1. Projects falling under the competence to approve investment guidelines of provincial-level People’s Committees

Pursuant to Article 32 of the Law on Investment 2020 stipulating the competence to approve investment guidelines of provincial-level People’s Committees, as amended by Clause 2, Article 3 of the Law amending the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Investment in the form of public-private partnership, the Law on Investment, the Law on Housing, etc The Law on Bidding, the Law on Electricity, the Law on Enterprises, the Law on Excise Tax and the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments 2022, specifically as follows:

(1) Except for investment projects specified in Articles 30 and 31 of this Law, provincial-level People’s Committees shall approve investment guidelines for the following investment projects:

• Investment projects that request the State to allocate or lease land without auction, bidding or transfer, investment projects that request permission to change the land use purpose, except for the case of land allocation, land lease or permission to change the land use purpose of households, individuals who are not required to obtain written approval of the provincial-level People’s Committee in accordance with the law on land;
• Investment projects on construction of houses (for sale, lease, lease-purchase), urban areas with a land use scale of less than 300 hectares and a population of less than 50,000 people;
• Investment projects in accordance with the provisions of the law on cultural heritage, regardless of the size of the land area and population within the protection area II of the relics recognized by competent authorities as national relics or special national relics, except for special national relics on the list of world heritage sites; investment projects irrespective of the size of land area and population in areas with limited development or historic inner cities (determined in urban planning schemes) of special-grade urban centers;
• Investment projects on construction and business of golf courses;
• Investment projects of foreign investors and foreign-invested economic organizations implemented on islands and border communes, wards and townships; coastal communes, wards and townships; other areas affecting national defense and security.

(2) For the investment projects specified at Points a, b and d, Clause 1 of this Article to be implemented in industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks and economic zones in accordance with the planning approved by competent authorities, the industrial park management boards, export processing zones, hi-tech parks, and economic zones approved for investment policies.

2. Procedures for approval of investment guidelines by provincial-level People’s Committees

Clauses 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, Article 33 of Decree 31/2021/ND-CP stipulate the procedures for approving investment guidelines of provincial-level People’s Committees, specifically:

(1) Procedures for approval of investment guidelines by provincial-level People’s Committees shall be carried out as follows:

• The investor or competent state agency shall submit 04 sets of dossiers of application for approval of investment guidelines as prescribed in Clause 1 or Clause 2, Article 33 of the Law on Investment, Clauses 2 and 3, Article 31 of this Decree to the investment registration agency;
• Within 03 working days from the date of receipt of a valid dossier as prescribed at Point a of this Clause, the investment registration agency shall send the dossier for appraisal opinions of the departments, district-level People’s Committees of the localities where the project is expected to be implemented and relevant agencies on the contents under the state management of such agencies as prescribed in Clause 6 or Clause 8, Article 31 of this Decree;
• Within 15 days from the date of receipt of the request of the investment registration agency, the consulted agency shall give appraisal opinions on the contents under its state management and send it to the investment registration agency;
• Within 25 days from the date of receipt of a valid dossier as prescribed at Point a of this Clause, the investment registration agency shall make an appraisal report comprising the appraisal contents as prescribed in Clause 6 or Clause 8, Article 31 of this Decree and submit it to the provincial-level People’s Committee.

(2) Within 07 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier and appraisal report, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall consider and approve the investment policy for the project, including the contents specified in Clause 7, Article 32 of this Decree.

(3) The decision on approval for investment guidelines shall be sent to the investor or the competent state agency that has submitted the dossier as prescribed at Point a, Clause 4 of this Article, the agency assigned to organize the auction (for the case of selecting investors to implement the project in the form of land use right auction); agencies organizing bidding to announce the list of projects in accordance with the law on bidding, the law on socialization, specialized laws (in case of selecting investors to implement projects in the form of bidding), investment registration agencies, departments and agencies involved in the implementation of investment projects.

(4) For investment projects in industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks and economic zones specified in Clause 2, Article 32 of the Law on Investment, the management boards of industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks and economic zones shall carry out the following procedures for approval of investment guidelines:

• The investor or competent state agency specified at Point b, Clause 4, Article 31 of this Decree shall submit 04 sets of dossiers of application for approval of investment guidelines as prescribed in Clause 1 or Clause 2, Article 33 of the Law on Investment, Clauses 2 and 3, Article 31 of this Decree to the Industrial Park Management Board, export processing zones, hi-tech parks, economic zones;
• Within 03 working days from the date of receipt of a valid dossier as prescribed at Point a of this Clause, the management board of the industrial park, export processing zone, hi-tech park or economic zone shall send the dossier for appraisal opinions of relevant agencies on the contents under the state management of such agency specified in Clause 6 or Clause 8, Article 31 of this Decree;
• Within 15 days from the date of receipt of the request of the management boards of industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks and economic zones, the consulted agencies shall give appraisal opinions on the contents under their state management and send them to the management boards of industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks, economic zones;
• Within 25 days from the date of receipt of a valid dossier as prescribed at Point a of this Clause, the management board of the industrial park, export processing zone, hi-tech park or economic zone shall make an appraisal report comprising the contents specified in Clause 6 or Clause 8, Article 31 of this Decree and decide on approval of the investment policy, including the prescribed in Clause 7, Article 32 of this Decree.

(5) For investment projects implemented in economic zones subject to land use right auction, the economic zone management boards shall report to the provincial-level People’s Committees to assign competent agencies and units to organize land use right auctions.

3. Order of approval for investment guidelines by provincial-level People’s Committees

According to the provisions of Article 36 of the Law on Investment 2020, the order of approval for investment guidelines of provincial-level People’s Committees is specified:

– The dossier specified in Clauses 1 and 2, Article 33 of this Law shall be sent to the investment registration agency.

Within 35 days from the date of receipt of the dossier, the investment registration agency must notify the result to the investor.

– Within 03 working days from the date of receipt of a complete dossier, the investment registration agency shall send the dossier for appraisal opinions of the relevant state agency regarding the appraisal contents specified in Article 33 of this Law.

– Within 15 days from the date of receipt of the dossier, the consulted agency shall give an appraisal opinion on the contents under its state management and send it to the investment registration agency.

– Within 25 days from the date of receipt of the dossier, the investment registration agency shall make an appraisal report comprising the appraisal contents specified in Article 33 of this Law and submit it to the provincial-level People’s Committee.

– Within 07 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier and appraisal report, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall approve the investment policy, in case of refusal, it must notify in writing and clearly state the reason.

– The provincial-level People’s Committee shall consider and approve the investment guidelines, including the contents specified in Clause 1, Article 3 of this Law.

The above is the content of KALF’s consultancy on The procedures for applying for an investment registration certificate for projects under the competence to approve investment guidelines of the Provincial People’s Committee. All of our above advice is based on applicable legal regulations. If you have any questions or requests about legal issues, please contact us for timely answers.