A list of sectors and trades in which foreign investors are subject to market access conditions has been added to the latest draft Law revising the Investment Law and Enterprise Law, prepared by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).
Worthy of note, the list, consisting of two groups: sectors and trades for which market access by foreign investors are not yet permitted and sectors and trades in which foreign investors are subject to market access conditions, would be formulated by the negative approach.
“This means that the Law would only provide banned or restricted sectors and traders. Foreign investors are free to deal in the rest,” said Bui Anh Tuan, director of the MPI’s Business Registration Management Agency was quoted by the local news web VnEconomy.vn as saying.
According to the MPI, a foreign investor wishing to invest in the country would have to refer to legal documents on investment and business issued by Vietnamese authorities as well as the country’s bilateral and multilateral commitments to look for market access information and, on that basis, determine whether the sector or trade it/he/she intends to invest in is open or restricted or banned. In case the selected sector or trade is subject to conditional access, the investor will further base on other business conditions to proceed with registration procedures.
Under the draft, there are five types of market assess conditions, ranging from ratio of charter capital owned by foreign investors in economic organizations, investment forms, scope of investment activities and capacity of investors and partners engaged in investment. Investors might also be subject to other conditions prescribed in the laws, ordinances, decrees and treaties on investment.- (VLLF)
