Classification of Business Lines for FDI companies in Vietnam

All companies established in Vietnam must register their business activities into business lines and codes according to Vietnamese regulations. For Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) companies in Vietnam, both CPC codes and VSIC codes are used concurrently when classifying business lines. Discover what CPC and VSIC codes are in this Article.

1. CPC Codes

CPC, which stands for Central Product Classification, is a system for complete goods and services classification into codes developed by the United Nations Statistical Commission.

As a member of the WTO, Vietnam uses the CPC system to classify business activities proposed by foreign investors (not for Vietnamese investors). This classification helps determine the investment conditions applicable to each activity. Specifically, current investment registration application forms in Vietnam require foreign investors to declare and classify their investment objectives into corresponding operational objectives and CPC codes.

Currently, Vietnam uses Provisional Central Product Classification (CPC) version 1991, one of several CPC versions available.

2. VSIC Codes

VSIC, which stands for Vietnam Standard Industrial Classification, is a catalog of the Vietnamese economic industry system encoded with letters and digits, based on Decision No. 27/2018/QD-TTg.

Along with CPC codes, Vietnam also uses its domestic VSIC codes for business line classification, applied to both local companies and FDI companies. Specifically, in the business registration application forms, applicants must classify and declare the business scopes of the company into corresponding business lines and 4-digit VSIC codes.

The list of business lines of a company is not displayed on the Enterprise Registration Certificate but will be shown in the company’s business registration information when searched on the National Business Registration Portal.

For more details, please refer to the link: Vietnam Standard Industrial Classification (VSIC)