Vietnam proposed Amendments and Supplementary Provisions to The Investment Law and The Enterprise Law

With the goal of further opening up the market, attracting potential investors as well as creating a fair and transparent business environment for both domestic and international investors, both the Investment Law and Enterprise Law are being proposed to be amended with many notable points.                

In terms of administrative procedures, the Law on Investment and the Law on Enterprise are being proposed to be amended with the aim of canceling some administrative procedures such as announcing, & registering changes with competent authorities in certain situations. Moreover, both legislation’s also need to unify the regulations on the order and procedures for enterprise registration.

Secondly, the draft revision of projects of which investment policies need approval from the Prime Minister are regulated depending on the purpose, nature and scale of the project and economic conditions, as from time to time, the Prime Minister assigns ministries, branches and local authorities to approve investment policies. 

However, according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), this regulation needs to be revised more clearly, clarifying the criteria for the Prime Minister in order to delegate authority to local ministries and branches, as well as the process and decentralization procedures of the Prime Minister. In addition, some types of projects are also proposed to be removed from the list of investment projects that need to be approved by the Prime Minister.

Moreover, according to the result of VCCI research on public opinion, the Investment Law and Enterprise Law drafts still have some points to be improved upon. Many core issues, such as concepts and categories of conditional investment industries, should be regulated uniformly in the laws.

In regards to The Enterprise Law, a number of cases in which the business certificate has been revoked, which have been previously mentioned in the guiding documents, but not directly mentioned in the enterprise law, should also be added, for example, in cases where an enterprise violates industrial property rights. VCCI believes that some other cases such as serious violations of environmental and labor regulations should also be considered for revocation of business registration certificates.