Vietnam Insights
FDI & Market Entry
-
How ECOVIS Germany and ECOVIS Vietnam Supported a German Manufacturer Expanding into Vietnam
Executive Summary Expanding manufacturing operations from Germany into Vietnam requires much more than incorporating a local company. Foreign investors must coordinate investment licensing, tax planning, employment, corporate governance, banking, customs, and ongoing regulatory compliance across multiple jurisdictions. In one recent cross-border project, a German industrial manufacturer engaged ECOVIS professionals in both Germany and Vietnam to…
-
Contract Review for Foreign Companies in Vietnam
Summary: Contract review for foreign companies operating in Vietnam should focus on practical enforceability rather than form alone — payment and tax documentation, liability allocation, termination mechanics, governing law and dispute resolution, and bilingual drafting consistency all affect how a contract performs in practice. This article outlines the areas foreign CEOs, CFOs and legal managers…
-
Representative Office Compliance in Vietnam
Summary: A representative office (RO) in Vietnam is a liaison presence, not a commercial company, and operates under a narrower set of permitted activities than a licensed enterprise. This article outlines what an RO can and cannot do, the compliance obligations of the chief representative, and the practical steps involved in closing or converting an…
-
Corporate Governance for FDI Companies in Vietnam
Summary: FDI companies in Vietnam often run into difficulty not because of licensing gaps, but because of unclear signing authority, poor internal documentation, or governance decisions that were never properly recorded. This article outlines the practical governance controls that boards, members’ councils and legal representatives should consider maintaining to reduce operational and dispute risk. By…
-
M&A Legal Due Diligence in Vietnam
Summary: Legal due diligence before an M&A transaction in Vietnam should go beyond confirming corporate existence — it should identify ownership gaps, licensing issues, contract exposure, employment liabilities and pending disputes before signing. This article outlines the practical scope of legal due diligence that investors, CFOs and buyers should expect when acquiring or investing in…
-
Import-Export Company Setup in Vietnam
Summary: Setting up an import-export company in Vietnam involves more than registering a business line — foreign investors should distinguish import-export rights from distribution rights, check product-specific conditions, and plan customs, tax and accounting coordination from day one. This article outlines the practical structure foreign traders, suppliers and distributors operating in or near East Ho…
-
Logistics and Trading Legal Advisory in Vietnam
Summary: Logistics and trading businesses in Vietnam operate at the intersection of foreign investment rules, sector-specific sublicenses, customs regulations and complex commercial contracts. This article outlines the key legal areas that logistics operators, freight forwarders, trading companies and foreign investors should review before and after market entry, with a focus on ownership structure, licensing, customs…
-
PDPL and Data Protection Compliance in Vietnam
Summary: Data protection is increasingly a board-level compliance issue in Vietnam, particularly for companies that handle employee, customer, student or user data as part of routine operations. This article provides a practical, non-exhaustive overview of the areas companies should review under Vietnam’s personal data protection framework, with the caveat that specific legal requirements should be…
-
Technology and Software Legal Advisory in Vietnam
Summary: Software and technology companies operating in Vietnam face a distinct set of legal issues spanning company structuring, development and outsourcing contracts, intellectual property ownership, data protection, cross-border revenue and employment arrangements. This article outlines the key legal areas that software founders, SaaS companies and IT outsourcing firms should review, particularly when serving foreign clients…
-
Vietnam FDI Capital Increase from Retained Earnings: The DICA Step That Permanently Blocks Future Profit Remittance If Skipped
Summary: Foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam that increase their charter capital using accumulated undistributed after-tax profits (without injecting new foreign cash) must complete a DICA capital movement registration step with their commercial bank after the IRC/ERC amendment is issued. Companies that skip this step face a permanent consequence: the additional capital is treated as invalid under…