The Law on Investment 2020, which will take effect on the first of January 2021, has new notable provision related to the procedures for selecting investors of a project using land. Specifically, the Article 29 of the Investment Law 2020 clearly specifies 03 (three) forms of investor selection, including:

    i. Auctioning the land use right in accordance with regulations of the land law;

​   ii. Bidding to select an investor in accordance with regulations of law on bidding; or

  iii. Approving an investor as prescribed in Clauses 3 and 4 of the Law on Investment 2020.

Accordingly, this provision clarifies two circumstances:

    i. For an investment project that is subject to approval for its investment policy, the method of investor selection including auction and bidding shall be adopted after the approval for investment policy is granted. Subsequently, the investor shall be selected under one of the first two forms mentioned above; and

    ii. For an investment project that is subject to approval for its investment policy without going through the stage of investor selection, the competent authority will simultaneously carry out the procedures for approving the investment policy and investor if the investor satisfies the conditions prescribed by relevant law.

In addition, the Article 29.4 of the Law on Investment 2020 supplements cases where the competent authority shall grant approval for both investment policy and investor without auctioning the land use right or bidding to select investor, as follows:

    a. The investor has the land use right, except for the cases stipulated by relevant laws

   b. The investor receives the agricultural land use right, receives the agricultural land use right as stakes or leases the agricultural land use right and the land is not subject to land expropriation by the State in accordance with the land law;

    c. The investor executes the investment project in an industrial park or hi-tech zone; and

    d. Other cases not subject to an auction or bidding in accordance with law.

This provision is considered as a significant change compared to the current law. Thanks to this, the investment procedures for approving investment project and investor is streamlined and clarified, which creates a favorable condition for investors to apply for a license for investment projects using land.