Guiding regulations:
Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP on the management, provision and use of Internet services and online information;
Decree No.103/2009/ND-CP promulgating the regulation on cultural activities and commercial provision of public cultural services;
Vietnam’s Specific Commitments to WTO in Services
Enterprise Establishment:
Foreign investors who wish to engage in the online games distribution service must have either a Contract of Business Cooperation or a joint venture with a Vietnamese partner who is eligible to provide online gaming business. In case of a joint venture, the foreign investors’ capital must not exceed 49%.
The joint venture can be in the form of a Limited Liability Company or a Joint Stock Company. Generally, there are more options to mobilize capital in a Joint Stock Company.
Only Vietnamese enterprises can apply for G1, G2, G3 and G4 gaming license in Vietnam. A Vietnamese entity is defined under Law on Enterprise 2014 as an entity established or registered to establish under Vietnam laws and has headquarter in Vietnam.
Online Games Classification:
G1: Video games that have interaction among multiple players via the game server
G2: Video games that only have interaction between the players and the game server
G3: Video games that have interaction among multiple players without interaction between players and the game server
G4: Video games that are downloaded from the Internet without the interaction among players and between players and the game server
Licensing procedures for G1 Games:
G1 gaming license expires after 10 years and you can only extend it once for one extra year. The Ministry of Information and Technology is seeking to reduce the license’s validity to only 5 years.
Conditions to apply for G1 gaming license:
-Must have a headquarter and contact number
-Registered for a domain name to use to provide the service
-At least 1 personnel administers 2 servers
-The business manager must have at least a Bachelor’s degree
-Sufficient financial capacity, adequate gaming systems
-Have backup plan for equipment and connection as well as data backup plan
-Have professional measures to manage game forum content
Important documents of application dossier:
-Documents proving the ownership of domain name
-Business location rental/ownership contract
-Game service payment plan
-List of partners providing payment assistance service
-Detailed description of host devices
After attaining G1 gaming license, you would need to obtain Approval for script content for each G1 game in order to operate the G1 game
Conditions to apply for Approval of script content for each G1 game:
-Game content must be culturally appropriate
-The game’s age rating must be suitable with the content
-Have measures to manage players’ account
During operation phase, the game provider must ensure to manage under 18-year-old player’s time to not exceed 180 minutes in 24 hours each day
For more information on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the author Dr. Oliver Massmann under omassmann@duanemorris.com. Dr. Oliver Massmann is the General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC, Member to the Supervisory Board of PetroVietnam Insurance JSC and the only foreign lawyer presenting in Vietnamese language to members of the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF VIETNAM.