Vietnam

Foreign investment restrictions

In several fields, foreign investment will not be licensed or will only be licensed under special conditions. In accordance with the 2020 Law on Investment, a decree was issued that provides the lists of business sectors where market access by foreign investors is not allowed or allowed with certain conditions.

Exchange controls

All buying, selling, lending, and transfer of foreign currency needs to be made through credit institutions and other financial institutions authorised by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

Outflow of foreign currency by transfer is authorised for certain transactions, such as payments for imports and services abroad, refund of loans contracted abroad and payment of interest accrued thereon, transfer of profits and dividends, and revenues from transfer of technology.

All monetary transactions in Vietnam must be undertaken in Vietnamese dong. Exceptions are applicable to payments for exports made between principals and their agents, and payments for goods and services purchased from institutions authorised to receive foreign currency payments such as for air tickets, shipping and air freight, insurance, and international communications.

Forms of doing business

According to the Law on Enterprises, a foreign-invested enterprise may be established as either a single member limited liability or a limited liability with more than one member, a joint-stock company, or a partnership.

Intellectual property (IP)

IP rights are protected by the Civil Code (1995 and 2005), the Law on Intellectual Property (2005, amended 2009, 2019, and 2022), and a host of subordinate legislation.

Vietnam is signatory to the Paris Convention, the Madrid Agreement on International Trademark Registration, and the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Vietnam has entered into an agreement on copyrights with the United States (US). According to the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement, Vietnam is further under the obligation to adhere to the Berne Convention.

Vietnam’s National Assembly ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on 12 November 2018. Under the CPTPP, Vietnam has five years from the effective date of this agreement to update its Law on Intellectual Property to be consistent with the CPTPP provisions.

In 2019 and 2022, the National Assembly ratified amendments to the Law on Intellectual Property to improve the efficiency of IP rights protection activities and reflect Vietnam's international commitments on IP protection (e.g. CPTPP, EVFTA, and RCEP). The latest amended IP Law was effective from 1 January 2023, except for the regulations on protection of test data for agricultural chemicals (which will take effect from 14 January 2024).