Renewal of Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) in Vietnam

Regarding Foreign Invested Enterprise (FIE)  when granted IRC, the plan’s duration is already determined by the certain timeline started from the IRC-granted day. Depends on the plans, the duration on IRC for each plans is different. Therefore, when the plan operation time on IRC is near expiration day, the enterprise needs to conduct procedures for Renewal of IRC.

Duration of IRC

The duration of IRC is the operation time of investment project. Duration of IRC issued by the Investment Certificate Authority is based on the objectives, scale, location, operational requirements of the investment project. Thus the Article No.44: Duration of investment projects of Investment Law stated as such:

• The duration of an investment project inside an economic zone shall not exceed 70 years.
• The duration of an investment project outside an economic zone shall not exceed 50 years. The duration of a project in an disadvantaged area or extremely disadvantaged area or a project with large investment capital but with slow rate of capital recovery may be longer but shall not exceed 70 years.
• If a project uses land allocated or leased by the State, but the transfer of land is delayed, the delay shall not be included in the project duration or execution schedule.
• The duration of an investment project specified in Clauses 1 and 2 Article 44 of the Law on Investment begins from the date on which the investor is issued with the decision on investor approval, decision on approval for both investment guidelines and investor or the investment registration certificate for the first time. For the investment project which uses land allocated or leased out by the State or is permitted by the State to repurpose land, its duration begins from the date on which the investor is issued with the decision on land allocation, decision on land lease or decision on land repurposing. If the investor has obtained the decision on land allocation, decision on land lease or decision on land repurposing but the transfer of land is delayed, the duration of the investment project begins from the date on which land is transferred on site.

Renewal duration of IRC

As stipulated by Article No. 44, when a project gets renewal then the renewal duration is the same as the one issued in IRC. Depends on projects that the renewal duration can not be longer than the first-issued one.

Conditions for renewal of IRC

Upon expiry of the duration of an investment project, if the investor wishes to keep executing the investment project and satisfies the conditions as prescribed by law, the duration of the investment project may be extended but shall not exceed the maximum prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of Article No.44, except for the following investment projects:

• Investment projects using obsolete technology, potentially causing environmental pollution or natural-resource intensive projects;
• Investment projects in which the investor must transfer assets without refund to the State of Vietnam or the Vietnamese side.

Renewal duration of IRC

• Upon expiry of the duration of an investment project, if the investor wishes to keep executing the investment project and satisfies the conditions as prescribed by law, the duration of the investment project may be extended but shall not exceed 70 years for investment project inside an economic zone or 50 years for investment project outside an economic zone.
• The renewal duration for investment project stipulated by Decree No.31/2021/NĐ-CP is based on objective, scale, location, operational requirements of the project and shall not exceed 70 years for investment project inside an economic zone or 50 years for investment project outside an economic zone.
• If the investment project satisfies the condition prescribed in Point b Clause 4 of this Article but fails to satisfy the condition prescribed in Point a Clause 4 of this Article, the authority that has the power to approve investment guidelines and the investment registration authority shall consider extending its duration on a year-by-year basis until the district’s annual land use plan is available in accordance with regulations of law on land. The investor shall only follow procedures for extending the duration for the first year of extension.

Tine of renewal for IRC

Best before the expiration date of the project about 03-05 months, the enterprise needs to conduct renewal of IRC as well as renewal of project’s operational duration.

Documents for IRC

• 02 notarized coby of Enterprise’s IRC/ Certificate of business registration
• 02 of Notarized tax code for Enterprises without Certificate of business registration
• Report on the implementation of the investment project up to the time of renewal of the Investment Certificate/renewal of the investment project;
• Monthly, quarterly and annual reports submitted to the Department of Planning and Investment/ Management Board of Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones;
• 01 notarized copy of the most recent year’s audited financial statement up to the time of extension;
• Investment project proposal: Office area, email address, phone number of investor, company in Vietnam, total number of employees, number of Vietnamese employees, number of foreign employees;
• Notarized copy of the representative’s passport, confirming the representative’s residence;
• Legal documents related to head office address and project implementation location. Specifically: Location lease contract and Real estate documents, construction decision, etc.
• Notarized copy of Business License (if the commercial company);

Procedures for renewal of IRC

Numbers of documents:

The enterprise drafts 02 documents according to the above consultancy section;

Profile specification:

Documents drafted in Vietnamese or Vietnamese and English (the foreign-language file s shall be translated to Vietnamese and notary needed)

Agencies competent to receive applications for renewal of investment certificates:

• Department of Planning and Investment (Department of Investment): For enterprises with headquarters and project implementation location outside the industrial park;
• Management Board of Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones: For enterprises that have their headquarters and project implementation locations in industrial parks;

Duration for completing procedures for renewal of IRC:

15 working days from the date of receiving the application if all the documents are valid.

Note:

• An enterprise can only submit an application for renewal of the IRC if by the time of renewal the enterprise has fully contributed capital as committed and fulfilled all investment reports and other conditions as prescribed in Article 3 of the enterprise’s investment certificate;

• Enterprises can make parallel adjustments to other contents on the Investment Registration Certificate together with the procedure for renewing the Investment Registration Certificate

Services of Viet An Law Firm on renewal of IRC

• Providing consultancy for customers on the time of renewal, preparing documents to renew the Investment Certificate in accordance with the law;
• Assist in drafting the application for renewal and adjustment of the Investment Certificate;
• Representing the client to submit the application for renewal of the Investment Registration Certificate;
• Consulting clients on reporting procedures and after renewal of Investment Certificate;
• Support legal procedures for investment projects of enterprises.

Viet An Law Firm is a law firm with many years of experience in providing consultancy procedures for establishing foreign-invested companies, procedures for adjusting investment certificates, and renewing investment certificates. If you have any difficulties or problems related to the investment certificate renewal procedure, please contact Viet An Law Firm for advice and the best service!