Contents
I. What is a representative office?
According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 44 of the Law on Enterprises 2020, Representative Offices are:
A representative office of an enterprise is its dependent unit which acts as the enterprise’s authorized representative, represents and protect the enterprise’s interests. A representative office shall not do business.
The name of the representative office must be written with letters in the Vietnamese alphabet, the letters F, J, Z, W, numbers and symbols.
The name of the representative office must include the business name followed by the phrase “Representative office”.
The representative office name must be written or attached at the representative office headquarters. The name of the representative office is printed or written in smaller font size than the Vietnamese name of the enterprise on transaction papers, documents and publications issued by the representative office.
II. Characteristics of Representative Office
– The representative office does not have legal status because it is a dependent unit of the enterprise. One of the conditions for an organization to be considered to have legal status is to participate in relationships on its behalf independently, but all activities of the representative office depend on the business and through authorization, therefore, representative offices do not participate in legal relations in an independent capacity, so they are not considered to have legal status.
– Representative offices do not have business functions but only perform tasks authorized by the enterprise. Accordingly, representative offices are not allowed to directly do business, are not allowed to sign economic contracts with the representative office’s seal, but still sign contracts under the authorization of the enterprise that opened the representative office. and the business seal.
– Due to its nature as a dependent unit with no business function, representative offices do not incur independent tax obligations.
– The representative office still has its name, separate operation registration certificate and separate seal to serve the internal activities of the representative office.
– Financial obligations from representative office operations will depend on the business and be fully paid by the business.
– The enterprise will decide the organizational structure of the representative office and operate according to the permission of the enterprise.
III. Functions of Representative Office
Representative office functions include:
– An intermediary office responsible for communication and transactions with partners;
– Carry out research activities, provide information, and support businesses in accessing new markets and partners;
– Can conduct a market review, detect acts of infringement that adversely affect the enterprise’s business, unfair competition acts of rival enterprises, and represent the enterprise to sue for violations. above;
– Understand the market, promote business investment opportunities of the businesses you represent, excluding the service industry where the establishment of representative offices in that field is regulated in normative documents. specialized law.
To save time on researching procedures, filling out forms, notarizing, and waiting to submit documents, you can contact HT for consultation and assistance for Representative office
Contact us at:
Email: hue.truong@htlaw.vn
Phone: +84 935 439 454.