What Constitutes a Foreign-Invested Project?

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 2 of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BKHĐT issued by the Minister of Planning and Investment, providing guidance on the supervision and evaluation of investment activities involving foreign investment in Vietnam:

A foreign-invested project is a project that falls into one of the following categories:

a) A project implemented by an economic organization with foreign investment capital, or an economic organization as defined in Clause 1, Article 23 of the Law on Investment, and which is granted an Investment Registration Certificate in accordance with the law;

b) A project invested under a business cooperation contract (BCC) with the participation of a foreign investor or an economic organization as defined in Clause 1, Article 23 of the Law on Investment.

Accordingly, a foreign-invested project includes:

- A project implemented by an economic organization with foreign investment capital, or an economic organization specified under Clause 1, Article 23 of the Law on Investment 2020, and which is granted an Investment Registration Certificate pursuant to legal regulations;

- A project carried out in the form of a business cooperation contract involving the participation of a foreign investor or an economic organization as defined under Clause 1, Article 23 of the Law on Investment 2020.

On what principles are the supervision and evaluation of foreign investment activities based?

Pursuant to Article 3 of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BKHĐT providing guidance on the supervision and evaluation of foreign investment activities in Vietnam, issued by the Minister of Planning and Investment, the principles of supervision and evaluation of foreign investment activities are as follows:

1. In accordance with the proper authority, functions, duties, procedures, and on the basis of the provisions of law.

2. Avoiding overlap and duplication in terms of subject matter, timing, and scope of inspection; ensuring coordination in monitoring, inspection, and evaluation.

3. Timely, objective, accurate, and strict.

4. Transparent and public, without obstructing or affecting the normal operations of government agencies, economic organizations, or foreign-invested projects undergoing supervision and evaluation.

Accordingly, the supervision and evaluation of foreign investment activities must adhere to the following principles:

- Compliance with proper authority, functions, duties, procedures, and based on legal provisions;

- Avoidance of overlap and duplication in the scope of subjects, timing, and content of inspections; coordination in monitoring and evaluation;

- Timeliness, objectivity, accuracy, and strictness;

- Transparency and openness, ensuring no obstruction or adverse impact on the regular operations of relevant authorities, economic organizations, and foreign-invested projects subject to supervision and evaluation.

How is the authority to supervise and evaluate foreign investment activities stipulated under the law?

Pursuant to Article 4 of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BKHĐT, issued by the Minister of Planning and Investment, the authority to supervise and evaluate foreign investment activities is specifically assigned as follows:

(1) Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI):

- Supervises and evaluates the implementation of state management over foreign investment activities;

- Conducts overall supervision and evaluation of foreign-invested projects;

- Inspects foreign-invested projects subject to the authority of the Prime Minister or the National Assembly for investment policy approval; large-scale projects or those with significant socio-economic impact; and other projects as directed by the Government or the Prime Minister.

(2) Specialized state management agencies:

- Take the lead in supervising and evaluating compliance with specialized legal provisions in sectors under their management related to foreign-invested projects.

- Ministries and ministerial-level agencies may delegate to local specialized management agencies the responsibility for supervising and evaluating in-depth within their respective sectors. These local agencies must report supervision and evaluation results to the relevant central authorities and the local investment registration agency.

- Projects in specialized sectors where investment registration certificates (or equivalent legal documents) are issued by ministries or ministerial-level agencies will be supervised and evaluated by those same agencies in accordance with sector-specific regulations.

- These agencies are also responsible for submitting annual supervision and evaluation reports to the MPI before March 1 of the following year.

- Organize overall supervision and evaluation of foreign investment activities within their respective sectors and areas of responsibility.

(3) People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities:

- Organize the supervision and overall evaluation of foreign investment activities within their local jurisdictions;

- Directly or through the Department of Planning and Investment, coordinate with relevant agencies and local units to supervise and evaluate the performance of economic organizations and foreign-invested projects in the locality.

(4) Investment registration agencies: Supervise and evaluate economic organizations and foreign-invested projects within their management scope as provided under the investment laws.

(5) Foreign investors and foreign-invested economic organizations: Conduct self-supervision and evaluation of their own projects in accordance with Article 70, Point a Clause 1, Clauses 2 of Article 74, and Clause 2 of Article 96 of Decree No. 29/2021/NĐ-CP.