New regulations on competence and procedure for requesting the Prime Minister of Vietnam to establish or expand hi-tech parks

New regulations on competence and procedure for requesting the Prime Minister of Vietnam to establish or expand hi-tech parks in Vietnam as of March 25, 2024 are specifically stated in Article 8 of Decree 10/2024/ND-CP (taking effect on March 25, 2024) as follows:

Authorities taking charge of presentation for the establishment or expansion of hi-tech parks in Vietnam

Authorities taking charge of the presentation to the Prime Minister of Vietnam for the establishment or expansion of hi-tech parks (hereinafter referred to as “authorities in charge”):

- The Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam shall take charge and cooperate with relevant state authorities in assessing applications for the establishment or expansion of hi-tech parks according to Article 31 of the Law on High Technologies before presenting them to the Prime Minister of Vietnam for decisions;

- The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam shall take charge and cooperate with relevant state authorities in assessing applications for the establishment or expansion of hi-tech application agricultural parks according to Article 32 of the Law on High Technologies before presenting them to the Prime Minister of Vietnam for decisions.

Procedure for establishing or expanding a hi-tech park in Vietnam

- The People’s Committee of a province shall formulate an application according to Article 7 of this Decree and submit it to an authority in charge prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article;

- Within 5 working days after receiving the adequate application for the establishment or expansion of the hi-tech park according to regulations, the authority in charge prescribed in Clause 1 of Article 8 of Decree 10/2024/ND-CP shall send the application and suggestion collection documents to relevant state authorities; 

- Within 20 working days after receiving the suggestion collection documents with the enclosed application, authorities subject to the suggestion collection shall send written suggestions on the contents within their scope of state management to the collecting authority;

- Within 5 working days after receiving the adequate suggestion documents, the authority in charge shall assess the application according to Clause 3 of this Article.

In case of necessity, the authority in charge shall hold a meeting with relevant ministries, central authorities, and People’s Committees of provinces or establish a Advisory Council to clarify relevant issues;

- While assessing the application, if amendments to the application are needed, the authority in charge shall notify the People's Committee of the province of the implementation in writing. The time for amending the application shall not be included in the time for assessing the application;

- Within 5 working days after receiving the amended application for the establishment or expansion of the hi-tech park as requested (if any), the authority in charge shall formulate an application according to Clause 1 Article 9 of Article 8 of Decree 10/2024/ND-CP and present it to the Prime Minister of Vietnam for consideration and decision on the establishment or expansion of the hi-tech park.

New regulations on competence and procedure for requesting the Prime Minister of Vietnam to establish or expand hi-tech parks in Vietnam (Internet image)

Assessment contents of an application for the establishment or expansion of a hi-tech park in Vietnam

- Legal grounds and necessity for the establishment or expansion of the hi-tech park;

- Assessment of compliance with conditions for establishing or expanding hi-tech parks prescribed in Article 6 of Decree 10/2024/ND-CP;

- Assessment of the feasibility of the direction for the development of the hi-tech park; scheme to mobilize sources for investment in the construction of the technical infrastructure system of the hi-tech park or the expanded area of the hi-tech park and the connection with the infrastructure system of an invested hi-tech park; capacity for balancing the state budget;

- Preliminary assessment of the effective contributions to science and technology and socio-economy of the establishment or expansion of the hi-tech park;

- Feasibility of measures to establish or expand the hi-tech park.

Mai Thanh Loi

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