Vietnam Proposes Investment Law Changes Linking Incentives to Results in Push for ASEAN Top Three

More support for investors, with promises attached

Vietnam's Government has proposed tying special investment incentives to commitments on technology transfer, Vietnamese worker training and domestic suppliers, with support subject to adjustment or withdrawal if investors fail to deliver. The changes form part of a drive to place the country's investment environment among ASEAN's top three and the world's top 30 by 2028.

Finance Minister Ngo Van Tuan presented the proposal on October 23, 2026, during the second session of the 16th National Assembly, acting under the Prime Minister's authorization. The draft contains three articles covering four policy areas: foreign investor access, incentives and support, investment procedures, and public administration supported by digital systems.

The package combines easier entry into restricted sectors with closer checks on what projects contribute after approval. Companies could receive help with production, equipment, research and training, while the Government would assess whether they fulfill commitments and use land, resources and energy effectively.

Phan Van Mai, chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee, presented a review broadly supporting the revision. His committee nevertheless sought clearer limits on government powers, measurable conditions for special incentives and continued legislative scrutiny of the Investment Support Fund.

The Government proposes March 31, 2027, as the effective date. Adoption, the final rules for eligibility and the division of oversight powers remain to be decided. For businesses planning factories or other large investments, those decisions will determine both the help available and the obligations attached to it.

Why another revision is being proposed

Vietnam's investment legislation has already undergone several recent changes. Finance Minister Tuan said Investment Law No. 143 took effect on March 1, 2026, and was subsequently amended through Law No. 24. Some committee members asked the Government to explain more fully why another amendment was necessary after changes at the extraordinary parliamentary session in August 2026.

The Government points to new policy directions, including Politburo Resolution No. 10-NQ/TW on developing the economy with foreign investment. The committee also cited Conclusion No. 18-KL/TW in explaining the policy basis for the revision.

The National Assembly's consultation website carries an earlier Investment Law draft dated December 11, 2025, prepared for the 10th session of the 15th National Assembly. It identifies the Ministry of Finance as the lead drafting agency and the Economic and Financial Committee as the lead reviewing body. Its provisions cover investment guarantees, market access, incentives and support.

The legislative sequence helps explain the committee's concern about frequent changes:

• December 11, 2025: The earlier comprehensive Investment Law draft was dated for consideration by the 15th National Assembly.
• March 1, 2026: Investment Law No. 143 took effect, according to the finance minister.
• August 2026: Parliament revised the law at an extraordinary session.
• October 23, 2026: The Government presented the latest amendment proposal.
• March 31, 2027: The Government proposes bringing the latest changes into effect.
• 2028: The Government aims to reach its regional and global investment environment targets.

How foreign investors could gain easier access

The draft would allow the Government to ease conditions in sectors where foreign investors face restricted access, taking account of economic circumstances and management needs. Those changes would have to protect national defense and security, provide transparency and equal treatment, and respect Vietnam's international commitments.

Market access concerns whether, and on what terms, a foreign investor may enter a business sector. Article 8 of the December 2025 draft lists conditions such as foreign ownership limits, permitted investment forms, the scope of activities and requirements concerning an investor's capacity or partners.

Finance Minister Tuan described the safeguards accompanying the proposed easing. Speaking in Vietnamese, he said:

The easing must ensure national defense and security, openness, transparency, non-discrimination and consistency with international commitments.

The proposal includes a legislative check. Where conditions appear in instruments under the authority of the National Assembly or its Standing Committee, the Government would seek the Standing Committee's opinion before issuing changes.

The reviewing committee wants a phased approach supported by a full assessment of effects, especially in sensitive sectors. Its concern is both economic and legal: government decisions must fit with legislation and treaty obligations that sit above ordinary implementing regulations.

Four kinds of support, tied to delivery

The Government proposes four additional forms of investment support: supply chain development; production of high technology products; investment creating fixed assets; and cooperation between businesses and universities, vocational institutions, and science and technology organizations. The policy discussion also covers product and technology improvements and initial investment costs.

Fixed assets are resources a business uses over several years, such as buildings, machinery and production equipment. Supply chain support concerns the network of companies supplying the materials, components and services needed to make a product.

Special incentives would last for a limited period and be tied to commitments covering technology transfer, research and development, Vietnamese workforce training, domestic supplier development and green transition. The proposed packages also seek to support digital transition.

For Vietnamese businesses, the intended benefit extends beyond attracting a foreign factory. A project could help local suppliers qualify for orders, train workers in more advanced production methods or share technology that strengthens domestic manufacturing.

The committee wants the law itself to state the basic eligibility criteria, including benefits reaching other businesses and contributions to national competitiveness. It also wants a clear mechanism connecting promised support to actual results, with fewer decisive conditions left entirely to later government regulations.

Who would control the Investment Support Fund?

The Investment Support Fund would provide assistance based on eligible costs actually incurred, within the central budget estimate approved annually by the National Assembly. This would connect payments to qualifying expenditure and the public funding authorized for each year.

The Government proposes authority to issue detailed rules on the fund without first obtaining the National Assembly Standing Committee's views. Those rules would cover matters including its operating model, legal status, budget resources, eligible recipients, conditions, procedures and support levels.

A majority of the Economic and Financial Committee wants to retain the existing requirement for prior Standing Committee review. The committee argues that the fund's financial scale and broad reach call for continued scrutiny of how national resources are managed.

The disagreement concerns how detailed spending rules are checked before they take effect. Annual parliamentary approval of the budget would remain part of the proposed funding framework, while the committee seeks another layer of review over how the fund operates.

The committee also asked for clearer authority among the Government, Prime Minister and Standing Committee when deciding exceptional support packages, including limits on their content and budget resources. For applicants, those rules would shape how support is negotiated, approved and paid.

Green industrial parks and regional priorities

The draft proposes accelerated depreciation at up to twice the normal rate for qualifying fixed assets in ecological industrial parks. Depreciation spreads an asset's cost across its useful life for accounting and relevant tax calculations. A faster rate brings more of that recognized cost into earlier years.

The ministry's presentation describes extending infrastructure investment projects to a maximum of 70 years. The wider proposal also describes longer operating terms for projects in ecological industrial parks, with the same ceiling of 70 years. The green industrial policy aims for ecological parks to account for about 10% of industrial parks nationwide, roughly one in ten.

Investment attraction would also vary by location. Growth poles would prioritize modern, green and high technology projects producing greater value. Surrounding or satellite areas would focus on processing, manufacturing and supporting industries, while other localities would select projects suited to their strengths.

Provincial People's Councils could use local budgets to support companies' workforce training costs, subject to ceilings set by the Government. Proposed training settings include domestic and overseas institutions, with the policy discussion also covering company facilities in Vietnam and abroad.

These measures connect the national investment strategy to local decisions. Provinces would have room to support skills development, but their spending would depend on budget capacity, local priorities and national limits.

Faster procedures must fit land and sea rules

The draft would extend special investment procedures to certain projects in sectors eligible for special incentives and support, even when located outside concentrated functional zones. Those zones include industrial parks, export processing zones and high technology parks.

Eligibility would depend on land conditions. The committee asked the Government to explain precisely how investment registration would interact with land recovery, allocation and leasing, particularly where land had not yet been recovered by the State.

For a business, a quicker investment procedure still needs to connect with the steps that make a site legally available. The committee wants those steps aligned so that faster processing does not leave investors facing unresolved land procedures afterward.

Projects using marine areas would face changes too. The proposal introduces auctions of sea use rights when selecting investors seeking State allocation of marine areas, alongside approval procedures and proposed exemptions or reductions in sea use fees.

The committee wants the law to specify the scope, criteria and principles for exemptions from auctions or competitive bidding. It also seeks consistency with land, bidding, marine resource and environmental legislation, rather than broad references that leave later regulations to define the exceptions.

A single digital entry point for investors

The National Investment Single Window Portal would become a unified digital platform connecting investment data and gradually allowing procedures to be completed online from beginning to end. The Government's stated objective is to reduce time and compliance costs.

The December 2025 draft already distinguishes between two national investment tools. The National Investment Database holds information on projects across the country and connects with other agencies' databases. The National Investment Information System supports monitoring, assessment and analysis, as well as investor services.

The committee wants the relationship between those systems and the proposed portal clearly defined. It asked for explicit responsibilities for managing, updating, connecting, sharing and using investment data.

Its most practical request concerns repeated paperwork: investors should not have to submit information already held in government databases. Meeting that requirement would depend on agencies exchanging usable records as well as providing an online application screen.

The draft would assign the Ministry of Finance responsibility for economic zones, while the Ministry of Industry and Trade would lead management of industrial and export processing zones. Clear ownership of both administrative tasks and data would matter when projects pass between agencies.

Measuring results while protecting policy stability

The proposal adds investment effectiveness assessment at Clause 4a of Article 45. The checks would monitor investor commitments and support action where projects fail to deliver, waste land, resources or energy, or harm the environment, public order or safety.

Changes to Clause 3 of Article 49 would redirect investment promotion from attracting projects in large numbers toward selecting investments for their quality, innovation, technology transfer, workforce development and concrete economic contribution. Promotion efforts would concentrate more on approaching, negotiating with and supporting strategic investors and projects.

Dau Anh Tuan, deputy secretary general and head of the Legal Department at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said businesses want commitments to stable, transparent policy translated into protections they can use in practice.

The committee's call for careful transitional provisions addresses that concern. It wants investors' lawful rights protected and gaps avoided as new rules replace old ones. The December 2025 draft contains protections concerning changes in incentives, including continued treatment for the remaining incentive period in specified circumstances.

The package also proposes amending Civil Judgment Enforcement Law No. 106/2025/QH15 to allow enforcement offices organized as enterprises. The committee requested a clearer explanation of the need and legal basis for that change, together with scrutiny of its transitional provisions.

Vietnam's proposal therefore combines two tasks: making investment easier to begin and making support more dependent on performance. The committee's requested revisions focus on making both sides predictable through clear eligibility, lawful procedures, defined oversight and protections during the transition.

Key Points

• Vietnam aims to place its investment environment among ASEAN's top three and the world's top 30 by 2028.
• The Government presented the amendment on October 23, 2026, and proposes an effective date of March 31, 2027.
• Special incentives would depend on commitments including technology transfer, worker training and domestic supplier development.
• Support could be adjusted or withdrawn when investors fail to meet commitments.
• The reviewing committee wants continued Standing Committee scrutiny of detailed Investment Support Fund rules.
• Green measures include depreciation at up to twice the normal rate and proposed project terms of up to 70 years.
• Lawmakers seek clearer land and marine procedures, connected investment databases and protection of existing investor rights.