Public order and security licenses are not required for most production and business establishments in provinces and cities across the country. Only companies, business households, and individuals operating in industries required by law must apply for this license. So how does Vietnamese law regulate public order and security licenses? The following article by Viet My Accounting will clarify this issue.

I. Legal basis

– Law on Fire Prevention and Fighting 2001
– Law on Fire Prevention and Fighting 2013 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Fire Prevention and Fighting 2001
– Consolidated document of the Law on Fire Prevention and Fighting 2013 of the National Assembly Office
– Decree 96/2016/ND-CP on investment and business lines with conditions on public order and security

II. Article content

1. Understanding the concept of Public Security License

– Public security is the result of the state legal system with a stable social state, sustainable socio-economic development of the country, and is also managed and regulated by systems of legal, political and ethical norms.

– Public security license is a commonly used name to replace the Certificate of eligibility for public security and order, a document issued by a competent public security agency to investment and business facilities of management units, investment and business sectors with security and order conditions in accordance with regulations.

2. Which businesses must apply for a Public Security License?

Businesses that must apply for a Public Security License to be allowed to operate include:

(1) Seal production, including: production of seals with the National Emblem of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, seals with symbols, seals without symbols according to the provisions of law on operation, management and use of seals.

(2) Trading in support tools, including: production, assembly, import, export, purchase and sale of support tools, ammunition for support tools and accessories of support tools; repair of support tools.

(3) Trading in fireworks, including: production, assembly, import, export, purchase and sale of fireworks, other types of fireworks and gunpowder according to the provisions of law on management and use of fireworks.

(4) Pawnbroking services, including: lending services in which the borrower must legally own assets brought to the pawnbroking service business to pawn.

(5) Massage services, including: using physical therapy methods to massage, kumquat trees to serve human health.

Massage activities at medical facilities for treatment and facilities providing employment for people with disabilities are not within the scope of this Decree.

(6) Trading in signaling equipment for priority vehicles, including: manufacturing, assembling, importing, exporting, buying and selling flags, lights, and sirens for priority signaling of motor vehicles.

7) Security services, including: Services to protect people, assets, targets, and legal activities of agencies, units, and individuals.

Activities to protect objects and targets on the State List prescribed by the People’s Public Security and the People’s Army with the responsibility of armed guarding, security control and security control activities of agencies and organizations as prescribed in Decree 06/2013/ND-CP.

(8) Paintball gun business, including: Manufacturing, assembling, importing, exporting, buying and selling paintball guns, bullets used for paintball guns and accessories for paintball guns; repairing paintball guns; distributing suppliers using paintball guns.

(9) Electronic game business with prizes for foreigners.

(10) Casino business, including: types of entertainment with prizes in casino business.

(11) Betting service business, including: types of betting services.

(12) Gas business, including: gas trading activities regulated in Decree 19/2016/ND-CP.

(13) Industrial explosives business, including: Production, import, export, purchase, sale, recycling, preservation, transportation, and destruction of industrial explosives.

Research, development, and testing of industrial explosives are not within the scope of Decree 96/2016/ND-CP.

(14) Trading in explosive precursors, including: manufacturing, importing, exporting, purchasing, selling, preserving, transporting, and destroying high-concentration ammonium nitrate of about 98.5% or more (hereinafter referred to as explosive precursors).

(15) Trading in fields and industries using industrial explosives and explosive precursors, including: activities using industrial explosives for construction works, exploration and exploitation of minerals, oil and gas; using explosive precursors to distribute industrial explosives.

(16) Trading in blasting services, including: activities providing services using industrial explosives for construction projects, exploration and exploitation of minerals, oil and gas for agencies, units or individuals with legal needs.

(17) Printing services, including: Prepress, printing, post-printing processing (except for screen printing and photocopying establishments) to serve the following products:

– Publications (except for Braille books, audio and video recordings with content replacing books, illustrations replacing books);

– Newspapers, magazines and other press publications according to the provisions of the law on the press;

– Forms, templates, legal documents issued by state agencies, political organizations, socio-political organizations;

– Anti-counterfeit stamps;

– Packaging, stamps, labels of pharmaceutical products, pharmaceutical chemicals, medicines and functional foods (except for pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, medicinal drug and functional food production establishments that print their own packaging, stamps, labels for their products);

– Financial invoices; paper bearing face value or used to record face value

(18) Trading in devices that interfere with or disrupt mobile information signals, including: Manufacturing, importing, exporting, buying and selling devices that block communication signals from mobile phones to base stations.

(19) Trading in cosmetic surgery services, including: Using medical techniques for surgery (surgery) to change the shape and identifying characteristics of a person.

(20) Trading in karaoke and disco services:

– Trading in karaoke services, including: singing activities on music and image discs or using other music and image recording techniques;

– Trading in disco services, including: Dancing activities at dance establishments according to the provisions of law.

Dance teaching activities are not within the scope of regulation of Decree 96/2016/ND-CP.

(21) Accommodation service business, including: Accommodation establishments as prescribed by the Law on Tourism and other forms of accommodation rental services (hourly and overnight) operating on land or on tourist accommodation vessels.

Organizations and individuals who rent houses to Vietnamese or foreigners (with house rental contracts) for living, studying, working are not subject to the scope of Decree 96/2016/ND-CP.

(22) Trading in military uniforms and equipment for armed forces, military weapons, equipment, techniques, weapons, specialized vehicles serving the Military and Public Security; components, parts, spare parts, supplies and specialized equipment, specialized technology for manufacturing them, including:

– Production, purchase, sale of: Pants, shirts, hats, military uniforms; military insignia, badges, ranks, numbers of the People’s Army and the People’s Public Security;

– Manufacturing, assembling, importing, exporting, purchasing, selling, transporting, repairing: Small-sized military handguns in accordance with the provisions of law on management and use of weapons, explosives and supporting tools; road motor vehicle speed testers; alcohol concentration testing devices; GSM mobile phone monitoring devices and other types of mobile phone monitoring devices.

Components, parts, spare parts, specialized technical equipment used to manufacture: Small-sized military handguns; road motor vehicle speed testers; alcohol concentration testing devices; GSM mobile phone monitoring devices and other types of mobile phone monitoring devices.

(Article 3 of Decree 96/2016/ND-CP, amended by Clause 1, Article 109 of Decree 31/2021/ND-CP)

3. Conditions for applying for a security and order license

First, the business establishment is established, licensed and operates in accordance with Vietnamese law.

Second, it meets the conditions for fire prevention and fighting safety according to the provisions of the law on fire prevention and fighting.

Third, the person responsible for security and order of the business establishment must not be one of the following people:

* For Vietnamese people:

– Has been criminally prosecuted and is being investigated, prosecuted and tried by Vietnamese or foreign prosecution agencies.

– Has a criminal record for crimes against national security or other crimes due to intentional fault and has been sentenced to 03 years or more in prison without having had his/her criminal record expunged; is in the period of temporary suspension of execution of a prison sentence; is serving a non-custodial reform sentence; is under probation, is prohibited from residing, is prohibited from holding a position, is prohibited from trading, doing business, or has a business investment profession with conditions on security and order according to the Court’s decision.

– Being subject to re-education measures in wards, communes, and towns; having a decision to apply administrative measures while waiting for the execution of the decision; being addicted to drugs; being temporarily suspended or temporarily suspended from the implementation of the decision to send to a compulsory education facility or to a compulsory drug rehabilitation center; having been subject to administrative measures but not having been subject to a sufficient period of time to be considered as not having been subject to administrative measures.

* For Vietnamese people residing abroad and foreigners

Not yet granted a residence permit by a competent authority of Vietnam.

In addition to the provisions on the general conditions for being granted a certificate of eligibility as mentioned above, for some special industries and occupations, business establishments must also meet other necessary conditions.

4. Documents and procedures for applying for a public order and security license in 2024

* Documents for applying for a public order and security license include:

– Application for a public order and security license according to the form

– Copy of business registration certificate/ enterprise registration certificate or other equivalent documents

– Copy of document proving eligibility for fire prevention and fighting provided by a competent authority

– Criminal record issued by a competent authority

* Procedure for granting a public order and security license

(1) Procedure

– Step 1: Organizations and individuals who need to be granted a public order and security license submit their application to the Department of Administrative Police for Social Order – Ministry of Public Security.

– Step 2: The receiving officer checks the information, components, and validity of the application.

+ If the application is valid and has sufficient documents, the application will be accepted for processing and a Receipt of Application will be sent directly or via postal service or via the account on the national public service portal or via email (if any) to the business establishment or the person sent to submit the application.

+ If the application is invalid or missing any important documents, the application will not be accepted and a Document Completion Instruction Form will be sent directly or via postal service or via email (if any) to the business establishment or the person sent to submit the application.

+ If the application does not meet the following conditions, the application will not be accepted, the reasons for refusing to process the application will be clearly stated and a Notice of Ineligibility will be sent directly or via postal service or via the person’s account on the public service portal or via email (if any).

– Step 3: Based on the date specified on the Receipt of the application, the organization or individual goes to the place where the application was submitted to receive the results of the Public Security License or receives the results via postal service after completing the payment of the appraisal fee to the competent authority.

(2) How to submit the application

– Submit the application directly at the headquarters of the Department of Administrative Police for Social Order – Ministry of Public Security;

– Submit the application via postal service;

– Submit the application online via the National Public Service Portal or the Public Service Portal of the Ministry of Public Security.

– Return the results via postal service.

(3) Time limit for processing the application: 05 working days.

(4) Fee to be paid: 300,000 VND (Three hundred thousand Dong).

(5) Result: Public Security License

5. Conclusion

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