Please be informed that an individual/organization may be punished with the following measures in case carrying out the franchise action without registration in Vietnam:
– Administrative measure: According to the regulation at Article 95.3[1](a) of Decree No. 185/2013/NĐ-CP. According to this regulation, the fine for this action of an organization is 10,000,000.00 – 20,000,000.00 VND (about 500.00 – 1,000.00 USD). In addition, the profit gained from the violation actions also must be confiscated.
– Criminal measure: According to the regulation at Article 159[2] of Penal Code, the violator shall be sentenced up to two years of imprisonment. Please be noted that the criminal measure is only applied with an authority person of your client.
[1] Article 95. Violations of regulations on franchise
3. A fine of between 5.000.000 VND to 10.000.000 VND (x2 for organization) shall be imposed on individual that commit the following violations:
a) Non-registration of franchise according to the prevailing regulations;
b) Carrying out the franchise in case of lacking the required condition according to prevailing regulations;
c) Non-notification to the authority state bodies in case changing in the activities of franchise.
6. Remedy
The profit gained from the violation actions as mentioned in this Article also must be confiscated.
[2] Article 159.- Conducting business illegally
1. Those who conduct business without business registration, in contravention of the registered contents or without separate license if so required by law, in one of the following cases, shall be subject to a fine of between five million dong and fifty million dong or non-custodial reform for up to two years:
a) The offenders have already been administratively sanctioned for these acts or sentenced for these crimes or for any crime defined in Articles 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 164, 193, 194, 195, 196, 230, 232, 233, 236 and 238 of this Code, have not yet been entitled to criminal record remission but continue committing the violations;
b) The goods involved in the offense are valued between one hundred million dong and under three hundred million dong.
2. Committing the crime in one of the following cases, the offenders shall be sentenced to between three months and two years of imprisonment:
a) Abusing the names of agencies or organizations;
b) Falsely presenting as an organization which does not actually exist;
c) The goods involved in the offense are valued at three hundred million dong or more;
d) Gaining big illicit profits.
3. The offenders may also be subject to a fine of between three million dong and thirty million dong
