Investment policy approval and the Article 28 special investment procedure: which projects, which authority, how long, and how land is tied in

What investment policy approval is

Investment policy approval (chấp thuận chủ trương đầu tư) is the State's decision, before any certificate issues, that a project may proceed in principle: its objectives, location, land area, scale, capital, timetable and, in many cases, the identity of the investor. It is required only for the project categories listed in Article 24 of the Law on Investment; most manufacturing and service projects on leased premises or in industrial parks never need it. Where it is required, the IRC follows the approval, and in projects where the investor was approved together with the policy the IRC issues within a short period without a further appraisal.

The approval is a project-level document that binds the investor as closely as the IRC. Its contents are later reflected in the land allocation or lease decision, the construction planning approvals and the IRC, and a change to location, scale, objectives or investor requires an adjustment of the approval under Article 32 before the dependent documents can change.

Which projects need it

Article 24 lists the categories. For all investors: projects that request the State to allocate or lease land without auction or tender, or to permit a change of land use (other than small cases the Land Law exempts); housing and urban-area projects; golf courses; infrastructure for industrial parks and export processing zones; new airports, seaports and major port areas, and new airlines; casinos; oil and gas processing; projects that request the allocation of sea areas or are located in areas affecting national defence or security; nuclear power; projects requiring the conversion of protected or production forest land, or wet-rice land, above set areas; and projects requiring the resettlement of large populations. For foreign investors only: telecommunications services with network infrastructure, afforestation, publishing and press. The Prime Minister may also assign other projects of national importance to a higher level.

How the provincial-level process runs

1. Pre-application: planning checkConfirm that the site and the use are consistent with the provincial planning, the land use plan and, for urban projects, the zoning plan. A project inconsistent with planning cannot be approved until the plan is adjusted, which is a separate and often longer procedure.
2. File the proposal dossierThe investor's legal and financial capacity documents; a project proposal covering objectives, scale, capital and schedule, land needs and the proposed land route (allocation, lease or change of use), the socio-economic and environmental effect and a preliminary environmental impact assessment where required; the proposed incentives; and, where the investor proposes the project on land it already holds, the land documents.
3. AppraisalThe Department of Finance circulates the dossier to the land, planning, construction, environment and sector departments and to the district, collects their opinions within set periods, assesses planning compliance, land needs, investor capacity, effect and incentives, and reports to the People's Committee.
4. DecisionThe provincial People's Committee chairman issues the written approval, with or without approval of the investor, or a reasoned refusal. The approval states the project's parameters, the land route and the timetable.
5. Investor selection where the investor was not approvedIf the land is to be allocated or leased by auction, the land authority runs the auction; if by bidding, the Department of Finance runs the investor-selection bidding under the Law on Bidding; the winner becomes the investor and the IRC issues to it.
6. IRC and landThe IRC issues to the approved investor (five working days where approval and investor came together), the land allocation or lease decision follows, the deposit under Article 30 is paid, and the land lease is signed with the land authority.

Land: the three routes after approval

Where a project needs State land, the Law on Investment and the Land Law decide among three routes, and investment policy approval is the gateway to all of them. Land auction (đấu giá quyền sử dụng đất): the State auctions the land use rights to the highest bidder; the approval is of the project, and the auction winner becomes the investor. Investor bidding (đấu thầu lựa chọn nhà đầu tư): used where the land has not been cleared or the project is a housing or urban project, investors bid on their proposals and the winner is approved. Approval of a named investor: available where the investor already holds the land use rights or has received them by transfer, or in other cases the Land Law permits without auction or bidding, such as certain industrial park and incentivised-area projects. This structure explains why foreign developers so often enter the Vietnamese property market by acquiring a company that already holds approved land rather than by applying for land themselves; the acquisition route and its registrations are in Chapter 8 and the land regime in Chapter 5.

The special investment procedure (Article 28)

Article 28 of the 2025 law, carried over and broadened from a 2024 amendment, lets an investor choose a special investment procedure for a project located in an industrial park, export processing zone, high-tech park, concentrated digital technology zone, free trade zone, the international financial centre or a functional area of an economic zone, unless the project is one that needs investment policy approval. The project registers for the IRC on the strength of the investor's written commitment to comply with the conditions on technology, environment, planning, construction and fire safety, and the IRC issues within 15 working days. The project then skips investment policy approval, technology appraisal, the environmental impact assessment report, detailed construction planning, the construction permit and the related fire-safety design approvals; before construction begins the investor files a notice with the construction authority together with a feasibility study report that has been independently verified. The authorities inspect afterwards, and a breach of the commitment can lead to suspension or termination. The procedure was designed for semiconductor, data-centre, high-tech manufacturing and R&D projects that need speed and sit in zones with ready infrastructure, and it is the mechanism behind the fastest licensing timelines Vietnam now offers.