DECREE 296/2026/ND-CP: CHANGES IN BUSINESS REGISTRATION

On 23 July 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 296/2026/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 168/2025/ND-CP on enterprise registration (“Decree 296”). The Decree takes effect immediately from its date of signing and marks a notable step in the ongoing process of completing the legal framework on enterprise registration in Vietnam.

Overall, Decree 296 continues the direction of administrative procedure reform, promotes digital transformation in enterprise registration activities, and strengthens transparency in corporate governance. At the same time, these amendments reflect Vietnam’s efforts to move closer to international practices on information transparency and anti-money laundering. Although most of the amended content is technical in nature, these changes will directly affect the way enterprises carry out registration procedures and manage their operations in practice.

In particular, the Decree focuses on four main groups of content:

• Expanding and clarifying the criteria for identifying beneficial owners.
• Simplifying administrative procedures.
• Improving the electronic enterprise registration process.
• Adding stricter regulations on the temporary suspension of business operations.

For enterprises, these changes are not merely procedural adjustments but also set out specific compliance requirements. Enterprises with complex ownership structures or with foreign elements should review their beneficial ownership information to ensure accurate declaration, thereby avoiding difficulties in the process of registration or amendment of enterprise registration content. In addition, the new regulations on the duration of business suspension should be given particular attention in order to limit legal risks, including the risk of having the Enterprise Registration Certificate revoked. Conversely, the reduction of paperwork and the acceleration of digitalized procedures are expected to help enterprises save considerable time and cost in carrying out administrative procedures.

The full content of the amendments and supplements is compiled and compared in detail in the below attached Comparison Table between Decree 168/2025/ND-CP and Decree 296/2026/ND-CP. We kindly invite our clients and partners to refer to it in order to stay updated in a timely manner and make appropriate preparations in the course of carrying out enterprise registration procedures.

View the detailed comparison HERE