Procedures for establishment/expansion of industrial clusters in Vietnam as of May 1, 2024

Procedures for establishment/expansion of industrial clusters in Vietnam as of May 1, 2024 (Internet image) 

On April 10, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam issued Decision 821/QD-BCT on the announcement of new administrative procedures related to industrial clusters under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Procedures for establishment/expansion of industrial clusters in Vietnam as of May 1, 2024

(1) Procedures

Step 1: Enterprises, cooperatives, organizations shall submit establishment/expansion of industrial clusters dossiers (including a proposal document to act as the investor for construction of technical infrastructure for industrial clusters) at the district-level people's committee:

Within 05 working days from the date of receiving the first document of the enterprise, cooperative or organization applying for approval as technical infrastructure investor, the district-level People’s Committee shall publicly announce its receipt of the application for establishment or expansion of industrial cluster on local mass media. The time limit for receiving applications is 15 days from the date of announcement.

Step 2: Within 05 working days from the ending date of receiving the application establishment or expansion of industrial cluster, the district-level People’s Committee shall preside over and cooperate with the enterprise, cooperative or organization applying for approval as the technical infrastructure investor to prepare 02 sets of application for establishment or expansion of the industrial cluster as prescribed in clause 1 Article 9 of Decree 32/2024/ND-CP enclosed with electronic files thereof, and submit them to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, which will preside over and cooperate with relevant Departments and agencies to carry out appraisal.

Step 3:  Within 25 days from the date of receiving a sufficient application for establishment and expansion of industrial cluster, the provincial Department of Industry and Trade shall complete the appraisal and submit to the provincial People's Committee a consolidated report on establishment or expansion of industrial cluster. If the report on establishment or expansion of industrial cluster is unsatisfactory, the provincial Department of Industry and Trade shall request the district-level People’s Committee in writing to complete the application. The length of time over which the application is completed shall not be included in the time limit for appraisal.

 The selection of technical infrastructure investors constitutes part of the process of appraising applications for establishment or expansion of an industrial cluster; shall be carried out during the process of establishing or expanding an industrial cluster. For an industrial cluster for which an enterprise, cooperative or organization prepares an application for establishment or expansion in accordance with regulations enshrined in Decree 32/2024/ND-CP, a technical infrastructure investor shall be selected as follows:

The provincial People's Committee shall establish an Assessment Council for selecting a qualified technical infrastructure investor (the assessment council is comprised of a Chairperson who is a leader of the provincial People's Committee, a Deputy Chairperson who is a leader of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, and other members who are representatives of relevant provincial departments and agencies; a Secretary who is a representative of the specialized division of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade and is not a Council’s member) for marking on a scale of 100 points according to the following criteria: the plan for investment in technical infrastructure construction (maximum 15 points), the plan for environmental protection and management of the industrial cluster (maximum 15 points), capacity and experience of the enterprise or cooperative (maximum 30 points) and the financial plan for construction of technical infrastructure (maximum 40 points). According to the actual condition of the locality and relevant regulations of law, the Council shall agree upon the working principles and methods, contents of each criterion and appropriate corresponding maximum point.

An enterprise, cooperative or organization given 50 points or higher shall be considered and selected as the technical infrastructure investor by the provincial People’s Committee according to the Decision on establishment or expansion of the industrial cluster (if 02 or more enterprises, cooperatives or organizations jointly apply for approval as technical infrastructure investor, the enterprise, cooperate or organization with the highest mark shall be selected; if there are at least two enterprises, cooperatives or organizations with the same highest mark, the enterprise, cooperative, or organization shall be selected according to the proposal of the Chairperson of the Assessment Council).

The provincial People’s Committee shall decide the disclosure of results of investor selection to the enterprise, cooperative or organization as technical infrastructure investor.

Step 4: Within 07 working days from the date of receiving 01 set of application for establishment and expansion of industrial cluster enclosed with the appraisal report submitted by the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, the provincial People’s Committee shall consider deciding the establishment or expansion of industrial cluster.  A copy of the decision on establishment or expansion of industrial cluster shall be submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

(2) Components and quantity of applications:

- An application for establishment or expansion of an industrial cluster(for enterprises, cooperatives or organizations) includes:

+ The application form submitted by the enterprise, cooperative or organization for approval as technical infrastructure investor (including a commitment not to violate law and commitment to bear all costs and risks if not approved) enclosed with a report on investment in establishment or expansion of industrial cluster and a map determining the location and boundaries of the industrial cluster;

+ A legitimate copy of the document proving legal status of the enterprise, cooperative or organization applying for approval as technical infrastructure investor;

+  A legitimate copy of the documentation proving financial capacity of the enterprise, cooperative or organization applying for approval as the technical infrastructure investor, consisting one of the following documents: financial statement of the last 02 years; parent company's commitment to provide financial assistance; financial institution’s commitment to provide financial assistance; guarantee for investor’s financial capacity; other document proving financial capacity (if any);

+ A legitimate copy of the document proving experience of the enterprise, cooperative or organization applying for approval as the technical infrastructure investor and other relevant document (if any).

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