Question: Can officials, civil servants, and public employees be allowed to establish and manage businesses in Vietnam?

Reply:

Can officials, civil servants, and public employees establish and manage businesses in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 17, Enterprise Law 2020, the following organizations and individuals do not have the right to establish and manage businesses in Vietnam:

- State agencies and units of the people's armed forces use state assets to establish business enterprises to make their own profits;

- Cadres, civil servants and public employees according to the provisions of the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants and the Law on Public Employees;

- Officers, non-commissioned officers, professional soldiers, workers, and defense officials in agencies and units of the Vietnam People's Army; officers, professional non-commissioned officers, and police workers in agencies and units under the People's Public Security of Vietnam, except those appointed as authorized representatives to manage the State's capital contribution in the enterprise or management at state-owned enterprises;

- Leading and professional managers in state-owned enterprises in which 100% of the charter capital is held by the State, except those appointed as authorized representatives to manage the State's capital contribution in other enterprises;

- Minors; people with limited civil act capacity; people who have lost their civil act capacity; people with difficulty in cognition and behavior control; organizations without legal status;

- People who are being prosecuted for criminal liability, detained, serving a prison sentence, serving administrative measures at a compulsory drug treatment facility, a compulsory education facility or being detained by a court. Prohibited from holding certain positions, practicing certain occupations or doing certain jobs; Other cases according to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Law and the Law on Prevention and Combat of Corruption.

If requested by the Business Registration Authority, the person registering to establish a business must submit a criminal record card to the Business Registration Authority;

- Organizations that are commercial legal entities are prohibited from doing business or operating in certain fields according to the provisions of the Penal Code.

Thus, according to the above regulations, officials, civil servants and public employees do not have the right to establish and manage businesses in Vietnam.

Can officials, civil servants, and public employees contribute capital to businesses?

According to Clause 3, Article 17, Enterprise Law 2020, organizations and individuals have the right to contribute capital, buy shares, and purchase capital contributions to joint stock companies, limited liability companies, and partnerships according to regulations. provisions of the Enterprise Law 2020, except for the following cases:

- State agencies and units of the people's armed forces use state assets to contribute capital to enterprises to gain private profits for their agencies and units;

- Subjects who are not allowed to contribute capital to enterprises according to the provisions of the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants, the Law on Public Employees, and the Law on Prevention and Combat of Corruption.

In addition, in Article 20, the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants 2008 stipulates that in addition to the things they are not allowed to do specified in Articles 18 and 19, Law on Cadres and Civil Servants 2008, cadres and civil servants are also not allowed to do the following things: related to production, business, human resource work specified in the Law on Prevention and Combat of Corruption, Law on Thrift Practice and Anti-Waste and other things as prescribed by law and competent authorities.

At the same time, Clause 4, Article 20, Law on Prevention and Combat of Corruption 2018 stipulates the code of conduct for people with positions and powers:

The head or deputy head of a state agency is not allowed to contribute capital to an enterprise operating within the industry or profession in which he or she directly performs state management or let his or her spouse, father, or mother , children doing business within the scope of the industry or occupation that that person directly performs state management of.

Thus, cadres, civil servants and public employees can still contribute capital to enterprises, except for those who are not allowed to contribute capital to enterprises according to the provisions of the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants, the Law on Public Employees, Anti-Corruption Law.