Under the Decree No. 08/1998/ND-CP of the
Government dated 22 January 1998 promulgating the Regulations on the
establishment of the association of foreign businesses in Vietnam (“Decree
No. 08”), the Government of Vietnam accordingly allows the foreign
investment permitted to perform the commercial, investment and service
activities in Vietnam to establish the associations or clubs of foreign
businesses in Vietnam (“Association”) provided that the foreign
businesses satisfy with the requirements and agree with the content in this
Decree No. 08.
Under the Decree No. 08, it requires that:
Firstly, the Association shall be established on
the basis of voluntariness, as non-governmental, non-political and non-profit
organizations.
Secondly, there are at least 30 representatives
from businesses of the same nationality or originated from an international or
regional organization.
Thirdly, each community of foreign businesses of
the same nationality or originated from an international or regional
organization operating in Vietnam shall be entitled to establish only one
Association in Vietnam, whose headquarters shall be set up and registered at a
Vietnamese province or central run city.
II.
Application dossier for the permit of Association establishment:
The foreign business must submit the below
application dossier for the permit of Association establishment:
The dossier of application for a permit to
establish an Association shall be submitted to the People's Committee of the
province or central run city, where the Association is to be set up.
The dossier shall comprise:
1.
The application for a
permit to establish the Association (one copy in Vietnamese and another in a
commonly used foreign language);
2.
The operation statute of
the Association;
3.
A written recommendation
from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
4.
The documents on the
working office of the Association;
5.
The curricula vitae of
the members of the leading board of the Association;
6.
The list of the
representatives of businesses to join the Association (their full names, their
passport numbers, their places of registered temporary residence in Vietnam).
The People's Committee of the province or
central run city will decide on issuing or not issuing of the permit of
Association establishment within 30 days as from the full receipt of duly
application dossier.
The permit of Association establishment will
valid in 05 years with each extension of 03 years term.
III.
The
contents of an Association's activities:
After having granted the permit, the Association
is allowed to perform the following activities:
1.
Organizing the internal
information activities;
2.
Organizing activities to
probe into trade and investment opportunities;
3.
Taking part in trade and
investment promotion activities organized by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce
and Industry or other Vietnamese agencies;
4.
Organizing meetings
between its members and Vietnamese State management agencies on commercial,
investment and service matters;
5.
The leading board of the
Association is entitled to represent the Association in proposing
recommendations and measures to Vietnamese State management agencies in order
to protect the legitimate interests of its member businesses and contribute to
the creation of a healthy business environment;
6.
Being permitted to
publish and circulate within the Association a bulletin on commercial and
investment activities in accordance with the Law on Publication of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
IV.
The rights
and obligations of the Association
Meanwhile, the Association after its
establishment will have the following rights and obligations:
1.
To open a transaction
account at a commercial bank. This account shall be used only for
administrative activities of the Association;
2.
To rent its head office,
residential houses and hire staff in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese
law;
3.
To have its own seal (if
necessary). The seal shall be made in accordance with the regulations of
Vietnamese law;
4.
To import office
equipment and working facilities in accordance with the provisions of the
Vietnamese law applicable to the representative offices of the foreign economic
organizations in Vietnam;
5.
The Association shall
have to report its operation every 6 months or year or irregularly at the
request of the People's Committee of the province or central run city, that has
granted the permit.