Latest procedure of adjustment of Investment Certificate

Investment Certificate is a legal document issued by the competent Vietnamese state agencies to Foreign Investors. Whereby, important information about the investment project is recorded and when the Foreign Investors wish to change one of these contents, they must carry out the procedure for adjusting the Investment Certificate.

In the content of the article below, CIS Law Firm will provide detailed instructions on the procedure for the latest procedure of adjustment of Investment Certificate in 2021.

1. What is Investment Certificate?

Investment Certificate (also known as Investment Registration Certificate, formerly known as Investment License) is a document to record information about the investment project of the Foreign Investors when carrying out investment in Vietnam. Investment Certificate will be issued to the Foreign Investors by the competent Vietnamese egencies when they fully meet the investment conditions as prescribed by Vietnamese laws.

The Investment Certificate includes the following information:

– Name of the investment project.

– Investors.

– Investment project code.

– Location of the investment project, land use area.

– Objectives and scale of the investment project.

– Investment capital of the investment project (including contributed capital of the investors and mobilized capital).

– Operation term of the investment project.

– Implementation progress of the investment project, including:

• Progress of capital contribution and mobilization of capital sources;
• Progress of the implementation of the main operational objectives of the investment project. In case the investment project is divided into phases, the progress of each stage must be specified.

– Forms of incentives, investment support and grounds and conditions for application (if any).

– Conditions for investors implementing investment projects (if any).

2. What is Adjustment of Investment Certificate?

Adjustment of Investment Certificate means adjustments or changes of the Project’s information by the Investors that are different from the information on the Investment Certificate which the Investors have been issued. Accordingly, if the Investors change the following information, they must carry out the procedure for adjusting the Investment Certificate:

• Change the Information of Investors;
• Change the Project name;
• Change the objectives and scale of Project;
• Change the Location of Project;
• Change the Land use area;
• Change the investment capital;
• Change the capital contribution schedule;
• Change the implementation schedule of Project;
• Change the operation term of Project.

3. Procedure for adjusting the Investment Certificate.

In order to carry out the procedure for adjusting the Investment Certificate, the Foreign Investors need to take the following steps:

a) Step 1: Prepare the documents.

In order to adjust the Investment Certificate, the foreign investors need to prepare papers and documents related to the adjustment contents in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Investment 2020 and guiding documents such as detailing instruction in Section 4 below.

b) Step 2: Submit application.

After preparing all the documents according to the instruction in Section 4, the Investors submit the application at the Agencies that have issued the Investment Certificate.

To know which agencies have issued the Investment Certificate to you, you can find at the top left part of the Investment Certificate.

At the same time, on the last page of the Investment Certificate, the seal of the State agencies also have the name of the agencies that issued the certificate.

c) Step 3: State agencies appraise the dossier.

Upon receipt of the complete dossier from the Investors, the competent state agencies will conduct an appraisal of the validity of the dossier for adjustment of the Investment Certificate. If the dossier is incomplete or incorrect, the competent state agencies will request the Investors to amend and supplement.

d) Step 4: Get the result.

In case the dossier is valid, the competent agencies will issue the adjusted Investment Certificate to the Investors.

In case of refusal to adjust the Investment Certificate, the competent agencies must notify the Investors in writing and clearly state the reasons therefor.

4. Application for adjustment of the Investment Certificate.

According to current regulations, when carrying out the procedure for adjusting the Investment Certificate, the Investors need to prepare documents corresponding to the adjusted contents.

Dossier for adjustment of the Investment Certificate includes:

– A written request for adjustment of the investment project;

– Report on the implementation of the investment project up to the time of adjustment;

– Investor’s decision on adjustment of investment project;

– Explain and provide documents related to the adjustment of the following contents:

• In case of change of project location: documents related to the new location such as location lease agreement, land lease contract, office lease contract, land use right certificate or equivalent documents demonstrating the lessor’s right to lease;
• In case of change of invested capital: Financial statement, Bank’s confirmation that the Investors have contributed additional capital, Explanation of capital change;
• In case of change of the name of the investment project, the name of the investors: Documents related to the change of the name of the investment project, the name of the investors such as: Copy of the enterprise registration certificate, the certificate of change information of the Investors.
• Other documents related to the adjustment contents.

5. Time for adjustment of Investment Certificate.

According to the provisions of the Law on Investment 2020 and guiding documents, the adjustment time for the Investment Certificate is as follows:

• In case of changing the name of the investment project and the investors in the Investment Certificate: the time for adjustment of the Investment Certificate is 03 working days from the date of receipt of the complete and valid dossier;
• In case of changing other contents of the project: the time for adjustment of the Investment Certificate is 10 days from the date of receipt of valid dossier.

6. Service of adjustment of Investment Certificate by CIS Law Firm.

With a wealth of experience in the field of investment consulting, CIS Law Firm has supported many foreign investors from many different countries to invest successfully in Vietnam.

CIS Law Firm will assist clients in the following tasks:

– Consulting on conditions, dossiers and procedures for applying for an investment license, adjusting or changing the investment license, contributing capital, buying shares; establishment of a representative office/branch of a foreign company;

– Complete and quick drafting of documents;

– Representing investors to carry out procedures at competent state agencies;

– Monitoring the processing of dossiers by competent state agencies, explaining to state agencies on issues related to dossiers;

– Guiding investors to carry out legal procedures arising after carrying out the procedures;

– Consulting, carrying out procedures for applying for new licenses and adjusting relevant sub-licenses;

– Support for legal issues arising in the course of business activities for investors.

The above is the detailed guide on the latest procedure for adjusting the Investment Certificate in 2021. If you have any problems in the process of adjusting the Investment Certificate or you have any unclear content or need legal assistance, please immediately contact a lawyer of CIS Law Firm with the following information:

ENTERPRISE LEGAL DEPARTMENT – CIS LAW FIRM

109 Hoang Sa, Da Kao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Tel: 028.3911.8581 – 3911.8582   Hotline: 0916.568.101

Email: info@cis.vn