05 new points of the Law on investment 2025 effective from March 01, 2026

Law on Investment No. 143/2025/QH15 was passed by the 15th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, at its 10th Session on December 11, 2025, and officially takes effect from March 01, 2026. Below are several key new points of the Law on Investment 2025.

Table of contents:

1. Reduction of Conditional Business Investment Lines

The Law on Investment 2025 has reduced 38 conditional business investment lines.

Furthermore, Article 7 stipulates that the Government shall publish the List of sectors and trades subject to conditional business investment for which licensing or certification is required prior to the implementation of business investment activities, and the List of sectors and trades subject to conditional business investment for which the method of management of business investment conditions must be converted from licensing or certification to the publication of business requirements and conditions for management under the post-inspection method.

No	Conditional investment and business sectors have been reduced
1	Provision of tax procedure performance services
2	Provision of customs clearance services
3	Insurance auxiliary services
4	Provision of commercial assessment services
5	Temporary import of re-export of excise tax-liable goods
6	Temporary import of re-export of frozen food
7	Temporary import of re-export of goods on the List of used goods
8	Energy auditing
9	Provision of employment services
10	Provision of labor outsourcing services
11	Provision of car warranty and maintenance services
12	Provision of inland waterway craft building, conversion, repair and restoration services
13	Provision of maritime safety assurance services
14	Provision of ship towage services
15	Provision of ship building, conversion and repair services
16	Provision of flight assurance services
17	Provision of multimodal transport services
18	Provision of architectural services
19	Construction activities of foreign contractors
20	Provision of construction investment cost management services
21	Provision of condominium operation management services
22	Provision of crematory management and operation services
23	Provision of data center services
24	Provision of overseas study counseling services
25	Breeding and planting of wild fauna or flora species specified in the Appendices to the CITES and the list of endangered, precious and rare species of forest plants and animals and aquatic animals
26	Breeding of common forest animals
27	Export, import, re-export, transit, and introduction from the sea of specimens from the nature of the species specified in the Appendices to the CITES and the list of endangered, precious and rare species of forest plants and animals and aquatic animals
28	Export, import and re-export of specimens of bred or reared animals or artificially propagated plants of the species specified in the Appendices to the CITES and the list of endangered, precious and rare species of forest plants and animals and aquatic animals
29	Processing, trading, transport, advertising, display and storage of specimens of the fauna and flora species specified in the Appendices to the CITES and the list of endangered, precious and rare species of forest plants and animals and aquatic animals
30	Trading in food subject to specialized management by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
31	Provision of animal and animal product isolation and quarantine services
32	Provision of cosmetic surgery services
33	Provision of services of inspection, calibration and testing of measuring devices and measurement standards
34	Provision of art performance, fashion show, and beauty or model contest organization services
35	Provision of services of construction of information technology technical infrastructure and development of software of land information systems
36	Provision of land database development services
37	Banknote printing and coin minting
38	Archiving services

2. Foreign Investors Allowed to Establish Enterprises Before Having an Investment Project

Point c, Clause 1, Article 22 of the Law on Investment 2020 stipulated that foreign investors must have an Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) before establishing an economic organization.

“Article 22. Investment to establish economic organizations

Investors shall establish economic organizations according to the following regulations:

…

c/ Before establishing economic organizations, foreign investors must have investment projects and shall carry out procedures for grant or modification of investment registration certificates, except cases of establishing small- and medium-sized innovative startup enterprises and innovative startup investment funds in accordance with the law on support for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

…”

However, Clause 2, Article 19 of the Law on Investment 2025 now allows foreign investors to establish an enterprise without requiring a prior investment project, provided they meet market access conditions. Specifically:

“Article 19. Investment for establishment of economic organizations

Foreign investors may establish economic organizations for implementation of investment projects before carrying out procedures for grant or modification of investment registration certificates and must meet the market access conditions applicable to foreign investors specified in Article 8 of this Law when carrying out procedures for establishment of economic organizations.”

3. Specific Regulation of Projects Subject to Investment Policy Approval

Instead of general stipulations on projects subject to investment policy approval based on authority as in the Law on Investment 2020, the Law on Investment 2025 specifically regulates 20 projects subject to investment policy approval. These include:

Projects using large or sensitive land/resources: Change of forest use purpose (special-use, protection, production) with large areas; change of wet rice cultivation land use purpose of 500 hectares or more; projects with large-scale migration and resettlement; projects in areas affecting national defense and security; projects requesting assignment of sea areas.
Projects in special or sensitive sectors: Nuclear power; casinos, betting; oil and gas processing; air transport business; telecommunications with network infrastructure; afforestation; publishing and press activities implemented by foreign investors.
Projects related to heritage and specific urban areas: Projects in protected areas of national monuments, world heritage sites; projects in restricted development areas or historic inner-city areas of special-class urban centers.
Large-scale infrastructure and real estate projects: Construction of housing, urban areas (where the investor already has land use rights); golf courses; industrial parks, export processing zones, digital technology zones; large seaports; airports, aerodromes, and important aviation infrastructure.
Projects with special requirements: Requesting the State to allocate land, lease land, or allow change of land use purpose (excluding certain excepted cases); projects requiring the application of specific mechanisms/policies different from laws; other projects under the approval authority of the Prime Minister as prescribed by law.

Regarding the authority to approve investment policy, Article 25 of the Law on Investment 2025 stipulates:

The National Assembly only approves investment policy for projects requiring the application of special mechanisms and policies.
The Prime Minister approves investment policy for 08 groups of projects.
The Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee (replacing the Provincial People’s Committee) approves 13 groups of projects.

4. Reduction of Cases Requiring Adjustment of Investment Projects

Article 33 of the Law on Investment 2025 stipulates 05 cases where investors with projects already approved for investment policy must carry out procedures for approval of adjustment of investment policy:

Changes or additions to contents or objectives subject to approval of investment policy as specified in the investment policy approval document;
Changes in the scale of land area used as prescribed by the Government, or changes in the investment site;
Extension of the implementation schedule of the investment project in case where the adjustment of the schedule exceeds 24 months as prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article;
Adjustment of the operation duration of the investment project;
Change of the investor before the project is put into operation, for investment projects subject to concurrent approval of investment policy and investor, or changing conditions applicable to investors (if any).

Thus, compared to the Law on Investment 2020, Article 33 of the Law on Investment 2025 has removed 02 cases requiring investment project adjustment:

Changing total investment capital by 20% or more which changes the scale of the investment project;
Changing technology that has been appraised or consulted upon during the investment policy approval process.

5. Allowing Adjustment of Investment Project Operation Duration

The Law on Investment 2025 retains the regulation that the investment project duration shall not exceed 50 years for projects outside economic zones or 70 years for projects within economic zones. However, investors are permitted to adjust to increase or decrease the operation duration of the project during implementation. The Law on Investment 2020 did not allow this, only permitting extension when the term was about to expire. Specifically, Clause 4, Article 31 of the Law on Investment 2025 states:

“Article 31. Operation duration, and implementation schedule of the investment project

…

In the course of implementation of an investment project, the investor may adjust to increase or decrease the operation duration of the investment project. The operation duration of the investment project after adjustment shall not exceed the duration prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.”

Additionally, Clause 6, Article 52 of the Law on Investment 2025 allows projects being implemented before the effective date of the Law to adjust the duration if the remaining duration does not meet the financial plan or business plan of the transferee.

6. Expansion of Subjects Eligible for Special Investment Procedures

Under Article 20 of the Law on Investment 2020, investors were entitled to choose to register investment under special procedures for projects in industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech zones, and functional areas in economic zones in specific fields:

“Investing in the construction of innovation centers, research and development (R&D) centers; investing in the semiconductor integrated circuit industry, design and manufacturing technology of components, integrated circuits (ICs), flexible electronics (PE), chips, and semiconductor materials; investment projects to build large data center infrastructure, cloud computing infrastructure, 5G and above mobile infrastructure, and other digital infrastructure in strategic technology sectors as decided by the Prime Minister…”

Article 28 of the Law on Investment 2025 has expanded the subjects eligible to apply special investment procedures. Under the regulations, investors are entitled to choose to register investment under special investment procedures for investment projects in industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech zones, concentrated digital technology zones, free trade zones, international financial centers, and functional areas in economic zones, excluding projects subject to investment policy approval.

Projects registered under special investment procedures are exempt from procedures for Investment policy approval, Technology appraisal, Establishment of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports, Establishment of detailed planning, Issuance of Construction Permits, and other approval/licensing procedures in construction and fire prevention and fighting. However, investors must have a written commitment to meet conditions, standards, and technical regulations as prescribed in each field.

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Time of writing: 10/02/2026

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