Delayed processing of amendments to the Enterprise Registration Certificate in Ho Chi Minh City.

Delayed processing of amendments to the Enterprise Registration Certificate in Ho Chi Minh City.

The successful establishment of a company in Vietnam ends with the issuance of the so-called Enterprise Registration Certificate (in short: ERC). The information listed in such ERC includes the name and registered address of the local company, personal details of the registered legal representative(s) as well as, for limited liability companies, the name of the owners. These details will, to a lesser extent, also be listed in the electronic register of companies (https://dichvuthongtin.dkkd.gov.vn/inf/default.aspx). With regard to the registered legal representatives, the passport or local ID card will be listed in the ERC only.

An application to change the information contained in an ERC can be submitted online and will take 3 working days to be approved.

During the last few weeks, we noticed that the processing time exceeded the 3 working days. Since such delays tended to indicate a "problem" with the content of the application itself, they occasionally cause serious concern with several investors.

The local Department of Planning and Investment in Ho Chi Minh City is currently issuing written apologies concerning such delays and stating that the delays had been caused by an alleged "notice" of the Tax Department which allegedly required an update to the personal details of all registered legal representatives (updates to passport or local ID cards). Based on such "notice," more than 3,000 applications per day had been submitted and thus caused a tremendous overload at the local authority.

The Department of Planning and Investment in Ho Chi Minh City advises its customers on its online submission platform that local tax authorities currently do not require updates to the personal details of registered legal representatives.

For further support concerning the above and/or other amendment applications to your ERC and/or IRC, please contact our ADWA lawyer in Vietnam at [email protected] or [email protected].