In brief
On 26 March 2021, the government issued Decree No. 31/2021/ND-CP (“Decree No. 31“) guiding the implementation of the Investment Law 2020. The decree took effect on the same date. With nine chapters and 132 articles, Decree No. 31 provides detailed guidance on the implementation of the Investment Law (which took effect on 1 January 2021), including the following:
- Guidance on procedure of online submissions for investment registration
- The issuance of the list of sectors which foreign investors are restricted from accessing (“List of Restricted Sectors“)
- Principles for applying the market access conditions
- Documents required for M&A Approval for foreign investors
- Termination of investment projects due to forged transactions
- New business lines eligible for investment incentives
- Regulations applicable to outbound investment projects that are not subject to investment policies
Decree No. 31 helps to regulate different investment procedures, but practice since around end-March shows that the competent authorities still need to interpret and implement the regulations consistently in order to bring to life the positive changes introduced by the Investment Law.
