This is reference to your email to advise on possibilities of setting up a branch in Ha Tinh, Vietnam for project management.
Therefore, we are grateful to set our legal services proposal for your review and consideration as follows:
1. BRIEF SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND AND OUR COMMENTS
It is our understanding that your company has been selected to be the mentioned service provider, and currently under subcontract negotiation with general contractor of the Ha Tinh dredging project in Vietnam.
Your company therefore would like to setup a branch, or project managing unit in local to deal with import & export, fund and taxes issues. As for the newly registered entity, whose bank account is going to be used for depositing money for local expenses while shall not transfer local to abroad.
In line above, we are of opinion that in this case you do not need to setup a branch or subsidiary company in Vietnam. What you need to do is to obtain Contractor Permit from the competent authority.
After obtaining Contractor Permit, you can register an executive office with Competent Authority to (i) open accounts and make payments for the project; (ii) recruit and employ Vietnamese and foreign workers; (iii) carry out the procedures for exporting or importing supplies, machines and equipment related to the contracts in Vietnam; (iv) register for temporary import for re-export of construction supplies, machines and equipment; (v) register the list of import raw materials, fuels, materials, complete and synchronous equipment for works under the contracts; (vi) perform partnership contracts already signed with Vietnamese contractors or commitments to use Vietnamese sub-contractors determined when participating in biddings or offering bids and so on.
2. OBTAININING CONTRACTOR PERMIT IN VIETNAM
Under Vietnam Law, in order to obtain contractor permit, you must satisfy following conditions:
- Having won biddings or having been selected for contracting;
- Having signed contract;
- Having full capacity suitable to contracted works according to Vietnamese law provisions; and
- Committing to enter into an association contract with local partner(s), for carrying out the winning project Depending on group of the project, the licensing authority can be the Ministry of Construction and Provincial Department of Construction or the Provincial Department of Construction only.
- The administrative procedure shall comprise two steps:
– Step 1: Obtaining Contractor Permit (15 working days from submission of application dossier to competent authority).
– Step 2: Registration of the Executive Office (05 working days from submission of application dossier to competent authority).
