Conditional business lines are one of the crucial legal aspects that any investor or enterprise must understand thoroughly before conducting business operations in Vietnam. The year 2026 marks significant changes in the regulatory framework governing this field as the Law on Investment No. 143/2025/QH15 officially comes into effect. This article provides a comprehensive and updated overview of the list of conditional sectors, business investment conditions, forms of management, and key areas that enterprises need to pay special attention to in 2026 to ensure legal compliance and maximize business opportunities.
LEGAL BASIS
- Law on Investment No. 143/2025/QH15 dated December 11, 2025, effective from March 1, 2026 (specifically, Article 7 and Appendix IV regarding the list of conditional business lines take effect from July 1, 2026);
- Resolution No. 66.17/2026/NQ-CP on cutting and amending conditional business lines in Appendix IV of the Law on Investment No. 143/2025/QH15.
I. WHAT IS A CONDITIONAL BUSINESS LINE?
- Definition of conditional business lines under the Law on Investment 2025
According to Clause 1, Article 7 of the Law on Investment 2025, conditional business lines are defined as: “business lines in which the investment and business activities within the territory of Vietnam must satisfy necessary conditions for reasons of national defense, national security, social order and safety, social ethics, or community health.”
II. LIST OF CONDITIONAL BUSINESS LINES IN 2026: IMPORTANT CHANGES
2.1. List of 198 conditional business lines under the Law on Investment 2025
Appendix IV of the Law on Investment No. 143/2025/QH15 specifies a list of 198 conditional investment and business lines, a reduction of 38 lines compared to the previous Law on Investment (which had 227 lines).
2.2. Further reduction to 142 conditional business lines from July 1, 2026
More importantly, the Government issued Resolution No. 66.17/2026/NQ-CP providing for the reduction and amendment of conditional investment and business lines in Appendix IV of the Law on Investment 2025. Accordingly, from July 1, 2026, the list of conditional business lines will be further reduced to 142 lines, meaning an additional reduction of 56 lines compared to the 198 lines specified in Appendix IV.
III. FORMS OF BUSINESS INVESTMENT CONDITIONS IN CONDITIONAL BUSINESS LINES
According to Clause 5, Article 7 of the Law on Investment 2025, business investment conditions applicable to conditional business lines are implemented through the following 05 forms:
- Licenses: Documents confirming that an enterprise or individual is permitted to operate in a specific sector. Examples: Automobile transport business license, banking operation license, etc.
- Certificates: Documents confirming that an enterprise or individual meets certain standards to operate in a conditional sector. Example: Certificate of eligibility for pharmacy business, etc.
- Practice Certificates: Documents confirming that an individual possesses sufficient professional qualifications and expertise to practice a profession within a conditional sector. Examples: Lawyer practice certificate, medical practice certificate, etc.
- Other written approvals or confirmations: Other forms of licensing granted by competent authorities for specific, specialized conditional sectors.
- Other requirements not requiring written confirmation: Conditions that organizations or individuals must satisfy to do business but do not require prior confirmation from state agencies. This is a management mechanism based on post-inspection.
IV. LIST OF CONDITIONAL BUSINESS LINES FROM JULY 1, 2026
| No. | Business Line |
| 1 | Production of seals |
| 2 | Trading in support tools (including repair services) |
| 3 | Trading in all types of fireworks, excluding explosive fireworks |
| 4 | Trading in camouflage equipment and software used for audio recording, video recording, and positioning; devices for jamming or disrupting mobile communications |
| 5 | Trading in military gear and equipment for the armed forces, military weapons, technical equipment, armaments, specialized military/police vehicles; components, parts, spare parts, materials, and specialized equipment, and specialized technology for manufacturing them |
| 6 | Pawn business services |
| 7 | Massage services |
| 8 | Security services |
| 9 | Legal practice (Lawyer services) |
| 10 | Notary practice |
| 11 | Judicial expertise practice |
| 12 | Auditing services |
| 13 | Operation of bonded warehouses and container freight stations (CFS) |
| 14 | Operation of customs clearance places, and collection, inspection, and supervision sites for customs |
| 15 | Securities business |
| 16 | Securities registration, depository, clearing, and settlement services; support services for transactions on the domestic carbon market |
| 17 | Insurance business activities (excluding insurance auxiliary services) |
| 18 | Price valuation services |
| 19 | Lottery business |
| 20 | Prize-winning gaming business (including prize-winning electronic games for foreigners, casinos, and betting) |
| 21 | Credit rating services |
| 22 | Voluntary pension fund management services |
| 23 | Petrol and oil business |
| 24 | Industrial explosives business (including disposal activities) |
| 25 | Explosive precursors business |
| 26 | Business sectors that use industrial explosives and explosive precursors |
| 27 | Blasting services |
| 28 | Production and trading of chemicals, excluding chemicals on the list of prohibited chemicals and minerals provided in Appendix II issued with the Law on Investment No. 143/2025/QH15; chemical storage services; specialized chemical consultancy activities |
| 29 | Trading in tobacco products, tobacco materials, and specialized tobacco machinery and equipment, excluding electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco |
| 30 | Food business under the specialized management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Health |
| 31 | Commodity Exchange activities |
| 32 | Power generation, transmission, distribution, wholesale, and retail activities |
| 33 | Rice export |
| 34 | Industrial precursors business |
| 35 | Goods trading and activities directly related to goods trading by foreign service providers in Vietnam |
| 36 | Multi-level marketing business |
| 37 | E-commerce activities: managing and operating intermediary e-commerce platforms, e-commerce social networks, and integrated e-commerce platforms; e-contract authentication services |
| 38 | Oil and gas activities |
| 39 | Vocational education activities |
| 40 | Vocational skill assessment services |
| 41 | Occupational safety technical inspection services |
| 42 | Services sending workers to work abroad |
| 43 | Voluntary drug rehabilitation services |
| 44 | Road transport business |
| 45 | Production, assembly, and import of automobiles |
| 46 | Motor vehicle inspection services |
| 47 | Automobile driver training services |
| 48 | Driving test services |
| 49 | Traffic safety inspection services |
| 50 | Training services for crew members and operators of inland watercraft |
| 51 | Training and coaching of maritime crew members, and recruitment and supply services for maritime crew |
| 52 | Air transport business |
| 53 | Services for designing, manufacturing, maintaining, and testing aircraft, aircraft engines, aircraft propellers, and aircraft equipment in Vietnam |
| 54 | Import, temporary import for re-export, and temporary export for re-import of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), other flying vehicles, aircraft engines, aircraft propellers, and equipment for UAVs and other flying vehicles |
| 55 | Research, manufacturing, testing, repair, and maintenance of UAVs, other flying vehicles, aircraft engines, aircraft propellers, and equipment for UAVs and other flying vehicles |
| 56 | Airport and airfield operation |
| 57 | Aviation services at airports and airfields |
| 58 | Professional training and coaching services for aviation personnel |
| 59 | Railway transport business |
| 60 | Railway infrastructure business |
| 61 | Dangerous goods transport services |
| 62 | Real estate business |
| 63 | Construction investment project management and site manager practice |
| 64 | Construction survey practice |
| 65 | Construction design and design review practice |
| 66 | Construction supervision consultancy practice |
| 67 | Specialized construction testing services |
| 68 | Urban and rural planning consultancy practice |
| 69 | Postal services |
| 70 | Telecommunications services |
| 71 | Trust services |
| 72 | Publishing house activities |
| 73 | Printing services, excluding the printing of packaging that does not contain product labels |
| 74 | Social network services |
| 75 | Online games on telecommunication and Internet networks |
| 76 | Pay radio and television services |
| 77 | Services for setting up general websites |
| 78 | Processing and repairing of goods on the list of used information technology products banned from import for foreign merchants for consumption abroad |
| 79 | Electronic authentication services |
| 80 | Cyber security products and services business (excluding civil cryptography products and services) |
| 81 | Business services for distributing imported press/periodicals |
| 82 | Civil cryptography products and services business |
| 83 | Early childhood education activities |
| 84 | General education activities |
| 85 | Higher education activities |
| 86 | Operations of foreign educational institutions and branches of foreign educational institutions |
| 87 | Continuing education activities |
| 88 | Fisheries exploitation |
| 89 | Fisheries business |
| 90 | Production of aquatic feed and products for aquaculture environmental treatment; production of animal feed and products for livestock waste treatment |
| 91 | Fishing vessel registration |
| 92 | Pesticide business |
| 93 | Services for treating objects subject to plant quarantine |
| 94 | Pesticide bio-testing services |
| 95 | Trading in veterinary drugs, vaccines, biological products, microorganisms, and chemicals used in veterinary medicine |
| 96 | Animal testing and surgery services |
| 97 | Animal vaccination, diagnosis, prescription, treatment, and healthcare services |
| 98 | Veterinary drug testing and bio-testing services (including veterinary drugs, aquatic veterinary drugs, vaccines, biological products, microorganisms, and chemicals used in veterinary and aquatic veterinary medicine) |
| 99 | Farm animal husbandry business |
| 100 | Livestock and poultry slaughtering business |
| 101 | Fertilizer production |
| 102 | Fertilizer bio-testing services |
| 103 | Trading in animal breeds and production of plant varieties |
| 104 | Production and nursing of aquatic breeds |
| 105 | Trading in genetically modified products |
| 106 | Medical examination and treatment services |
| 107 | Pharmacy business |
| 108 | Cosmetics manufacturing |
| 109 | Medical equipment business |
| 110 | Business services for conducting radiation work |
| 111 | Business services supporting the application of atomic energy |
| 112 | Conformity assessment services |
| 113 | Technology evaluation, valuation, and assessment services |
| 114 | Intellectual property representation services (including copyright and related rights representation, industrial property representation, and plant variety rights representation services) |
| 115 | Film distribution services |
| 116 | Antiquities and relic expert evaluation services |
| 117 | Services for planning, projecting, designing, organizing construction, and supervising the preservation, renovation, and restoration of monuments/historical sites |
| 118 | Karaoke and dance hall (nightclub) services |
| 119 | Travel agency services |
| 120 | Sports business activities of sports enterprises and professional sports clubs |
| 121 | Accommodation services |
| 122 | Trading in relics and antiquities, excluding the export of relics and antiquities; preservation, restoration, digitization, and database construction services for relics and antiquities |
| 123 | Import of cultural goods under the specialized management of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism |
| 124 | Surveying and mapping services |
| 125 | Hydrometeorological forecasting and warning services |
| 126 | Groundwater drilling and groundwater exploration services |
| 127 | Water resource exploitation services |
| 128 | Mineral exploration services |
| 129 | Mineral mining |
| 130 | Hazardous waste transportation and treatment services |
| 131 | Import of scrap materials |
| 132 | Environmental monitoring services |
| 133 | Business activities of commercial banks |
| 134 | Business activities of non-bank credit institutions |
| 135 | Business activities of cooperative banks, people’s credit funds, and microfinance institutions |
| 136 | Provision of intermediary payment services, payment services not through customer payment accounts, and mobile money services |
| 137 | Provision of credit information services |
| 138 | Gold trading, excluding jewelry and artwork gold |
| 139 | Trading in intermediary, analytical, and data aggregation products and services |
| 140 | Data floor/data marketplace services |
| 141 | Provision of services related to crypto assets |
| 142 | Personal data processing services |
V. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT CONDITIONAL BUSINESS LINES
What is the difference between conditional business lines and prohibited investment lines?
Prohibited investment lines are fields completely banned by law, and enterprises are not allowed to operate in them under any circumstances. Conditional business lines are fields in which businesses are allowed to operate, provided they meet certain requirements. If they fail to meet these conditions, they cannot legally operate in that sector.
If a line has been removed from the conditional list, does the old license remain valid?
Yes. According to Resolution No. 66.17/2026/NQ-CP, enterprises and individuals can continue using licenses, certificates, practice certificates, or written approvals previously granted by state authorities until the expiration date stated on those documents.
Where can one look up conditional business lines?
This list is detailed in Appendix IV issued with the Law on Investment 2025 and Resolution No. 66.17/2026/NQ-CP. In addition, investors can perform quick and accurate lookups through the National Business Registration Portal.
CONCLUSION
The year 2026 represents an important milestone in legal reform regarding conditional business lines in Vietnam. The Law on Investment No. 143/2025/QH15, Decree No. 96/2026/ND-CP, and Resolution No. 66.17/2026/NQ-CP have created a more open legal framework, significantly reducing the number of conditional sectors from 227 to 142 effective from July 1, 2026. This is a positive signal for the investment environment, lowering compliance costs and encouraging entrepreneurship.
However, enterprises must keep in mind that for the sectors remaining on the list, full compliance with legal requirements is mandatory before commencing operations. Operating a conditional business without meeting the legally required conditions may lead to administrative sanctions or even criminal prosecution, depending on the nature and severity of the violation. Therefore, enterprises and investors should seek professional legal advice to ensure fully compliant operations in any conditional business line.
