What are regulations on approval of investment policy for real estate projects in Vietnam? Which authorities in Vietnam are responsible for approving investment policy?

What are regulations on approval of investment policy for real estate projects in Vietnam? Which authorities in Vietnam are responsible for approving investment policy?​ (Image from the Internet)

What are regulations on approval of investment policy for real estate projects in Vietnam?

The approval of investment policy is when a competent state agency consents to the objectives, location, scale, timeline, and duration for the project execution; the investor or the method of selecting the investor, and any special mechanisms and policies (if any) to implement the investment project (Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Investment 2020).

Specifically, the approval of investment policy includes contents such as:

- Objectives, location, scale, timeline, and duration of the project execution.

- The investor or the method of selecting the investor.

- Special mechanisms and policies (if any) to implement the project.

The approval of investment policy must be conducted by a competent state agency and depends on the field, scale of the project, as each type of project will have a distinct authority for approving the investment policy.

Which investment projects are under the approval authority of the National Assembly of Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 30 of the Law on Investment 2020, the National Assembly approves the investment policy for the following investment projects:

(1) Investment projects with significant environmental impact or potential severe impact on the environment, including:

- Nuclear power plants.

- Investment projects requiring the conversion of the use of special-use forests, headwater protection forests, border protection forests from 50 hectares or more; windbreak, sand-shielding, and wave-shielding and marine encroachment protective forests from 500 hectares or more; production forests from 1,000 hectares or more.

(2) Investment projects requiring the conversion of the use of rice cultivation land from 02 crops or more with a scale of 500 hectares or more.

(3) Investment projects requiring relocation and resettlement of 20,000 people or more in mountainous areas, 50,000 people or more in other regions.

(4) Investment projects requiring the application of special mechanisms and policies needing a decision by the National Assembly.

Which projects are under the approval authority of the Prime Minister of Vietnam?

Based on Article 31 of the Law on Investment 2020 (amended by Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Amending the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Investment in the form of public-private partnerships, the Law on Investment, the Law on Housing, the Law on Bidding, the Electricity Law, the Enterprise Law, the Special Consumption Tax Law, and the Law on Execution of Civil Judgments 2022), except for investment projects approved by the National Assembly, the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam approves the investment policy for the following investment projects:

(1) Investment projects from any funding source in the following cases:

- Investment projects requiring the relocation of 10,000 people or more in mountainous areas, 20,000 people or more in other regions.

- New construction investment projects: airports, landing runways of airports, passenger terminals of international airports, cargo terminals of airports with a capacity of 1 million tons/year or more.

- New investment projects for passenger transportation business by air.

- New construction investment projects: wharves, port areas belonging to special seaports; wharves, port areas with an investment scale of 2,300 billion VND or more belonging to type I seaports.

- Oil and gas processing investment projects.

- Investment projects with betting business, casinos, except for electronic gaming businesses with prizes for foreigners.

- Housing construction investment projects (for sale, lease, lease purchase), urban areas with a land use scale of 300 hectares or more or a population scale of 50,000 people or more.

- Investment projects in line with legal regulations on cultural heritage regardless of land area, population scale within the protection area I of monuments recognized by competent authorities as national monuments, special national monuments; within protection area II of monuments recognized as special national monuments on the World Heritage List.

- Investment projects for building and operating infrastructure of industrial zones, export processing zones.

(2) Investment projects by foreign investors in fields such as telecommunications services with network infrastructure, afforestation, publishing, and journalism.

(3) Investment projects falling under the approval authority for investment policy of two or more provincial People's Committees.

(4) Other investment projects under the approval authority for investment policy or investment decisions of the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam as prescribed by law.

Which projects are under the approval authority of the Provincial People's Committee of Vietnam?

Based on Article 32 of the Law on Investment 2020, except for investment projects under the approval authority of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam, the Provincial People's Committee approves the investment policy for the following investment projects:

- Investment projects requesting the State to allocate land, lease land without auction, bidding/receiving transfer, investment projects requesting to convert land use purpose (except for land allocation, land lease, land use conversion of households, individuals not requiring written approval from the Provincial People's Committee).

- Housing construction investment projects (for sale, lease, lease purchase), urban areas in the following cases:

+ Investment projects with a land use scale under 50 hectares and a population scale under 15,000 people in urban areas;

+ Investment projects with a land use scale under 100 hectares and a population scale under 10,000 people outside urban areas;

+ Investment projects regardless of land area, population scale in areas with restricted development or historical inner-city areas (defined in the urban planning scheme) of special urban areas.

- Investment projects for building and operating golf courses.

- Investment projects by foreign investors, economic organizations with foreign investment implemented on islands, border commune-level towns, sea-border commune-level towns, and other areas affecting national defense and security.

For the aforementioned investment projects (except for investment projects on building and operating golf courses) implemented in industrial zones, export processing zones, high-tech zones, economic zones in line with approved planning, the management board of such zones approves the investment policy.

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