Law No. 57/2024/QH15 dated November 29, 2024 on amendments to the Law on Planning, Law on Investment, Law on Public-Private Partnership Investment and Law on Bidding

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF VIETNAM -------	THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM Independence-Freedom-Happiness -----------------
No. 57/2024/QH15	Hanoi, November 29, 2024

LAW

AMENDMENTS TO LAW ON PLANNING, LAW ON INVESTMENT, LAW ON PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP INVESTMENT, AND LAW ON BIDDING

Pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

The National Assembly promulgates the Law on amendments to the Law on Planning No. 21/2017/QH14, as amended by the Law No. 15/2023/QH15, Law No. 16/2023/QH15, Law No. 28/2023/QH15, Law No. 31/2024/QH15, Law No. 35/2024/QH15, Law No. 38/2024/QH15 and Law No. 43/2024/QH15; the Law on Investment No.61/2020/QH14, as amended by the Law No. 72/2020/QH14, Law No. 03/2022/QH15, Law No. 05/2022/QH15, Law No.08/2022/QH15, Law No. 09/2022/QH15, Law No. 20/2023/QH15, Law No. 26/2023/QH15, Law No. 27/2023/QH15, Law No. 28/2023/QH15, Law No. 31/2024/QH15, Law No. 33/2024/QH15 and Law No. 43/2024/QH15; the Law on Public-Private Partnership Investment No. 64/2020/QH14, as amended by the Law No. 03/2022/QH15, Law No. 28/2023/QH15, Law No. 35/2024/QH15; and the Law on Bidding No. 22/2023/QH15.

Article 1. Amendments to Law on Planning

1. Some clauses of Article 6 are amended as follows:

a) Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“1. National marine spatial planning and national land use planning must be conformable with the national comprehensive planning.

If there is any conflict between the national marine spatial planning and the national land use planning, they shall be adjusted and implemented according to the national comprehensive planning.”;

b) Clause 4 is amended as follows:

“4. A technically specialized planning must be conformable with the relevant national, regional or provincial planning as prescribed by the Government.”.

2. Article 9 is amended as follows:

“Article 9. Costs of planning

1. Costs of formulation, announcement and adjustment of a national, regional or provincial planning shall be covered with public investment funding and other lawful funding sources; costs associated with a national land use planning, or national planning for national defense or security land shall be covered in accordance with regulations of the Law on Land.

2. Costs of formulation, appraisal and adjustment of tasks in formulation of a national, regional or provincial planning; appraisal of a national, regional or provincial planning and adjustments thereto; modification of a national, regional or provincial planning following simplified procedure; or assessment of a national, regional or provincial planning shall be covered with funding for covering recurrent expenditures as prescribed by the Law on State Budget.

3. Costs of formulation, appraisal, announcement, assessment and modification of technically specialized plannings shall be covered with funding for covering recurrent expenditures as prescribed by the Law on State Budget and other lawful funding sources.

4. The Government shall elaborate this Article.”.

3. Clause 2 Article 15 is amended as follows:

“2. The power to organize appraisal and approval for planning tasks and approval adjustments thereto:

a) The Government shall organize appraisal and approval for the tasks in formulation of the national comprehensive planning, national marine spatial planning and national land use planning, and approval for adjustments thereto;

b) The Prime Minister of Vietnam shall organize appraisal of the tasks in formulation of the national sector planning and regional planning; approval for the tasks in formulation of the national sector planning, regional planning and provincial planning, and approval for adjustments thereto;

c) The Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall organize appraisal of the tasks in formulation of provincial planning.”.

4. Some points and clauses of Article 16 are amended as follows:

a) Points b, c and d Clause 1 are amended as follows:

“b) The planning authority shall select a qualified planning consultancy; take charge of and cooperate with relevant Ministries, ministerial authorities and local governments in studying, analyzing, assessing and forecasting factors, conditions, resources and development situation, assessing the actual status of national socio-economic development, and proposing planning viewpoints, objectives and contents; send them to relevant Ministries, ministerial authorities and local governments;

c) Relevant Ministries, ministerial authorities and local governments shall give their opinions and propose planning contents falling under their management to the planning authority;

d) The planning authority shall take charge of and cooperate with relevant Ministries, ministerial authorities and local governments in considering and addressing interdisciplinary, inter-regional and inter-provincial issues to ensure uniformity, consistency and effectiveness of the planning;";

b) Points b, c and d Clause 3 are amended as follows:

“b) The planning authority shall select a qualified planning consultancy; take charge of and cooperate with relevant Ministries, ministerial authorities and local governments in studying, analyzing, assessing and forecasting factors, conditions, resources and development situation, assessing the actual status of regional socio-economic development, and proposing planning viewpoints, objectives and contents; send them to relevant Ministries, ministerial authorities and local governments in the region;

c) Relevant Ministries, ministerial authorities and local governments in the region shall give their opinions and propose planning contents falling under their management to the planning authority;

d) The planning authority shall take charge of and cooperate with relevant Ministries, ministerial authorities and local governments in considering and addressing inter-regional and inter-provincial issues to ensure uniformity, consistency and effectiveness of the planning;";

c) Clause 5 is added following clause 4 as follows:

“5. The Government shall elaborate this Article.”.

5. Clause 2 Article 20 is amended as follows:

“2. Planning at a higher level (if any).”.

6. Point n Clause 2 Article 22 is amended as follows:

“n) List of expected nationally important projects;”.

7. Point i Clause 2 Article 23 is amended as follows:

“i) List of expected nationally important projects.”.

8. Some points and clauses of Article 25 are amended as follows:

a) Point g Clause 3 is amended as follows:

“g) List of expected nationally important projects and prioritized projects on national infrastructure sector;”;

b) Point d Clause 5 is amended as follows:

“d) List of expected nationally important projects and prioritized projects on environmental protection;”;

c) The first paragraph of clause 6 is amended as follows:

“6. The comprehensive biodiversity conservation planning includes the following main contents:”;

d) Point d Clause 6 is amended as follows:

“d) List of expected nationally important projects and prioritized projects on biodiversity conservation;”.

9. Point g Clause 2 Article 26 is amended as follows:

“g) List of expected prioritized regional projects;";

10. Some points of clause 2 Article 27 are amended as follows:

a) Point d is amended as follows:

“d) Plans for development of urban and rural systems; plans for development of economic zones, industrial parks, export-processing zones, hi-tech zones, tourism areas, sports complexes, and research and training areas; plans for development of sanctuaries, and areas used for preservation, renovation or restoration of historical-cultural monuments, scenic beauties and subjects already inventoried; plans for development of Indus trial clusters; plans for development of centralized agricultural production areas; determination of military and security zones; plans for development of disadvantaged and extremely disadvantaged areas and key areas;”;

b) Point e is amended as follows:

“e) Plans for development of electricity supply network, including electricity development plans already specified in the national planning or regional planning within the province, and plans for development of provincial power sources and electrical grids;”;

c) Point h is amended as follows:

“h) Plans for development of hydraulic structures, and water supply and drainage systems, including those already specified in the national planning or regional planning within the province, and inter-district hydraulic structures, and water supply and drainage systems;”;

d) Point o is amended as follows:

“o) List of expected prioritized provincial projects;".

11. Clause 2 Article 34 is amended as follows:

“2. The Prime Minister of Vietnam shall consider approving the national sector planning, regional planning and provincial planning.”.

12. Article 45 is amended as follows:

“Article 45. Planning implementation plan

1. A planning implementation plan shall be issued after the planning is decided or approved.

The power to issue the planning implementation plan is prescribed in Articles 55 and 56 of this Law. The authority competent to issue the planning implementation plan shall also have the power to make adjustments to the issued planning implementation plan.

2. A planning implementation plan must be conformable with the decision on or approval for planning, and shall inter alia include the following main contents:

a) Public investment project;

b) Investment projects funded by sources other than public investments;

c) Resources and use of resources for planning implementation.

3. The Government shall stipulate required documentation and procedures for issuance and modification of planning implementation plans.”.

13. Clause 4 Article 47 is amended as follows:

“4. Each provincial People's Committee shall, within the ambit of its assigned tasks and powers, allocate resources for implementation of its provincial planning.".

14. Clause 1 Article 49 is amended as follows:

“1. The planning implementation shall be assessed on a periodical basis of every 05 years or on ad hoc basis according to the assessment criteria decided by the Government.”.

15. Article 51 is amended as follows:

“Article 51. Principles of planning adjustment

1. The planning adjustment shall be made following the procedures in Article 54 of this Law on any of the grounds specified in Article 53 of this Law.

2. The authority that has the power to decide or approve the planning shall have the power to decide or approve adjustments to such planning, except the cases specified in points b and c clause 6 Article 54a of this Law.

3. The authority that has the power to organize planning formulation shall organize the formulation of adjustments to the planning.

4. Adjustments to the planning must not cause any changes in objectives of the planning, except the cases specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 Article 53 of this Law.”.

16. Article 54a is added following Article 54 in Section 3 Chapter IV as follows:

“Article 54a. Adjustment of planning following simplified procedure

1. Adjustments to the planning following simplified procedure must not cause any changes in viewpoints and objectives of the planning; must ensure connectivity, uniformity, inheritance and stability between plannings.

2. A national, regional or provincial planning shall be adjusted following simplified procedure on one of the following grounds:

a) Implementation of resolutions of the National Assembly, Standing Committee of National Assembly or Government on protection of national defense and security or arrangement of administrative divisions, or nationally important projects results in changes in one or some contents of the planning;

b) There are conflicts between this planning and the planning at a higher level;

c) There are conflicts between this planning and another planning at the same level;

d) Implementation of emergency projects or urgent tasks results in changes in one or some contents of the planning according to the Government’s regulations.

3. Upon occurrence of the event specified in point b or c clause 2 of this Article, the Government shall consider approving the guidelines for adjustments to the national marine spatial planning and/or the national land use planning.

4. Upon occurrence of the event specified in point b or c clause 2 of this Article, the Prime Minister of Vietnam shall consider approving the guidelines for adjustments to the national sector planning, regional planning and/or provincial planning.

5. The authority in charge of organizing the planning formulation or the planning authority shall prepare and send a planning adjustment dossier to relevant authorities for their opinions; respond to received opinions, modify and submit a complete planning adjustment dossier to a competent authority for decision or approval.

6. Power to make decision or approval for adjustments to planning:

a) The National Assembly shall decide adjustments to the national comprehensive planning, national marine spatial planning and national land use planning;

b) The Minister who is assigned to organize formulation of the national sector planning or regional planning shall consider approving adjustments to such planning, and submit a report thereon to the Prime Minister;

c) Chairpersons of provincial People’s Committees shall consider approving adjustments to their provincial plannings, and submit reports thereon to the Prime Minister.

7. The Government shall elaborate clauses 1, 2 and 5 of this Article; and required documentation for planning adjustment following simplified procedure.”.

17. Some points and clauses of Article 55 are amended as follows:

a) Clause 2 is amended as follows:

“2. The Prime Minister shall issue policies, solutions and provide resources for implementation of the national sector planning, regional planning, and regional planning implementation plans.

b) Point dd Clause 3 is amended as follows:

“dd) Issue guidelines for determination of planning costs of national, regional and provincial plannings;”;

c) Point a clause 4 is amended as follows:

“a) Issue plans for implementation of the national sector planning; request the Prime Minister to issue policies, solutions and provide resources for implementation of the national sector planning; request the Prime Minister to establish the national sector planning appraisal council;”.

18. Clause 1 Article 56 is amended as follows:

“1. Issue provincial planning implementation plans; issue within their competence or request competent authorities to issue policies and solutions, and provide resources for implementation of provincial planning;”.

19. Some ordinal numbers in Appendix I - List of national sector plannings are amended as follows:

a) The ordinal number 26 is amended as follows:

26.	Comprehensive planning for urban and rural systems

b) The ordinal numbers 29, 32 and 33 are amended as follows:

29.	Planning for baseline survey of geology and minerals
32.	Planning for group-I minerals
33.	Planning for group-II minerals

20. Ordinal number 11 in Appendix II - List of technically specialized plannings is amended as follows:

11.

Urban and rural plannings

Law on urban and rural planning No. 47/2024/QH15

21. Clause 5 Article 5, point dd clause 1 and point dd clause 3 Article 16, point m clause 2 Article 27, Article 28, clause 3 Article 47, Article 52 and the ordinal number 31 in Appendix I are abrogated.

Article 2. Amendments to Law on Investment

1. Clause 3a is added following clause 3 Article 4 as follows:

“3a. If there are any discrepancies between provisions of Article 36a of the Law on Investment and those of other laws promulgated before January 15, 2025, the former shall prevail.".

2. Points i and k are added following point h clause 1 Article 6 as follows:

“i) Trading of national treasures;

k) Export of relics, antiques.”.

3. Article 18a is added following Article 18 as follows:

“Article 18a. Investment support fund

1. The Government shall establish the Investment Support Fund using top-up corporate income tax (CIT) amounts collected under the Global Anti-Base Erosion Rules (GloBE) and other lawful revenues in order to stabilize investment environment, encourage and attract strategic investors and multinational corporations, and assist domestic enterprises in some fields and sectors in which investment is encouraged.

2. The Government shall formulate detailed regulations on operational model, legal status, state budget-derived funding annually and additionally allocated to the Fund, forms of support, reimbursement mechanisms and other specific policies of the Fund, and be required to obtain opinions from the Standing Committee of National Assembly about such regulations before promulgation.”.

4. Some Points of Clause 1 Article 31 are amended and abrogated as follows:

a) Point d is amended as follows:

“d) Investment projects on construction of ports and wharves of special seaports or Class-I seaports ports in which total investment is at least VND 2.300 billion;”;

b) Point g1 is amended as follows:

“g1) Investment projects that comply with the provisions of the Law on cultural heritage, regardless of their size of land used and population within the protected zone I of the monument recognized by competent authorities as a special national-level monument on the list of world heritage sites.”;

c) Point h is abrogated.

5. Some points of clause 1 Article 32 are amended as follows:

a) Point b1 is amended as follows:

“b1) Investment projects that comply with the provisions of the Law on cultural heritage, regardless of their size of land used and population, within the protected zones I and II of the monument recognized by competent authorities as a national-level monument or a special national-level monument, except protected zones I of special national-level monuments on the list of world heritage sites; investment projects, regardless of their size of land used and population, within areas subject to developmental restrictions or historic inner areas or subregions (specified in the urban planning scheme) of special-grade cities;”;

b) Points dd and e are added following point d as follows:

“dd) Investment projects on construction and commercial operation of infrastructure facilities in industrial zones and export processing zones;

e) Investment projects on construction of ports and wharves of special seaports in which total investment is less than VND 2.300 billion.”.

6. Point a Clause 3 Article 33 is amended as follows:

“a) Assessment of the conformity of the investment project with relevant national planning, regional planning, provincial planning, urban planning and special economic - administrative unit planning (if any);”.

7. Point c clause 6 Article 34 is amended as follows:

“c) Conformity of the investment project with relevant national planning or strategies, regional planning, provincial planning, urban planning and special economic - administrative unit planning (if any);”.

8. Article 36a is added following Article 36 in Section 2 Chapter IV as follows:

“Article 36a. Special investment procedures

1. Except the investment projects specified in Article 30 of this Law, investors are entitled to follow investment registration procedures laid down in this Article for their projects in industrial parks, export-processing zones, hi-tech zones, centralized IT zones, free trade zones and functional sections inside the perimeter of economic zones in the following sectors:

a) Investment in construction of innovation centers, research and development (R&D) centers; investment in semiconductor integrated circuit industry, and technologies used in design and manufacturing of integrated circuits (IC) and their components, components and circuits of printed electronics (PE), chips and semiconductor materials;

b) Investment in high technologies given priority for investment and development, and manufacturing of products on the list of recommended high technology products as decided by the Prime Minister.

2. An application for investment registration shall include the documents specified in points a, b, c, d, dd, g and h clause 1 Article 33 of this Law, in which the application form for execution of the investment project includes commitments on satisfaction of relevant conditions, standards and technical regulations as prescribed by laws on construction, environmental protection, and firefighting and prevention; the proposal for investment project includes identification and forecasting of environmental impacts, and measures for minimizing negative environmental impacts instead of preliminary assessment of environmental impacts.

3. Contents of application assessment:

a) Conformity of the project with the investment sectors specified in Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Conformity of the project with relevant plannings;

c) Legal status and experience of the investor;

d) Demand for land use (if any);

dd) Project execution schedule;

e) The investor’s commitments;

g) Investment incentives and conditions for enjoying investment incentives (if any).

4. The application for investment registration shall be submitted to the management board of the relevant industrial park, export-processing zone, hi-tech zone or economic zone. Within 15 days from its receipt of the application, the management board of the relevant industrial park, export-processing zone, hi-tech zone or economic zone shall carry out assessment of the received application and issue an investment registration certificate.

5. Where there are two or more investors proposing project and requesting the State to lease land or approve repurposing of land at the same site, the management board of the relevant industrial park, export-processing zone, hi-tech zone or economic zone shall consider issuing an investment registration certificate to the investor that has first submitted a valid application and give written notification thereof to other investors. If the first submitted application is refused, the management board of the relevant industrial park, export-processing zone, hi-tech zone or economic zone shall continue considering other applications on a first come first serve basis to find out an investor eligible for investment registration certificate. A foreign investor shall be allowed to establish an economic organization in charge of executing the investment project before applying for investment registration.

6. Any adjustment of the project’s objectives shall comply with corresponding provisions of clause 4 of this Article.

7. Investors that have successfully completed procedures for investment registration as prescribed in this Article shall not be required to follow procedures for approval for investment guidelines, carry out technology appraisal, formulate environmental impact assessment report and detailed planning, follow procedures for issuance of construction permit and other procedures for approval or permission in the fields of construction, and firefighting and prevention.

8. Before commencing construction, the investor shall send written notification of commencement date to local authority in charge of managing construction order and the management board of the relevant industrial park, export-processing zone, hi-tech zone or economic zone. Such notification is accompanied with the following:

a) Construction investment economic-technical report which includes the contents prescribed in the construction law, and is prepared, appraised and approved by the investor;

b) Report on evaluation of the construction investment economic-technical report which is made by an organization or individual qualified to carry out evaluation of safety of works, environmental protection, and firefighting and prevention, and compliance with technical regulations and standards.

9. The investment registration certificate shall be used as the basis for land lease or land repurposing; completion of administrative procedures; inspection, supervision, assessment and imposition of penalties for administrative violations, and performance of state management of the project.

10. Management boards of industrial parks, export-processing zones, hi-tech zones or economic zones are responsible for inspecting, supervising and assessing project execution in accordance with regulations of law; dealing within their competence or requesting competent authorities to deal with project-related issues.

11. The Minister of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall promulgate regulations on document forms and applications for execution of investment projects as prescribed in this Article.

12. The Government shall elaborate this Article.”.

9. Point dd clause 2 Article 47 is amended as follows:

“dd) The investor fails to adhere to the approval for investment guidelines or investment registration certificate and recommits violation after incurring administrative penalties, unless the investor fails to comply with the execution schedule specified in the written approval for investment guidelines or investment registration certificate or written approval for adjustments to investment guidelines or modified investment registration certificate.”.

10. Point a1 is added following Point a Clause 2 Article 48 as follows:

“a1) The investor fails to fulfill operational objectives of the investment project or operational objectives of each stage (if any) within 24 months from the end of the schedule for fulfillment of such objectives indicated in the written approval for investment guidelines, investment registration certificate, written approval for adjustments to investment guidelines or modified investment registration certificate, and is not eligible to adjust the fulfillment schedule as prescribed, except the case specified in point d of this clause;".

11. Some ordinal numbers of Appendix IV - List of conditional business lines are amended as follows:

a) The ordinal number 50 is amended as follows:

50	Electricity generation, transmission, distribution, wholesaling and retailing

b) The ordinal numbers 115, 193, 194, 201 and 202 are amended as follows:

115	Consultancy on urban and rural planning formulation
193	Antiques and relics assessment services
194	Site/monument protection, renovation and restoration project or planning formulation, design, execution and supervision consultancy services
201	Antiques and relics trading, except antiques and relics export; antiques and relics protection, reconstruction, digitalization and database development services
202	Import of cultural commodities under specialized management of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam

c) Ordinal numbers 90a, 90b and 90c are added following the ordinal number 90; ordinal numbers 230, 231 and 232 are added following the ordinal number 229 as follows:

90a	Import, temporary import for re-export, and temporary export for re-import of unmanned aerial vehicles, other aircrafts, aircraft engines, aircraft propellers, and equipment of unmanned aerial vehicles and other aircrafts
90b	Trading in unmanned aerial vehicles, other aircrafts, aircraft engines, aircraft propellers, and equipment of unmanned aerial vehicles and other aircrafts
90c	Research, manufacturing, testing, repair and maintenance of unmanned aerial vehicles, other aircrafts, aircraft engines, aircraft propellers, and equipment of unmanned aerial vehicles and other aircrafts
230	Trading in intermediate data products and services
231	Trading in data analysis and consolidation products and services
232	Data exchange services

d) The ordinal number 11 is abrogated.

Article 3. Amendments to Law on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Investment

1. Point e1 is added following Point e Clause 16 Article 3 as follows:

“e1) Build – Transfer contract (hereinafter referred to as ”BT contract”);”;

2. Article 4 is amended as follows:

“Article 4. PPP investment sectors and classification of PPP projects

1. PPP investment projects shall be executed in public investment sectors or industries for the purposes of making investment in and construction of infrastructure works or systems, and providing public products and services, except the following projects:

a) Projects subject to the State monopoly requirement as prescribed by laws;

b) Projects in national defense, security and social order and safety sectors or industries as prescribed in the law on public investment.

2. PPP projects shall be classified by the jurisdiction to issue investment policy decisions, including:

a) PPP projects falling under the National Assembly’s delegated authority to grant investment policy decisions;

b) PPP projects falling under the Prime Minister's delegated authority to issue investment policy decisions;

c) PPP projects falling under the authority to grant investment policy decisions delegated to Ministers, heads of central authorities and other agencies specified in Clause 1 Article 5 of this Law;

d) PPP projects falling under the authority to grant investment policy decisions delegated to provincial People’s Councils;

dd) PPP projects falling under the authority to grant investment policy decisions delegated to provincial People’s Committees;

e) PPP projects which are not subject to investment policy decision requirement, including those projects specified in clauses 2a, 2b and 2c Article 11 of this Law.”.

3. Points b and c clause 1 Article 6 are amended as follows:

“b) Interdisciplinary Assessment Board specialized in carrying out an assessment of pre-feasibility study reports for PPP projects falling under the Prime Minister’s delegated authority to grant investment policy decisions;

c) Unless assessment tasks are assigned to affiliated units of the competent authorities mentioned in clause 3 of this Article, the Grassroots-level Assessment Board shall take charge of carrying out assessment of these reports, including: feasibility study reports for PPP projects falling under the Prime Minister's delegated authority to issue investment policy decisions; pre-feasibility study reports and feasibility study reports for PPP projects falling under the authority to grant investment policy decisions delegated to Ministers, heads of central authorities, other agencies, provincial People’s Councils or provincial People’s Committees; feasibility study reports for PPP projects which are not subject to investment policy decision requirement, including those projects specified in clauses 2a, 2b and 2c Article 11 of this Law.”.

4. Some clauses of Article 11 are amended as follows:

a) The first paragraph of clause 1 is amended as follows:

“1. Unless otherwise provided in Clauses 2, 2a, 2b and 2c of this Article, the PPP project process shall be prescribed as follows:”;

b) Clauses 2a, 2b and 2c are added following clause 2 as follows:

“2a. For a PPP project whose total investment is equivalent to that of Group B or C projects as prescribed by the Law on public investment and which is not funded by the State capital as prescribed in Articles 70, 71 and 72 of this Law, PPP project process shall be subject to the following regulations:

a) Making and assessing feasibility study report or construction investment economic-technical report for the PPP project for which the construction investment economic-technical report is compulsory;

b) Considering approving the PPP project on the basis of feasibility study report or construction investment economic-technical report, and making project announcement;

c) Carrying out investor selection;

d) Establishing PPP project enterprise and concluding PPP project contract;

dd) Implementing PPP project contract.

2b. For a PPP project using O&M contract, PPP project process shall be subject to the following regulations:

a) Making and assessing feasibility study report, approving project and making project announcement;

b) Carrying out investor selection;

c) Establishing PPP project enterprise and concluding PPP project contract;

d) Implementing PPP project contract.

2c. For a PPP project using BT contract without payment requirements, PPP project process shall be subject to the following regulations:

a) The investor proposes the project and makes feasibility study report which is accompanied with the draft contract;

b) The competent authority organizes assessment of feasibility study report, and approving the project and the draft contract;

c) Establishing PPP project enterprise, if proposed by the investor;

d) Concluding PPP project contract;

dd) Implementing PPP project contract; organizing supervision of construction and execution of the project, and carrying out test acceptance of finished works in accordance with the same regulations of law on construction as those applied to public investment projects.

The projects specified in this clause shall not be subject to provisions on investor selection in Chapter III and provisions on implementation of project contracts in Articles 53, 54, 55, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 and 66 of this Law.”;

c) Clause 5 is amended as follows:

“5. The Government shall elaborate this Article.”.

5. Some points and clauses of Article 12 are amended as follows:

a) Point a Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“a) Using public investment capital worth VND 30.000 billion or more;";

b) Point b clause 2 is amended as follows:

“b) The project has total investment equivalent to that of Group A projects as prescribed by the Law on public investment, uses public investment capital worth VND 10.000 billion or more, and is managed by a Ministry or central agency; the project applies BT contract for which payment is made using state budget revenues earned from the auction of land or public property which is managed by a central authority and has historical costs, as recorded in accounting book, of at least VND 500 billion;”;

c) Point d Clause 2 is amended as follows:

“g1) The project is conformable with provisions of the Law on cultural heritage, regardless of their size of land used and population within the protected zone I of the monument recognized by competent authorities as a special national-level monument on the list of world heritage sites.”;

d) Clauses 3 and 4 are amended, and Clause 4a is added following Clause 4 as follows:

“3. Ministers, heads of central authorities and other agencies shall be accorded authority to issue investment policy decisions for the following PPP projects:

a) The projects falling under the management of Ministries, central authorities or other agencies, except those prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article;

b) The projects applying BT contracts for which payment is made using state budget revenues earned from the auction of land or public property which has historical costs, as recorded in accounting book, of at least VND 500 billion, and falls under the management of Ministries, central authorities or other agencies.

4. Provincial People’s Councils shall be accorded authority to issue investment policy decisions for the following PPP projects:

a) The projects falling under the management of provincial governments and having total investment equivalent to that of group A projects as prescribed by the Law on public investment, except those projects specified in clauses 1 and 2 of this Article;

b) The projects specified in clause 3 Article 5 of this Law, managed by competent authorities that are provincial governments as assigned by the Prime Minister, and having total investment equivalent to that of group A projects as prescribed by the Law on public investment, except those projects specified in clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

4a. Provincial People’s Committees shall be accorded authority to issue investment policy decisions for the following PPP projects:

a) The projects falling under the management of provincial governments, except those projects specified in clauses 1, 2 and 4 of this Article;

b) The projects specified in clause 3 Article 5 of this Law, managed by competent authorities that are provincial governments as assigned by the Prime Minister, and having total investment equivalent to that of group B or C projects as prescribed by the Law on public investment;

c) The projects applying BT contracts for which payment is made using state budget revenues earned from the auction of land or public property which falls under the management of provincial government.”.

6. Some Points and Clauses of Article 13 are amended and abrogated as follows:

a) Point c clause 1 is amended as follows:

“c) The State Assessment Board conducts an assessment of the submitted pre-feasibility study report;”;

b) Clause 4a is added following clause 4 as follows:

“4a. Procedures for issuing an investment policy decision for a PPP project falling under the delegated authority of a provincial People’s Committee shall comply with the following regulations:

a) The PPP project preparation unit prepares a pre-feasibility study report as the basis for submission to the provincial People’s Committee for its consideration and decision;

b) Grassroots-level Assessment Board or authorized assessment unit carries out assessment of pre-feasibility study report;

c) Grassroots-level Assessment Board or authorized assessment unit completes and sends assessment report to the PPP project preparation unit;

d) The PPP project preparation unit prepares complete documentation for submission to the provincial People's Committee for its consideration and decision;

dd) The Provincial People’s Council issues an investment policy decision.”;

c) Points d and dd clause 2, point c clause 3, point c clause 4 of this Article are abrogated.

7. Some points and clauses of Article 14 are amended as follows:

a) Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“1. Ministries, central authorities, other agencies, and Provincial People’s Committees shall select projects eligible for PPP investment on the basis of their satisfaction of the following eligibility requirements:

a) Necessity of making investment;

b) Conformity with the sectors or industries specified in clause 1 Article 4 of this Law;

c) The selected project is not the duplicate of any other project obtaining an investment policy decision or project approval decision;

d) PPP investment approach brings about more benefits than other investment approach on the basis of these comparison factors, including: investment preparation costs; possibility of attracting the investor’s capital, technologies and managerial skills; the competent authority’s capacity for executing the project and fulfilling contractual obligations;

dd) State capital may be available on demand or state budget-derived funding or land areas may be available for payments made for the project applying BT contract for which payment is made using unoccupied land areas or state budget-derived funding.";

b) Points d, dd and e Clause 3 are amended as follows:

“d) Preliminary assessment of the socio-economic efficiency of the project; preliminary assessment of environmental impacts in accordance with the same regulations of the law on environmental protection as those applied to public investment projects;

dd) Preliminary total investment estimate; preliminary assessment of the project's financial plan; proposal for use of state capital invested in the project (if any); proposal for application of the method of payment to the investor with respect to the project applying BTL, BLT or BT contract for which payment is made using state budget-derived funding or unoccupied land areas, in which the location, area and estimated value of the land area to be used for payment must be clearly indicated;

e) Proposed type of the PPP project contract; investment incentive and guarantee forms; mechanism for distribution of reduced revenues (if any).”.

8. Some points and clauses of Article 19 are amended as follows:

a) Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“1. The PPP project preparation unit shall make a feasibility study report which includes the contents specified in clause 2 of this Article. The feasibility study report may be made during the assessment and approval for investment policies, provided that the project approval must be granted on the basis of the investment policy decision.”;

b) The first paragraph of Clause 2 is amended as follows:

“2. Unless otherwise prescribed in clauses 3 and 4 of this Article, a feasibility study report shall inter alia include the following main subject matters:”;

c) Point i Clause 2 is amended as follows:

“i) Socio-economic efficiency of the project.”;

d) Clauses 3, 4, 5 and 6 are added following clause 2 as follows:

“3. For a project applying O&M contract, the feasibility study report shall inter alia include the following main subject matters:

a) Necessity of project execution; more advantages provided by O&M contract than other investment form; impacts of the PPP project on communities at the project site which are determined on the basis of opinions given by the People's Council, People's Committee and Vietnamese Fatherland Front of the province where the project is carried out, and/or investment sector-related trade association;

b) Objectives; location; assessment of actual conditions of existing infrastructure works or systems, and their machinery and equipment;

c) Explanatory notes on requirements concerning the plan for management and commercial operation of infrastructure works or systems; quality of public products and services;

d) Information on the project contract, including: contract term, project-related risk analysis and risk management measures;

dd) Investment incentive or guarantee forms;

e) Total investment; financial plan; capability to raise capital for execution of project;

g) Socio-economic efficiency of the project.

4. For a project applying BT contract without payment requirements, the feasibility study report shall include the contents prescribed in the law on construction and other relevant laws, provided that the project satisfies the eligibility requirements for PPP investment laid down in points a, b and c clause 1 Article 14 of this Law.

5. Regarding PPP projects for which only construction investment economic-technical report is required, the construction investment economic-technical report shall include the contents prescribed in the law on construction and those in points a, e, g, h and i clause 2 of this Article.

6. Project preparation units shall organize assessment of environmental impacts of the projects subject to environmental impact assessment requirements or follow procedures for application for environmental license as prescribed in the law on environmental protection. The selected investor or PPP project enterprise shall not be required to carry out assessment of environmental impacts during performance of PPP project contract.".

9. Clauses 2 and 3 are amended, and Clause 4 is added following Clause 3 Article 21 as follows:

“2. Ministers, heads of central authorities and other agencies shall be accorded authority to approve the following PPP projects:

a) The projects falling under their management as prescribed in Clauses 2 and 3 of Article 12 in this Law;

b) The projects applying O&M contract and falling under their management;

c) The projects applying BT contract without payment requirements and proposed by investors at other Ministries, central authorities or other agencies.

3. Chairpersons of Provincial People’s Committees shall be accorded authority to approve the following PPP projects:

a) The projects falling under their management as prescribed in Clauses 2, 4 and 4a Article 12 of this Law;

b) The projects applying O&M contract and falling under their management;

c) The projects applying BT contract without payment requirements and proposed by investors in other provinces.

4. For PPP projects whose total investment is equivalent to that of Group B or C projects as prescribed by the Law on public investment and which are not funded by the State capital as prescribed in Articles 70, 71 and 72 of this Law, Ministers, heads of central authorities or other agencies, or Chairpersons of Provincial People’s Committees shall consider approving such projects on the basis of their feasibility study reports which are prepared and assessed according to Articles 19 and 20 of this Law.".

10. Clause 2 Article 28 is amended as follows:

“2. Based on the specific conditions of each project, the competent authority shall perform the following tasks at the same time:

a) Draw up a shortlist during preparation of the feasibility study report on the basis of the investment policy decision;

b) Organize formulation of bidding documents during the project preparation as prescribed in Chapter II of this Law, provided that the approval for bidding documents is given on the basis of the investment policy decision and/or project approval decision.”.

11. Clause 3 Article 42 is amended as follows:

“3. Financial – commercial evaluation shall be made adopting the comparison or ranking approach specified in the bidding documents. The comparison and ranking approach shall be developed according to financial – commercial evaluation standards, including one or some of the following standards:

a) Standards for public product and service prices and charges;

b) Standards for state capital used for supporting the construction of infrastructure works and systems;

c) Standards for social and state benefits;

d) Payment value standards.”.

12. Some clauses of Article 45 are amended as follows:

a) The first paragraph of clause 1 is amended as follows:

“1. The group of project contracts applying the user-pays principle, or offtake agreement for public products and services, or another business form, including:”;

b) Clauses 2a and 2b are added following clause 2 as follows:

“2a. BT contract means a contract which is signed by and between a competent authority and the investor or project enterprise (if any) to serve the construction of infrastructure works or systems and under which the investor shall transfer the BT project to the competent authority upon completion.

A BT contract is performed in the following forms:

a) BT contract for which payment is made using the land area appropriated in accordance with regulations of the Land Law or managed by a State authority or organization for executing the counterpart project. Land areas shall be allocated or leased for executing the BT project works and the counterpart project without conducting auction of land use rights (LURs) and bidding for selecting investor executing the project involving land use. Procedures for land allocation or land lease shall be followed in accordance with regulations of the Land Law. The estimated price of the land area used as payment for the BT project shall be calculated employing the land price schedule announced at the time of preparation of the project or bidding documents. Payment shall be made adopting the mechanism for offsetting difference between the value of BT project works and the value of the land area used as payment;

b) BT contract for which payment is made using state budget-derived funding for public investments or state budget revenues earned from auction of unoccupied land or public property, and then is recorded as state budget revenue and expense. The value of the BT project works includes total investment in construction works as determined according to regulations of the law on construction and other costs arising after the construction stage, including loan interests incurred after the construction stage and reasonable profits earned by the investor;

c) BT contract without payment requirement.

2b. The Government shall elaborate Points a and b Clause 2a of this Article.”.

13. Clause 1 is amended and clause 1a is added following clause 1 Article 49 as follows:

“1. Except projects applying BT contract without payment requirement, a PPP project contract shall be signed on the basis of a decision on approval for investor selection result, contract negotiation result, bid that remains valid, investor's capability information which is updated at the time of contract conclusion, and the bidding documents. In case a PPP project has a sub-project using public investment capital and subject to three-stage design requirement laid down in the law on construction, the competent authority shall organize preparation, assessment and approval for the technical design and cost estimate of the sub-project using public investment capital during the investor selection, provided that the contract will be signed on the basis of such approved technical design and cost estimate.

1a. The project contract which is BT contract without payment requirement shall be concluded on the basis of the project approval decision and contract negotiation result.”.

14. Some clauses of Article 52 are amended as follows:

a) Clause 2a and Clause 2b are added following Clause 2 as follows:

“2a. The investor or PPP project enterprise shall be entitled to payment of costs in the following case of early termination:

a) The case prescribed in point a, b or dd clause 2 of this Article where the contracting authority is burdened with the responsibility to make payment for the project contract; or

b) The case prescribed in point d clause 2 of this Article which occurs through the fault of the contracting authority.

2b. Amounts of compensations and costs associated with early termination paid to the investor or PPP project enterprise as prescribed in clause 2a of this Article must be duly audited by the State audit office to form the basis for making payment to the investor or PPP project enterprise. The contracting authority and the investor or PPP project enterprise may reach an agreement on audit of these costs by hired independent auditing organization.”;

b) Clause 6 is amended and clause 6a is added following clause 6 as follows:

“6. In the case of early termination of the PPP project contract prescribed in clause 2a of this Article, funding for covering costs of acquisition of the PPP project enterprise or compensation and other costs associated with the early termination of contract shall be derived from state budget as prescribed by laws. In the case of early termination occurring at the investor’s fault as prescribed in point c or d clause 2 of this Article where the contracting authority and lender have successfully selected a substitute investor, the existing investor shall be responsible for transferring shares or contributed capital portions to the selected substitute investor.

6a.Use of public investment capital for paying compensation and costs associated with early termination shall be subject to the following provisions:

a) If the early termination occurs during the construction stage, the competent authority shall, pursuant to the decision issued by the competent authority defined in point b clause 2 Article 89, clause 2 Article 93, or clause 3 Article 94 of this Law, formulate a project using public investment capital, including costs of investment in and construction of the remaining part of works, and compensation and costs associated with early termination paid to the investor or project enterprise. Procedures for issuance of investment policy decision or decision on investment in the project prescribed in this point shall be following in accordance with regulations of law on public investment.

Where the competent authority decides not to continue investment in and construction of the remaining infrastructure works or systems, the competent authority shall follow procedures for making payment to the investor or PPP project enterprise as prescribed in point b of this clause;

b) If the early termination occurs during the commercial operation stage, the competent authority shall, pursuant to the decision issued by the competent authority defined in point b clause 2 Article 89, clause 2 Article 93, or clause 3 Article 94 of this Law, submit a report requesting the above-mentioned competent authority to include capital in the medium-term and annual public investment plans or include the estimated costs in the central- or provincial-government budget plan in accordance with regulations of law on public investment and law on state budget. The tasks specified in this point shall be fulfilled following corresponding procedures for each funding source prescribed in the law on public investment and law on state budget.”.

15. Clause 1 Article 57 is amended as follows:

“1. Based on the feasibility study report and the provisions of the PPP project contract, the PPP project enterprise must perform one, some or all of the following tasks:

a) Making the construction design after the basic design of the infrastructure works or system of the PPP project in accordance with regulations of law on construction, except the case specified in point c of this clause;

b) Making the design of the infrastructure system of the PPP project in accordance with relevant regulations of law, for a project without construction components, except the case specified in point c of this clause;

c) For a PPP project using public investment capital by splitting into sub-projects, the PPP project enterprise shall make the construction design after the basic design of the infrastructure works or system using the investor’s capital; make construction drawing of the infrastructure works or system of the sub-project using public investment capital according to the approved technical design;

d) For a PPP project using public investment capital by aligning capital with specific items, in addition to the tasks specified in points a and b of this clause, the PPP project enterprise shall also make cost estimate for the item using public investment capital, and send it to the construction-specialized authority in accordance with regulations of law on construction, for a project with construction components, or a specialized authority in accordance with other relevant regulations of law, for a project without construction components, for assessment purposes.".

16. Some points and clauses of Article 69 are amended as follows:

a) Point b clause 1 is amended as follows:

“b) Paying the PPP project enterprise for its provision of public products and services under the BTL or BLT contract; paying the investor or PPP project enterprise under the BT contract for which payment is made using state budget-derived funding;”;

b) Point d Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“d) Compensating for the reduced revenue; paying compensation and costs associated with early termination of the contract;";

c) Clause 2 is amended, and clauses 2a and 2b are added following Clause 2 as follows:

“2. The proportion of state capital participating in a PPP project as prescribed in Points a and c Clause 1 of this Article must not exceed 50% of the project's preliminarily estimated total investment or total investment, except the case specified in clause 2a of this Article.

2a. The proportion of state capital participating in a PPP project may be higher than the one prescribed in clause 2 of this Article but shall not exceed 70% of the project's preliminarily estimated total investment or total investment if the PPP project satisfies one, some or all of the following conditions:

a) The project’s costs prescribed in point c clause 1 of this Article exceed 50% of its preliminarily estimated total investment or total investment;

b) The project is executed in an area facing socio-economic difficulties or extreme socio-economic difficulties, and thus needs to use an amount of state capital higher than that prescribed in clause 2 of this Article for the purpose of ensuring feasibility of the project’s financial plan;

c) The project receives transfer of high, new or advanced technology from a private-sector investor and thus needs to use an amount of state capital higher than that prescribed in clause 2 of this Article for the purpose of ensuring feasibility of the project’s financial plan.

2b. Where the PPP project satisfies one, some or all of the conditions set out in clause 2a of this Article, the competent authority issuing the investment policy decision shall decide the proportion of state capital participating in the project according to the following provisions:

a) If the PPP project is not split into sub-projects, the proportion of state capital participating in the project shall not exceed 70% of its preliminarily estimated total investment or total investment;

b) If the PPP project is split into PPP sub-projects, the proportion of state capital participating in the project shall not exceed 70% of the preliminarily estimated total investment or total investment of each sub-project;

c) If the PPP project is split into sub-projects which include public investment sub-project and PPP sub-project, the proportion of state capital participating in the project shall not exceed 70% of the preliminarily estimated total investment or total investment of the PPP sub-project. Where these tasks of the project, including compensation, land clearance, support, resettlement and support for construction of temporary works, are split to create an independent sub-project using public investment capital, the PPP sub-project may be eligible for the proportion of state capital of not exceeding 70% of its preliminarily estimated total investment or total investment if it meets the conditions set out in points b and c clause 2a of this Article.”.

17. Clause 4 Article 70 is amended as follows:

“4. State capital used for supporting the construction of infrastructure works or system shall be derived from public investment capital as prescribed in the law on public investment.”.

18. Some clauses of Article 73 are amended as follows:

a) Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“1. Project preparation costs of competent authorities, PPP project preparation units; expenses for the assessment conducted by PPP Project Assessment Boards and the units assigned to the task of assessing PPP projects; expenses for organization of the investor selection or signing of contracts by competent authorities or bid solicitors shall be covered by public investment capital, funding for covering recurrent expenditures, and other lawful capital sources, and shall be included in the total investment in each project.”;

b) Clause 3 is amended as follows:

“3. Expenses for project implementation after signing a contract by a competent authority or a contracting authority shall be covered by their funding for covering recurrent expenditures and other lawful capital sources.”.

19. Clause 3 is amended and clause 3a is added following clause 3 Article 82 as follows:

“3. The mechanism for sharing of the reduced revenue specified in Clause 2 of this Article must be determined according to the investment policy decision. Based on actual situations of each sector or locality in terms of availability of each capital source and level of priority of tasks funded by state budget in each period, the project’s competent authority shall determine feasible capital sources used for compensating the reduced revenue, and submit a report thereon to the competent authority in accordance with corresponding regulations applicable to each capital source. Sources of capital to be used in the following order of priority:

a) Annual central- and local-government budget’s reserves for development investment expenditures. Procedures for formulation and approval for the project funded by annual central- and local-government budget’s reserves for development investment expenditures shall be followed in accordance with regulations of the law on public investment and the law on state budget;

b) The increase in revenues and decrease in expenditures of central- and local-government budgets for development investment expenditures. Procedures for formulation and approval for the project funded by the increase in revenues and decrease in expenditures as prescribed in this point shall be followed in accordance with regulations of the law on public investment and the law on state budget;

c) Central- and local-government budget’s general provisions for medium-term public investment plan. Procedures for formulation and approval for the project funded by the general provisions as prescribed in this point shall be followed in accordance with regulations of the law on public investment.

Expenses for dealing with the revenue reduction sharing mechanism prescribed in this clause are specified in the project contract.

3a. For projects falling under the authority to grant investment policy decisions of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, Ministers, heads of central authorities or other agencies, use of the central-government budget for compensating reduced revenues shall be prioritized. For projects falling under the authority to grant investment policy decisions of Provincial People’s Councils or Provincial People’s Committees, use of the local-government budget for compensating reduced revenues shall be prioritized. For a project executed in 02 provincial-level administrative divisions or more, the Provincial People’s Committee that acts as the competent authority as assigned by the Prime Minister shall determine and include the responsibility of each provincial government to compensate the reduced revenue in the project’s investment policy decision”.”

20. Article 86 is amended as follows:

"Article 86. Oversight carried out by State regulatory authorities in charge of PPP investments

1. State regulatory authorities in charge of PPP investments at the central level shall supervise the processes for implementation of PPP projects prescribed at Point a, b and c of Clause 2 Article 4 of this Law and other projects assigned by the National Assembly and the Prime Minister.

2. State regulatory authorities in charge of PPP investments at the local level shall supervise the processes for implementation of PPP projects prescribed at Points d, dd and e Clause 2 Article 4 of this Law.”.

21. Clause 1 Article 91 is amended as follows:

“1. Issue, within their jurisdiction, or request competent authorities to issue, legislative documents regarding financial management mechanisms to be applied to PPP investments, and payment and settlement mechanisms to be applied to projects applying BT contract.”.

22. Some Points and Clauses of Article 101 are amended and abrogated as follows:

a) Clause 4 is amended as follows:

“4. Except projects applying BT contract, PPP project contracts signed before January 01, 2021 shall still remain valid; if any modifications which need to be made to the project contract but for which regulations of law in force at the time of contract conclusion are not available, the parties to the contract may reach agreement on making such modifications in accordance with provisions of this Law and relevant laws in force at the time of modification.”;

b) Point d Clause 5 is abrogated.

Article 4. Amendments to Law on Bidding

1. Some points and clauses of Article 3 are amended as follows:

a) Clause 5 is amended as follows:

“5. The selection of contractors for projects which are funded by the official development assistance (ODA) funds/foreign concessional loans under international conventions to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory (hereinafter referred to as “international conventions") or foreign loan agreements shall comply with such international conventions or foreign loan agreements. If the international convention or foreign loan agreement does not provide for the contractor selection or states that the contractor selection is subject to the domestic law of Vietnam, this Law shall apply.

Before entering into the international convention or foreign loan agreement containing specific regulations on bidding which are different from those of this Law or are not included in this Law, the authority in charge of negotiation tasks shall submit a report requesting the Government to consider and decide to apply regulations adopted by the donor or international organization of which the State or Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.”;

b) Point d Clause 7 is amended as follows:

“d) Selection of contractors supplying goods, consulting services and non-consulting services for ensuring uninterrupted business and production, and for procurements for maintaining regular activities funded by business budget of state-owned enterprises or wholly state-owned enterprises; selection of contractors for executing the packages of the investment projects specified in Clause 3 Article 2 of this Law; selection of suppliers of goods, consulting services and non-consulting services which are directly used for executing the packages for which contracts have been signed with public sector entities;”.

2. Point a Clause 1 Article 5 is amended as follows:

“a) A domestic bidder or investor must be an enterprise, cooperative, cooperative union, artel, public sector entity, foreign-invested business organization or another organization that is duly established and operating under the law of Vietnam. A foreign bidder or investor must be duly established and operating under the law of their home country;”.

3. Some points and clauses of Article 6 are amended as follows:

a) Point d Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“d) Employer, procuring entity, except the case where the bidder is a public sector entity that is affiliated to a regulatory authority and has its assigned functions and tasks conformable with the nature of the package of that regulatory authority and the case prescribed in clause 4a of this Article.”;

b) Point d Clause 4 is amended as follows:

“d) None of the bidder and consultants for the same package holds shares or stakes of each other; the bidder and any of these consultants do not jointly hold more than 20% of shares or stakes of another entity, except the case prescribed in clause 4a of this Article.”;

c) Clause 4a is added following clause 4 as follows:

“4a. Parent companies, subsidiaries and associate companies of the same state-owned corporation or group may bid for the package of each other if the goods and services of this package are included in the main business lines of that state-owned corporation or group. For a mixed package in which a state-owned corporation or parent company, subsidiary or associate company of that state-owned corporation acts as the employer or the procuring entity, none of the bidder and the consultants for formulation and verification of comprehensive technical design, feasibility study report (if formulation of comprehensive technical design is not required), or technical-economic report (if neither of feasibility study report and comprehensive technical design is required by the law on construction) holds shares or stakes of each other; the bidder and any of these consultants do not jointly hold more than 30% of shares or stakes of another entity.”.

4. Clause 9 Article 16 is amended as follows:

“9. The contractor selection is conducted before determining funding sources as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 39 of this Law, except cases of bidding in advance as prescribed in Article 42 of this Law.".

5. Point e is added following point dd clause 1 Article 17 as follows:

“e) Bid cancellation is made according to provisions of Clause 5 Article 42 of this Law.”.

6. Clause 1 Article 19 is amended as follows:

“1. An expert team consists of capable and experienced individuals who assume responsibility to perform one or all of the following tasks: preparation of EOI request, prequalification document, bidding documents or request for proposals (RFP); evaluation of EOIs, prequalification applications, bids, proposals or applications for execution of investment project; other tasks during the contractor/investor selection process. Establishment of an expert team shall be subject to the following provisions:

a) The employer establishes or assigns tasks to the expert team in case of contractor selection;

b) The EOI requester or procuring entity establishes or assigns tasks to the expert team in case of investor selection;

c) The consultant establishes the expert team in case a consultant is employed to provide consultancy on preparation of EOI request, prequalification document, bidding documents or RFP; evaluation of EOIs, prequalification applications, bids, proposals or applications for execution of investment project.”.

7. Some Points and Clauses of Article 23 are amended as follows:

a) Point c clause 1 is amended as follows:

“c) Packages for supply of consulting services, non-consulting services, drugs, chemicals, test equipment, medical devices, spare parts, accessories, facilities, construction, plant protection chemicals, crop seeds, chemical disinfectants or supplies which need to be executed immediately to serve epidemic and disease prevention and combat; packages for supply of consulting services, non-consulting services, goods or construction to maintain operation of health facilities in urgent cases so as to avoid causing harm to the life and health of people; packages for purchase of drugs, chemicals, test equipment, medical devices, spare parts, accessories used in giving emergency aid to patients as prescribed in the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment in case health facilities lack such drugs, chemicals, test equipment, medical devices, spare parts, accessories; packages for purchase of drugs or medical devices which can be manufactured by the only one manufacturer in the market;”;

b) Point g Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“g) Consulting service packages for preparation of feasibility study reports or construction engineering which are designated to the authors of work architecture designs that win the bidding or are selected when they satisfy relevant capacity requirements laid down in the Law on construction; packages for construction or reconstruction of monuments, relief, grant murals and artistic works subject to copyright from the stage of creation to the stage of construction; consulting service packages for preparation of urban and rural plannings which are designated to the authors of urban and rural planning initiatives that have been successful in the urban and rural planning competition; consulting service packages for archaeological exploration and excavation; packages for consultancy on or execution of renovation or restoration of national-level monuments, special national-level monuments and world cultural heritage sites;”;

c) Point m Clause 1 is amended as follows:

“m) Packages of procurement cost estimates without establishing projects which have package price of not exceeding VND 300 million; consulting service packages of projects which have package price of not exceeding VND 500 million, and non-consulting services, procurement of goods, construction or mixed packages of projects of not exceeding VND 01 billion; packages for formulation of planning tasks whose price does not exceed VND 500 million.”;

d) Point a Clause 3 is amended as follows:

“a) There is a decision on investment in the project, except consulting service packages for project preparation; there is a decision on approval for planning tasks, for packages of consultancy on formulation of plannings and other packages for formulation of plannings, except those packages which need to be executed before planning tasks are approved and cases where approval for planning tasks is not required as prescribed by the Law on planning;”.

8. Article 29 is amended as follows:

“Article 29. Contractor selection in special circumstances

1. Contractor selection in special circumstances shall apply to packages or projects or procurement cost estimates that have one or some specific requirements regarding contractor selection criteria and procedures, and contract signing and execution or, when executed, must meet strict national defense and security, external affairs, border and territorial security requirements, or packages for performance of national political tasks which cannot be executed adopting any of the contractor selection methods prescribed in Articles 21 through 28 of this Law.

2. The Government shall elaborate this Article.”.

9. Point a Clause 1 Article 30 is amended as follows:

“a) Competitive bidding or limited bidding for consulting service, procurement, construction or mixed packages; A package which meets the requirement laid down in point b clause 1 Article 31 of this Law may be executed adopting either single-stage one-envelope procedure or single-stage two-envelope procedure;”.

10. Point b clause 1 Article 31 is amended as follows:

“b) Competitive bidding for a mixed package which is subject to international bidding as prescribed in point b clause 1 Article 11, or limited bidding for the packages prescribed in clause 1 Article 22 of this Law.”.

11. Clause 3 is added following clause 2 Article 34 as follows:

“3. Investor selection in special circumstances.”.

12. Article 34a is added following Article 34 as follows:

“Article 34a. Investor selection in special circumstances

1. Investor selection in special circumstances shall apply to investment projects that have one or some specific requirements regarding investment procedures; procedures for land allocation or land lease or allocation of sea areas; investor selection procedures, methods and criteria, and contents of investment project contract, or must meet strict national defense and security, external affairs, border and territorial security, and national interest requirements, or projects for performance of national political tasks which cannot be executed adopting any of the investor selection methods prescribed in clauses 1 and 2 Article 34 of this Law.

2. The Government shall elaborate this Article.”.

13. Point a Clause 1 Article 38 is amended as follows:

“a) The project approval decision and relevant documents, except packages which need to be executed before the project is approved; decision on approval for planning tasks and relevant documents, for packages of consultancy on formulation of plannings and other packages for formulation of plannings, except those packages which need to be executed before planning tasks are approved and cases where approval for planning tasks is not required as prescribed by the Law on planning. In case a package needs to be executed before the project is approved, the decision issued by the head of the entity acting as the project employer or the head of the unit tasked with preparing the project, if the project employer is not yet identified, shall be used;”.

14. Article 42 is amended as follows:

“Article 42. Bidding in advance

1. Bidding in advance means performance of some procedures before concluding an international convention or foreign loan agreement, for a project funded by ODA or foreign concessional loan, or before the project is approved with the aim of accelerating the project execution schedule, except packages which need to be executed before the project is approved.

2. Bidding in advance may be applied to the following packages:

a) Procurement package of which the scope of supply and technical requirements have been clearly determined;

b) Consulting service, non-consulting service, procurement or construction packages which serve performance of compensation, land clearance, relocation of technical infrastructure facilities, mine action, planning or resettlement tasks;

c) Packages for consultancy on project management in respect of tasks performed after the project is approved, preparation of technical design and construction drawings, and construction supervision;

d) Packages of projects funded by ODA or foreign concessional loans in which bidding in advance is a requirement imposed by the foreign donor. If bidding in advance is not required by the foreign donor, the bidding in advance for packages of a project funded by ODA or foreign concessional loan may be carried out in accordance with provisions of points a, b and c of this clause.

3. Regarding the package specified in clause 2 of this Article, these procedures may be followed before the project is approved or before concluding the relevant international convention or foreign loan agreement:

a) Preparation, appraisal and submission of the contractor selection plan for approval;

b) Shortlisting (if any);

c) Preparation, appraisal and approval for bidding documents or RFP;

d) Evaluation of bids or proposals;

dd) Consideration for contract award, determination of successful bidder.

The signing of contract shall be carried out only after the project is approved; the contract for a package of the project funded by ODA or foreign concessional loan may be signed before the international convention or foreign loan agreement is concluded but after such signing must occur after the project is approved.

4. In case of bidding in advance, bidders shall not be required to furnish bid securities as prescribed in Article 14 of this Law but must include commitments on participation in bidding in their bids.

5. EOI request, prequalification document, RFP or bidding documents must clearly determine responsibilities of bidders and of the employer in bidding in advance as prescribed in this Article.

Where the application for project approval is refused or the conclusion of the international convention or foreign loan agreement is unsuccessful and no available fund can be used for executing the project, the employer shall follow bid cancellation procedures without reimbursing bidders for their costs incurred during participating in bidding.

6. The employer or head of the unit tasked with preparing the project may establish a package for one or some of the following tasks, including construction survey, preparation of pre-feasibility study report or report on proposal for investment guidelines, detailed construction planning, feasibility study report, technical - economic report, technical design and construction drawings, and construction supervision, for organizing contractor selection. Preparation of technical design and construction drawings, and construction supervision shall be carried out only after the project is approved.

7. The tasks mentioned in this Article shall be performed following the procedures in Clause 1 Article 43 of this Law. The grounds in clause 1 Article 38 of this Law may be disregarded during the preparation of contractor selection plans for the packages to which bidding in advance applies.

15. Point d clause 1 Article 43 is amended as follows:

“d) Contract negotiation for a consulting service package.

With regard to procurement, construction or non-consulting service package to be executed adopting the international bidding method, a mixed package or a package to be executed adopting limited bidding method as prescribed in clause 1 Article 22 of this Law, the procuring entity may conduct contract negotiation with the first-ranked bidder if it is deemed necessary;”.

16. Point b and Point dd Clause 1 Article 45 are amended as follows:

a) Point b is amended as follows:

“b) In case of competitive bidding or limited bidding, the minimum period between the first date on which the bidding documents are issued and the deadline for submission of bids which is given for bidders to prepare their bids shall be 18 days for domestic bidding or 35 days for international bidding. In case of a construction or mixed package whose price does not exceed VND 20 billion or a procurement or non-consulting service package whose price does not exceed VND 10 billion, this period shall be 09 days for domestic bidding or 18 days for international bidding. In case of an uncomplicated consulting service package or a consulting service package whose price does not exceed VND 500 million or an urgent consulting service package which needs to be executed immediately to meet execution schedule requirements, this period shall be at least 07 days for domestic bidding;”;

b) Point dd is amended as follows:

“dd) The amendment of bidding documents must be made at least 10 days before the deadline for submission of bids. In case of a construction or mixed package whose price does not exceed VND 20 billion, or a procurement or non-consulting service package whose price does not exceed VND 10 billion, an uncomplicated consulting service package or a consulting service package whose price does not exceed VND 500 million, or an urgent consulting service package which needs to be executed immediately to meet execution schedule requirements, bidding documents may be amended at least 03 days before the deadline for submission of bids. The amendment of EOI request or prequalification document must be made at least 03 days before the deadline for submission of bids.”.

17. Clause 2 Article 55 is amended as follows:

“2. Regarding the procurement of drugs and medical devices which will be then retailed at pharmacies within the precincts of public health facilities, or procurement of vaccines used in providing on-demand vaccination services, health facilities shall themselves decide their procurement in a manner that ensures openness, transparency, economic efficiency and accountability.”.

18. Point a Clause 3 Article 58 is amended as follows:

“a) The combined technique and price-based method may apply to the packages specified in point b clause 1 Article 31 of this Law;”;

19. Clauses 4 and 10 Article 78 are amended as follows:

a) Clause 4 is amended as follows:

“4. Decide to establish the procuring entity with personnel that are qualified to perform contractor selection tasks; employ qualified consultant to act as the procuring entity or to perform certain tasks of the procuring entity in case qualified personnel are not available; Decide to establish the expert team meeting the requirements laid down in Article 19 of this Law in case no consultant is employed during preparation of EOI request, prequalification documents, bidding documents, or RFP; evaluation of EOIs, prequalification applications, bids, or proposals.”;

b) Clause 10 is amended as follows:

“10. Cancel bidding process in the cases specified Points a and e Clause 1 Article 17 of this Law.”.

20. Point b Clause 1 Article 79 is abrogated.

21. The phrase “vốn vay ưu đãi của nhà tài trợ nước ngoài” (“concessional loans granted by foreign donors”) is replaced with the phrase “vốn vay ưu đãi nước ngoài” (“foreign concessional loans”) in heading of Article 3, point a clause 7 Article 3, point dd clause 1 Article 38 and clause 3 Article 39.

Article 5. Effect

1. Article 39 and Article 40 of the Law on the Capital No. 39/2024/QH15 are abrogated.

2. This Law comes into force from January 15, 2025, unless otherwise prescribed in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article.

3. Provisions on BT contracts for which payment is made using unoccupied land areas or state budget-derived funding in point b clause 12 Article 3 of this Law come into force from July 01, 2025.

4. Provisions of Point clause 19 and clause 20 Article 1; clause 2 Article 2; points b, c and d clause 11 Article 2 of this Law come into force from July 01, 2025.

Article 6. Transition

1. Transitional provisions on amendments to the Law on Planning:

a) Funding for covering planning costs allocated before the effective date of this Law shall continue to be used in accordance with regulations of relevant laws in force at the time of funding allocation;

b) Adjustments to plannings which are made under the Resolution No. 61/2022/QH15 dated June 16, 2022 of the National Assembly and have been submitted to relevant Ministries and ministerial agencies for their opinions before the effective date of this Law shall continue to be made in accordance with provisions of this Resolution No. 61/2022/QH15;

c) Ministries, ministerial agencies and provincial People's Committees shall consider promulgating the plans for implementation of national sector plannings and provincial plannings which have been submitted to the Prime Minister before the effective date of this Law but are yet to be promulgated in accordance with provisions of clauses 17 and 18 Article 1 of this Law.

Any adjustments to the plans for implementation of national sector plannings and provincial plannings which have been promulgated by the Prime Minister before the effective date of this Law must comply with provisions of clauses 12, 17 and 18 Article 1 of this Law.

d) If the implementation of a resolution of the National Assembly, the Standing Committee of National Assembly, or the Government or a Provincial People’s Council causes changes in one or some contents concerning implementation phasing, parameters and information of a national, regional or provincial planning for the 2021 - 2030 period which has been decided or approved by a competent authority before the effective date of this Law but causes no change in viewpoints and objectives of the planning, adjustments to the planning may be made following simplified procedures in clause 16 Article 1 of this Law.

2. Transitional provisions on amendments to the Law on Investment:

a) From the effective date of this Law, processing of the applications for approval for or adjustment to investment guidelines of investment projects on construction and commercial operation of infrastructure facilities in industrial zones or export processing zones; investment projects on construction of ports and wharves of special seaports in which total investment is less than VND 2.300 billion; investment projects that comply with the provisions of the Law on cultural heritage, regardless of their size of land used and population, within the protected zones I and II of the monument recognized by competent authorities as a national-level monument or a special national-level monument, except protected zones I of special national-level monuments on the list of world heritage sites, which have been submitted before the effective date of this Law and are considered valid but not yet processed shall be subject to the following provisions:

a.1) If the project has been submitted to the Prime Minister for considering and giving approval for its investment guidelines or adjustments thereto before the effective date of this Law, provisions of the Law on Investment No. 61/2020/QH14, as amended in the Law No. 72/2020/QH14, Law No. 03/2022/QH15, Law No. 05/2022/QH15, Law No. 08/2022/QH15, Law No. 09/2022/QH15, Law No. 20/2023/QH15, Law No. 26/2023/QH15, Law No. 27/2023/QH15, Law No. 28/2023/QH15, Law No. 31/2024/QH15, Law No. 33/2024/QH15 and Law No. 43/2024/QH15 (hereinafter referred to as “Law No. 61/2020/QH14”) shall apply;

If requirements or conditions for approval for the project’s investment guidelines or adjustments thereto laid down in the Law No. 61/2020/QH14 are yet to be satisfied, the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall transfer the project dossier, appraisal opinions and reports to the relevant provincial People’s Committee for processing within its jurisdiction prescribed in this Law on the basis of opinions given by the Prime Minister;

a.2) If the project is yet to be submitted to the Prime Minister for considering and giving approval for its investment guidelines or adjustments thereto before the effective date of this Law, the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall transfer the project dossier and appraisal opinions (if any) to the relevant provincial People’s Committee for processing within its jurisdiction prescribed in this Law;

a.3) The provincial People’s Committee shall be allowed to use the project dossier, appraisal opinions and reports as the basis for considering and giving approval for the project’s investment guidelines or adjustments thereto in the cases prescribed in sub-points a.1 and a.2 point a of this clause;

b) Regarding investment projects on construction and commercial operation of infrastructure facilities in industrial zones or export processing zones, investment projects on construction of ports and wharves of special seaports, and investment projects within the protected zones of monuments for which investment guidelines have been approved by the Prime Minister before the effective date of this Law but for which the approval for investment guidelines falls under the jurisdiction of provincial People’s Committees as prescribed in clause 5 Article 2 of this Law, provincial People’s Committees shall have the power to consider approving adjustments to investment guidelines for these projects;

c) Regarding the investment projects prescribed in clause 8 Article 2 of this Law to which approval for investment guidelines or investment registration certificates have been issued before the effective date of this Law, investors may follow special investment procedures as follows:

c.1) The investor submits an application for investment registration as prescribed in clause 8 Article 2 of this Law which must be accompanied with a report on project execution by the date of application submission to the management board of the relevant industrial park, export-processing zone, hi-tech zone or economic zone.

The investor may follow special investment procedures for each stage of the project which has multiple stages;

c.2) The management board of the relevant industrial park, export-processing zone, hi-tech zone or economic zone shall follow corresponding procedures in clause 8 Article 2 of this Law for issuing a new investment registration certificate or replacing the investment registration certificate which has been issued to the project;

c.3) The investment registration certificate includes the registered information on the investment project as prescribed in sub-point c.1 point c of this clause;

The investor is allowed to commence the investment project under the investment registration certificate or its replacement issued as prescribed in sub-point c.2 point c of this clause;

d) Regarding a project to which a decision on investment guidelines, approval for investment guidelines, approval for investment or investment registration certificate has been issued before the effective date of this Law, the 24-month period used as the basis for the investment registration authority to decide termination of the investment project in part or in full as prescribed in clause 10 Article 2 of this Law shall be counted from January 15, 2025 if the end of the schedule for fulfillment of the main operational objectives of the project indicated in the issued decision on investment guidelines, approval for investment guidelines, approval for investment, investment registration certificate or written adjustment to decision on investment guidelines, approval for adjustments to investment guidelines or modified investment registration certificate falls before January 15, 2025.

3. Transitional provisions on amendments to the Law on Public-Private Partnership Investment:

a) If the pre-feasibility study report or adjusted pre-feasibility study report for a PPP project has been prepared but the PPP project is yet to be submitted for assessment or the PPP Project Assessment Board is yet to be established by the effective date of this Law, the authority and procedures for project preparation or modification of investment policy shall comply with provisions of this Law. In case the Project Assessment Board has been established and the assessment of the investment policy has been carried out, the procedures and authority to carry out assessment and issue decision on investment policy or modify the investment policy shall be subject to regulations of law on public-private partnership investment in force before the effective date of this Law;

b) If the preparation of the feasibility study report or adjusted feasibility study report for a PPP project to which a decision on investment policy has been issued by the Prime Minister is taking place but such feasibility study report or adjusted feasibility study report is yet to be submitted for assessment or the Interdisciplinary Assessment Board is yet to be established by the effective date of this Law, the authority and procedures for approval for the project or adjustments to the feasibility study report shall comply with provisions of this Law. In case the Interdisciplinary Assessment Board has been established and the assessment of the feasibility study report has been carried out, the procedures and authority to carry out assessment and approval for the project or adjustments to the feasibility study report shall be subject to regulations of law on public-private partnership investment in force before the effective date of this Law;

c) If the selection of investor for a PPP project to which a decision on investment policy or project approval has been issued by a competent authority is yet to be organized by the effective date of this Law, review and adjustment of its investment policy or adjustment of its feasibility study report may be carried out to serve the application of provisions of this Law to this project;

d) Regarding PPP projects which have been being executed under provisions of the Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15 dated June 24, 2023 of the National Assembly on pilot application of some specific mechanisms and policies to development of Ho Chi Minh City, the Resolution No. 136/2024/QH15 dated June 26, 2024 of the National Assembly prescribing organization of urban government and pilot application of some specific mechanisms and policies to development of Da Nang City, and the Resolution No. 137/2024/QH15 dated June 26, 2024 of the National Assembly on amendments to pilot application of some specific mechanisms and policies to development of Nghe An province, the continued execution of these PPP projects under provisions or the abovementioned Resolutions or provisions of this Law shall be subject to decision of provincial People's Councils. If provisions of this Law apply, transitional provisions in points a, b and c of this clause shall apply to these projects.

4. Transitional provisions on amendments to the Law on Bidding:

a) If the EOI requests, prequalification documents, bidding documents or RFPs for packages have been approved and issued before the effective date of this Law, the shortlisting, contractor selection, signing of contract and management of contract performance shall continue to be carried out in accordance with the Law on Bidding No. 22/2023/QH15 and legislative documents elaborating and providing guidelines on this Law;

b) If the contractor selection plan for a package has been approved but the EOI request, prequalification documents, bidding documents, or RFP for this package is still not yet issued by the effective date of this Law and the approved contractor selection plan is unconformable with provisions of this Law, approval for modifications to the contractor selection plan is required to make it conformable with provisions of this Law.

This Law is ratified by the 15^th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam during its 8^th session held on November 29, 2024.

CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF VIETNAM Tran Thanh Man