Legal basis

• Investment Law 2020
• Decree 31/2021/ND-CP guiding the Law on Investment
• Circular 03/2021/TT-BKHDT regulating the form of documents and reports related to investment activities in Vietnam

Content

According to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 41 of the Law on Investment 2020:

“The investor that has an investment project whose investment guidelines have been approved shall follow procedures for approving the adjustment to the investment guidelines in one of the following cases:

a) Any objective specified in the written approval for investment guidelines is changed; any objective that is subject to approval for investment guidelines is added;

b) The land area is increased or reduced by 10% or more than 30 hectares or the investment location is changed;

c) The total investment capital is increased or reduced by 20% or more, thereby changing the scale of the investment project;

d) Extension of the project execution schedule results in total duration of the project being extended by more than 12 months compared to that stated in the first written approval for investment guidelines;

dd) The duration of the investment project is adjusted;

e) Any technology that has been appraised or about which opinions have been collected during the process of approving the investment guidelines is changed;

g) There is a change of the investor in the investment project whose investment guidelines are approved together with approval for the investor before the exploitation or operation of the project or there is a change of conditions (if any) applicable to the investor.”

Thus, not all cases of investment projects that have been approved for investment policies are required to carry out the approval procedures for adjustment of investment policies. The implementation of procedures for approval of adjustment of investment policies only arises in the cases related to:

• objective;
• Land use area, investment location;
• Change of capital changes the scale of the project;
• Project implementation schedule;
• Term of operation;
• Technology;
• Investors

The adjustment of investment projects is carried out as follows

According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 43 of Decree 31/2021/ND-CP guiding the Law on Investment: 

“For the project whose investment guidelines have been approved, the investor shall follow the procedures below:

a) If any content of the investment project is adjusted according to Clause 3 Article 41 of the Law on Investment, the investor shall follow procedures for adjusting the decision on approval for investment guidelines in accordance with the corresponding regulations laid down in Articles 44, 45 and 46 hereof. Pursuant to the decision on approval for adjustment of the investment guidelines, the investor shall follow procedures for adjusting the decision on investor approval (if any) or investment registration certificate (if any);

b) If any content of the investment project is adjusted in a case other than the case specified in Clause 3 Article 41 of the Law on Investment, the investor is not required to follow procedures for approval for adjustment of the investment guidelines.”

Thus, the investor shall carry out the procedures for adjusting the decision on approval of investment policy in the following three (03) cases:

• Investment projects under the authority to approve investment guideline of the Prime Minister
• Investment projects under the authority of the People’s Committee to approve the investment guideline of the province
• Investment projects under the authority to approve investment guideline of the Management Board of industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech zones and economic zones

As for investment projects under the authority to approve investment guideline of the Prime Minister

• Investors submit 08 sets of documents to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. Profile include:

• • A written request for adjustment of the investment project;
  • Report on the implementation of investment projects up to the time of adjustment;
  • Investor’s decision on adjustment of investment project for institutional investors;
  • Explain or provide documents related to the adjustment of the contents specified at Points b, c, d, dd, e, g and h, Clause 1, Article 33 of the Law on Investment (if any).

• Procedures for adjusting investment projects:

• • Within 03 working days from the day on which the valid application is received, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall send the dossier to the competent state agency for opinions on the contents of adjustment of the investment project;
  • Within 15 days from the day on which the valid dossier is received, the agencies are entitled to give opinions on the content of project adjustment under the scope of state management of such agency;
  • Within 35 days from the date of receipt of valid dossiers, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall make a report on appraisal of adjustment contents of investment projects to submit to the Prime Minister;
  • Within 5 working days after receiving the appraisal report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Prime Minister shall decide to approve the adjustment of investment policies. The decision approving the adjustment of investment policies shall be sent to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the investment registration agency and investors, the ministries and agencies involved in the implementation of the investment project, the investment Investor approval (if any).

As for investment projects under the authority of the People’s Committee to approve the investment guideline of the province

• Investors submit 04 sets of documents, including:

• • A written request for adjustment of the investment project;
  • Report on the implementation of investment projects up to the time of adjustment;
  • Investor’s decision on adjustment of investment project for institutional investors;
  • Explain or provide documents related to the adjustment of the contents specified at Points b, c, d, dd, e, g and h, Clause 1, Article 33 of the Law on Investment (if any).

• Procedures for adjusting investment projects:

• • Within 03 working days from the day on which the valid application is received, the investment registration agency shall send the dossier to the competent state agency for opinions on the contents of adjustment of the investment project;
  • Within 15 days from the day on which the valid dossier is received, the agencies are entitled to give opinions on the content of project adjustment under the scope of state management of such agency;
  • Within 25 days from the day on which the valid application is received, the investment registration authority shall make an appraisal report on the adjusted contents of the investment project to submit to the provincial People’s Committee;
  • Within 07 working days after receiving the application and appraisal report from the Investment Registration Authority, the People’s Committee of the province shall decide to approve the adjustment of investment policies. The decision on approval of adjustment of investment policies shall be sent to the Investment Registration Authority and the investor, the Investor Approval Agency in case of approval of the investor, the relevant departments and agencies in the implementation of the investment policy. current investment project.

As for investment projects under the authority to approve investment guideline of the Management Board of industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech zones and economic zones

• The investor shall submit 04 sets of dossiers specified in Clause 1, Article 44 of Decree 31/2021 to the Management Board of industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks and economic zones;
• Within 03 working days from the day on which the valid application is received, the Management Board of the industrial park, export processing zone, high-tech zone or economic zone shall send the dossier to the competent state agency for opinions. opinions on the contents of adjustment of investment projects;
• Within 15 days from the day on which the valid dossier is received, the agencies are entitled to give opinions on the content of project adjustment under the scope of state management of such agency;
• Within 25 days from the date of receipt of a valid dossier, the Management Board of industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech zones and economic zones shall decide to approve the adjustment of investment policies. The decision approving the adjustment of investment policy shall be sent to the investor and the agency related to the implementation of the investment project.

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