The Investment Law 2014 and the Enterprise Law 2014 will take effect very soon on 1 July 2015. However, the Government has not issued any implementing Decrees or Circulars which are necessary for the actual implementation of the Investment Law 2014 and the Enterprise Law 2014. This is unfortunate as the lack of proper implementing Decrees and Circulars may affect the operations of many companies and investors.

Pending issuance of the implementing Decrees and Circulars of the Enterprise Law 2014 and Investment Law 2014, the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment (HAPI) issued a “notice” of some temporary measures as follows:

• Applications submitted under Enterprise Law 2005 before 1 July 2015 will be processed in accordance with the Enterprise Law 2005 after 1 July 2015.
• Applications submitted under Enterprise Law 2014 from 1 July 2015 will be processed in accordance with the Enterprise Law 2014 and guidance from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), if any. This suggests that there may be potential delay if the implementing regulations or at least temporary guidance from the MPI are not issued.
• Applications submitted under Investment Law 2005 before 1 July 2015 and satisfying all licensing conditions will be processed in accordance with Investment Law 2005 after 1 July 2015.
• Applications submitted under Investment Law 2005 before 1 July 2015 but do not satisfy all licensing conditions will be processed in accordance with Investment Law 2014 unless otherwise instructed by the MPI. Again this suggests that there may be potential delay if the implementing regulations or at least temporary guidance from the MPI are not issued.
• Applications submitted under Investment Law 2014 from 1 July 2014 will be processed in accordance with Investment Law 2014 and other implementing regulations.