Outbound investment registration
VGP - The Government on September 25, 2015 issued Decree 83/2015/ND-CP on outbound investment (Decree 83) to replace Decree 78/2006/ND-CP, dated August 9, 2006 providing for direct outbound investment (Decree 78).
Question: What are the new procedures on outbound investment registration?
Answer: Decree 83 is believed to make a major advance in the simplification of administrative procedures for investors to be able to conduct outbound investment. Accordingly, rather than conducting procedures for being granted an investment certificate, the investor must simply perform the procedures for applying for the COIR. This change is consistent with the content of the 2014 Investment Law that the State shall respect the right to business investment freedom of investors and only certify their outbound investment activities by issuing the COIR rather than Investment License or Investment Certificate, as before.
Except for OI policy related projects which are under the authority of National Assembly and the PM, ongoing OI projects are no longer required to perform due diligence procedures to be granted an investment certificate as before. The 2005 Investment Law and Decree 78 regulated that an OI project with capital of VND 15 billion only shall go through due diligence. However, the rules on the conditions, submissions and due diligence procedures for issuance of any investment certificate will include many non-detailed contents, which is time consuming and requires lengthy explanations and prolonged procedures. Therefore, the fresh provisions for eliminating due diligence requirements for some investment projects that are considered transparent and simple also enable investors to register OI performance.
Decree 83 also abolished due diligence procedures for OI projects in such areas as banking, insurance, securities, journalism, broadcast, television, and telecommunications with an investment cost of less than VND 400 billion and for those outside for foregoing with an investment cost of below VND 800 billion. Accordingly, in order to be granted a COIR, these projects are only required to send an OI registration submission to the competent management agency without going through due diligence process as before. This is a good sign for local investors who have a desire to expand their investments into global markets./.
