước ngoài” (“foreign-invested enterprises”) prescribed in the entire Circular is replaced with the phrase “nhà cung cấp dịch vụ nước ngoài” (“foreign service providers”).

b) Clause 2 Article 3 is annulled.

3. Replacement or annulment of certain Articles of Circular No. 11/2016/TT-BCT

a) The phrase “Vụ Kế hoạch” (“Department of Planning”) prescribed in clauses 1, 3 and 5 Article 4 and clause 3 of Article 5 is replaced with the phrase “Vụ Kế hoạch - Tài chính” (“Planning and Finance Department”).

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Article 3. Implementation clauses

1. This Circular comes into force from March 18, 2024.

2. In case the legislative documents referred to this Circular are amended or replaced, the newest document shall be applied.

3. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported promptly to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (via the Planning and Finance Department) for consideration and solutions.

4. The Planning and Finance Department, Ministry Office, Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency and relevant agencies, organizations and individuals are responsible for the implementation of this Circular./.

PP. MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER




Phan Thi Thang