The registration of a licensed business's business activities indicates the scope of business operations it is authorized to conduct. Furthermore, many legal policies apply to businesses based on their licensed business activities, such as business support, tax exemptions and reductions, and whether or not they are permitted to issue invoices, all depending on the business code assigned to them.
Below is a detailed guide on registering business activities when establishing a company:
1. Search for and look up the business lines that need to be registered.
The Vietnamese economic sector classification system is applied according to Decision 27/2018/QD-TTg promulgating the Vietnamese Economic Sector Classification System, effective from August 20, 2018.
Accordingly, the Vietnamese Economic Classification System comprises the following five levels:
Level 1 industries comprise 21 industries, coded alphabetically from A to U;
The second-level classification comprises 88 sub-sectors; each sub-sector is coded with two numbers according to its corresponding first-level classification.
The third-level classification comprises 242 sub-sectors; each sub-sector is coded with three numbers according to its corresponding second-level classification.
Level 4 industries comprise 486 industries (an increase of 49 industries); each industry is coded with four numbers according to its corresponding Level 3 industry;
Level 5 industries comprise 734 industries (an increase of 92 industries); each industry is coded with five numbers according to its corresponding Level 4 industry.
| Find the most accurate Vietnamese economic sector codes here: National Portal for Business Registration |
Look up business activities by tax code in just 2 steps.
In just two simple steps, you can look up information about a business and its business sector by tax code on the National Business Information Portal 2021. Step 1: Access the website https://dangkykinh doanh.gov.vn/ Step 2: Enter the tax code
2. Identifying conditional business sectors
2.1. Businesses are prohibited from engaging in activities that are banned from investment and business operations.
The following 8 sectors and professions are prohibited from investment and business activities:
- Trading in narcotic substances as specified in Appendix I of this Law;
- Trading in chemicals and minerals as specified in Appendix II of this Law;
- Trading in specimens of wild plants and animals originating from natural exploitation as stipulated in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Plants and Animals; specimens of endangered, rare, and precious forest plants, forest animals, and aquatic species of Group I originating from natural exploitation as stipulated in Appendix III of this Law;
- Prostitution business;
- Buying and selling people, tissues, corpses, human body parts, and human fetuses;
- Business activities related to human cloning;
- Trading in firecrackers;
- Debt collection services business.
2.2. Identifying conditional business sectors
Conditional investment and business sectors It refers to industries or professions where investment and business activities must meet necessary conditions for reasons of national defense, national security, social order and safety, social morality, and public health.
The list of conditional investment and business sectors is stipulated in Appendix IV of the Investment Law. Please refer to the list below:
List of conditional business sectors under the 2025 Investment Law, as amended and supplemented by Law No. 24/2026/QH16.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY — SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Independence – Freedom – Happiness Law No.: 24/2026/QH16 Hanoi, August 24, 2026 Appendix
2.3. Assessing the ability to meet investment and business conditions.
Business investment conditions These are conditions that individuals and organizations must meet when conducting investment and business activities in industries or professions subject to conditional investment and business regulations.
Investment and business conditions are applied in the following forms:
- License;
- Certificate;
- Certificate;
- Confirmation or approval document;
- Other requirements that individuals and economic organizations must meet to carry out investment and business activities that do not require written confirmation from a competent authority.