Enterprises under FFA Ho Chi Minh City are facing some difficulties related to business licenses when changing their addresses according to new administrative boundaries (Illustration photo)
Consequences of not being able to change business license
Speaking to reporters on the morning of July 23, Ms. Ly Kim Chi, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Food and Foodstuff Association (FFA), said that FFA member businesses are complaining about not having their business licenses updated to the new address, causing difficulties in production activities, goods circulation and related legal procedures.
Ms. Chi explained that the registered addresses of many food businesses have changed according to the new administrative boundaries. If the business prints labels according to the old address, after being granted a new business license, it will have to destroy all pre-printed packaging, causing waste and incurring significant costs. Conversely, if the business license has not been changed, the business cannot print labels according to the new address due to lack of legal basis.
In particular, for businesses preparing to launch new products to the market, not knowing which address to register has delayed the launch progress and lost business opportunities for the business.
In addition, businesses are still wondering if they are granted a new business license, will the old packaging with the previous administrative address still be allowed to be used and how long is the mandatory conversion period from the date of issuance of the new business license?
“If the management agency is slow in handling the issue, it will affect businesses. They will not dare to export goods. Because if just one shipment is checked and compared, and the address information is found to be incorrect, it will greatly affect the following shipments,” said Ms. Chi.
Regarding this issue, on July 10, FFA sent a proposal to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and relevant departments and agencies to find a solution for businesses when updating their addresses according to new administrative boundaries.
In the document, FFA also informed that businesses belonging to the association also encountered difficulties in updating new addresses on domestic and international certificates, such as trademark registration certificates, certificates of right to use barcodes, FDA, HALAL, ISO, FSSC, BRC...
The reason is that international certification organizations require an official confirmation document from a competent Vietnamese State agency to recognize the new address. Otherwise, they may assume that the business has moved or established a new facility and require the business to redo the entire procedure for applying for the above certificates.
“This not only seriously affects export plans in the last quarters of the year, but also poses the risk of production stagnation, delayed delivery, failure to meet certification requirements in export markets, directly affecting the turnover and reputation of enterprises in the international market,” the document stated.
Guidance is needed early in the transition period.
From the above reality, FFA has made specific recommendations to the city's authorities.
Accordingly, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety needs to promptly issue a document guiding labeling during the transition period, allowing businesses to print and use new addresses on product packaging from July 15, in cases where the actual production location has not changed, even if the business license has not been adjusted to the new address.
At the same time, businesses are allowed to continue using packaging printed at the old address for a reasonable period of time after being granted a new business license to avoid wasting printed packaging, while providing specific instructions on the mandatory deadline for converting packaging to the new address.
During the transition period, FFA proposes not to impose administrative penalties on businesses that have not yet adjusted their address information.
For the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance, the association recommends studying a mechanism for quick, online processing of applications for changes in administrative addresses on business licenses (without changing other content), to reduce pressure on businesses and receiving agencies during the period when the number of applications increases.
The Department also needs to publicly announce the process, processing time and output results, helping businesses to proactively implement, saving time and costs.
The Department of Finance needs to advise the City People's Committee to issue a document directing the People's Committees of wards and communes where enterprises have headquarters or production facilities to support the issuance of documents confirming changes to administrative locations in case enterprises need to supplement their records with international certification organizations.
The above confirmation is to clarify that the new address is only the result of administrative boundary adjustment, not a change in actual operating location, thereby helping businesses avoid having to redo the entire certification procedure from the beginning as required by foreign parties.
After receiving the document from FFA, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Loc Ha, issued a document assigning the Department of Finance to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Food Safety of Ho Chi Minh City and the Department of Industry and Trade to review the content of FFA's reflection and recommendations to promptly guide and promptly resolve administrative procedures for associations and enterprises according to their authority, and at the same time report the implementation results to the City People's Committee before July 20.
But as of July 23, FFA said it had not yet received any response from the departments.
Ho Chi Minh City Food and Foodstuff Association was established in 1998, representing food production - trading - processing enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City. According to the introduction, FFA currently has 400 official members and more than 1,000 associate members.
Many large-scale enterprises are members of FFA such as Vinamilk , Pepsico Vietnam, Vissan, Cholimex, CJ Cau Tre...
Vietnamnet
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