Procedures for investment guideline approval by The Prime Minister

I.  Projects under the Prime Minister’s power to approve investment guideline 

Except for investment projects under the National Assembly’s power to approve investment guideline in Article 30 of Law on Investment 2020, the Prime Minister shall approve investment guideline for the following investment projects:

1.  Investment projects regardless of capital sources in any one of the following cases:

a)  Investment projects that require relocation of 10,000 people or more in mountainous areas or 20,000 people or more in other areas;

b)  Investment projects on construction of: airports and aerodromes; runways of airports and aerodromes; international passenger terminals; cargo terminals of airports and aerodromes with a capacity of at least 1 million tonnes per year;

c)  New investment projects on passenger air transport business;

d)  Investment projects on construction of ports and wharves of special seaports; ports and wharves in which investment is at least VND 2,300 billion within the category of Class I seaports;

đ)  Investment projects on petroleum processing;

e)  Investment projects which involve betting and casino services, excluding business in prize-winning electronic games for foreigners;

g)  Projects on construction of residential housing (for sale, lease or lease purchase) and urban areas that use at least 50 hectares of land or less than 50 hectares of land but with a population of at least 15,000 people in an urban area; or that use at least 100 hectares of land or less than 100 hectares of land but with a population of at least 10,000 people in a non-urban area; or investment projects regardless of the area of land used or population within the safety perimeter of relics recognized by the competent authority as the national and special national relics;

h)  Investment projects on construction and operation of infrastructure in industrial zones and export processing zones.

2.  Investment projects of foreign investors in the following fields: provision of telecommunications services with network infrastructure; afforestation; publication, press;

3.  Investment projects which at the same time fall within the power of at least two provincial People's Committees to approve investment guidelines;

4.  Other investment projects subject to approval for their investment guidelines or subject to issuance of decisions on investment guidelines by the Prime Minister as prescribed by law.

II.  Records for the procedure for approval of investment guideline of project proposed by the investor  

1.  An application form for implementation of the investment project, including a commitment to incur all costs and risks if the project is not approved;

2.  A document concerning the legal status of the investor;

3.  Document(s) proving the financial capacity of the investor including at least one of the following documents: the investor’s financial statements for the last two years; commitment of a parent company to provide financial support; commitment of a financial institution to provide financial support; guarantee for the investor’s financial capacity; other document proving the investor’s financial capacity;

4.  Proposal for the investment project including the following main contents: investor or method of investor selection, investment objectives, investment scale, investment capital and plan for raising capital, location, duration and schedule of the investment project, information about the current use of land in the location of the project and proposed demand for land use (if any), demand for labor, proposal for investment incentives, impact and socio – economic efficiency of the project and preliminary assessment of environmental impact (if any) in accordance with the law on environment protection.

If the law on construction requires formulation of a pre-feasibility study report, the investor is entitled to submit the pre-feasibility study report instead of a proposal for the investment project;

5.  If the project does not require the State to allocate or lease out land or to permit land repurposing, a copy of the document regarding the land use rights or other document identifying the right to use the location for execution of the investment project is required to be submitted;

6.  Contents of the explanation for the technology to be used in the investment project if the project requires appraisal and collection of opinions on the technology in accordance with the Law on Technology Transfer;

7.  The business cooperation contract if the investment project is executed under a business cooperation contract;

8.  Other documents relating to the investment project, and requirements on the eligibility and capacity of the investor in accordance with law (if any);

9.  Explanatory documents for the proposal for method of investor selection specified in Clauses 1 and 2 Article 33 of Law on Investment 2020;

10.  Regarding a project on investment in construction, the project investment proposal includes:

a)  The contents specified in Point d Clause 1 or Point b Clause 2 Article 33 of Law on Investment 2020; description of fulfillment of objectives and orientations for urban development, residential housing development program or plan; expected division of component projects (if any); preliminary plan for phasing of investment with a view to synchronism assurance; preliminary structure of residential housing products and provision of land for social housing development; preliminary plan for investment in construction and management of urban infrastructure inside and outside the project, including a proposal for preliminary part of the urban infrastructure retained by the investor for business operation and part of the urban infrastructure to be transferred or proposed by the investor to the local government with respect to the project on investment in residential housing or urban area construction.

For an urban area project, if the law on construction requires formulation of a pre-feasibility study report, the investor or competent authority is entitled to submit or use the pre-feasibility study report instead of the investment project proposal, including a proposal for preliminary part of the urban infrastructure retained by the investor for business operation and part of the urban infrastructure to be transferred or proposed by the investor to the local government;

b)  The contents specified in Point d Clause 1 or Point b Clause 2 Article 33 of Law on Investment 2020, expected division of component projects (if any) with respect to the project on investment in construction other than that specified in Point a of this Clause.

III.  Legal basis

1.  Law on Investment No. 61/2020/QH14 on 17 June 2020;

2.  Decree No. 31/2021/ND-CP on 26 March 2021 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Investment Law;

3.  Circular No. 03/2021/ND-CP on 09 April 2021 prescribing templates for documents and reports related to investment activities in Vietnam, outward investment activities and investment promotion activities.