Supplementing regulations on the procedures for approving investment policies by the Provincial People's Committee of Vietnam from February 10, 2025

Supplementing regulations on the procedures for approving investment policies by the Provincial People's Committee of Vietnam from February 10, 2025 (Image from the Internet)

On February 10, 2025, the Government of Vietnam enacted Decree 19/2025/ND-CP guiding the Investment Law 2020 regarding special investment procedures.

Supplementing regulations on the procedures for approving investment policies by the Provincial People's Committee of Vietnam from February 10, 2025

The procedures for obtaining provincial People's Committee approval for investment policy are amended by the Prime Minister of Vietnam as stated in Clause 1, Article 8 of Decree 19/2025/ND-CP as follows:

- The investor or a competent state authority must submit 4 sets of dossiers requesting investment policy approval in accordance with Clause 1 or Clause 2, Article 33 of the Investment Law 2020, Clauses 2 and 3 of Article 31 of the Investment Law 2020 to the investment registration authority;

For investment projects involving construction and business infrastructure in industrial parks, export processing zones, investors or competent state authorities shall submit dossiers to the management board of industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech zones, economic zones or to the Department of Planning and Investment in cases where the management board has not yet been established.

- Within 3 working days from receiving a valid dossier as per Point a, Clause 4, Article 33 of Decree 31/2021/ND-CP, the investment registration authority sends the dossier for appraising opinions from relevant departments, district-level People's Committees where the project is expected to be implemented, and other agencies concerning their scope of state management as stipulated in Clause 6 or Clause 8, Article 31 of Decree 31/2021/ND-CP;

- Within 15 days from the date of receiving the request from the investment registration authority, the consulted agency shall provide appraisal opinions concerning their scope of state management and send it to the investment registration authority.

In cases where the project is subject to a preliminary environmental impact assessment as per environmental protection laws, the provincial environmental protection specialized agency shall perform its responsibilities as prescribed in Clause 4, Article 33 of Decree 31/2021/ND-CP with regard to the preliminary environmental impact assessment content.

- Within 25 days from receiving a valid dossier in accordance with Point a, Clause 4, Article 33 of Decree 31/2021/ND-CP, the investment registration authority prepares an appraisal report including the appraisal contents as prescribed in Clause 6 or Clause 8, Article 31 of Decree 31/2021/ND-CP, and submits it to the provincial People's Committee.

Note: The content in bold and italic is the supplementary content in Decree 19/2025/ND-CP.

Application for investment policy approval for projects formulated by competent State authorities in Vietnam

The application for requesting investment policy approval for projects formulated by competent state authorities includes:

- A proposal for investment policy approval;

- A proposed investment project containing the following key contents: investment objectives, scale of investment, investment capital, location, duration, implementation progress, economic-social impacts, effectiveness of the project; information on the current use status of the land at the project site, conditions for land recovery for projects subject to land recovery, expected land use demand (if any); preliminary environmental impact assessment (if any) as prescribed by environmental protection laws; anticipated form of investor selection and conditions for investors (if any); special mechanisms, policies (if any).

In cases where construction laws prescribe preparing a pre-feasibility study report, competent state authorities can use the pre-feasibility study report instead of a project proposal.

(According to the provisions in Clause 2, Article 33 of the Investment Law 2020)

More details can be found in Decree 19/2025/ND-CP, effective from February 10, 2025.

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE