Listening to enterprises’ voices, the Government has adopted Decree No 35/2022/ND-CP (“Decree 35"), taking effect as of 15 July 2022, replacing Decree 82/2018/ND-CP (“Decree 82") on management of industrial parks and economic zones as a breakthrough to retain and attract more investors as well as promoting Vietnam to become a financial center in Asia.

Completion of procedures for applying for decision, approval of investment policy

Formerly, the absence of regulations on conditions for the construction of industrial park projects (“Investment Projects”) as well as ambiguous regulations on procedures for applying for decisions and approval of investment policies, which only refers to specialized laws. As a result, there is disagreement among the competent authorities themselves. Furthermore, although not regulated by applicable laws, investors who invest in construction and infrastructure business (“Investors”) are required to provide additional documents or perform other procedures.

In order to help investors save time and costs at the pre-feasibility stage of project implementation, Decree 35 has specified regulations on investment conditions and procedures as follows

Regarding Investment Procedures:

(a) Investment Projects using public investment capital: in addition to procedures for deciding on investment policy according to the law on public investment, the Investors shall perform further (i) pre-feasibility study report and (ii) content of report appraisal.

(b) Other Investment Projects: in addition to complying with the order and procedures according to the law on investment, the Investors shall perform further (i) investment project proposal or pre-feasibility study report, (ii) contents of appraisal for approval of investment policy.

(c) In case of investment divergence, Investors perform the above procedure for each phase of divergence.

According to investment conditions:

(a) The Investment Projects shall meet the conditions for (i) conditions for real estate business in accordance with the law on real estate business, (ii) conditions for land allocation, land lease, or transfer purposes of land use for the implementation of Investment Projects in accordance with the law on land, the law on forestry and other relevant laws. Especially, in the event of applying bidding to choose Investors, the Investors shall meet the criteria for assessing the investor's capacity, experience, technique, and finance - commerce.

(b) The Investment Projects shall satisfy the occupancy rate, the industrial park size, the investor's capacity, and a number of other conditions on the basis of inheritance specified in Decree 82 and regulations in the Investment Law to ensure the suitability with the characteristics of the industrial park infrastructure project.

Rescission of procedures for industrial parks establishment

Previously, the procedure for establishing an industrial park is an indispensable part for Investors with prolonged procedures, which leads to the waste of time and money, and more importantly, affects the business activities of the Investors.

As a big step forward, Decree 35 has completely abolished the procedures for industrial park establishment to reduce administrative procedures for Investors. Accordingly, an industrial park is deemed to have been established since the competent authority:

(a) Deciding on investment policies for infrastructure projects of industrial parks using public investment capital in accordance with the law on public investment;

(b) Approving the investment policy and simultaneously approving Investors, approving the Investor, or granting the Investment Registration Certificate to execute the Investment Project on the construction and business of infrastructure of the industrial park under the Investment Law.