DECREE

AMENDMENTS TO THE GOVERNMENT’S DECREE NO. 68/2017/ND-CP DATED MAY 25, 2017 ON MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of Government dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on Planning dated November 24, 2017;

Pursuant to the Resolution No. 751/2019/UBTVQH14 dated August 16, 2019 of the Standing Committee of National Assembly providing guidance on some Articles of the Law on Planning;

At the request of the Minister of Industry and Trade;

The Government promulgates a Decree providing amendments to the Government’s Decree No. 68/2017/ND-CP dated May 25, 2017 on management and development of industrial clusters.

Article 1. Amendments to the Government’s Decree No. 68/2017/ND-CP dated may 25, 2017 on management and development of industrial clusters

1. Clause 1 Article 1 is amended as follows:

“Article 1. Scope and regulated entities

1. This Decree deals with the industrial cluster development plan, establishment and expansion of industrial clusters, investment in technical infrastructure, business and production facilities in industrial clusters, incentive policies for development of industrial clusters, and state management of industrial clusters."

2. Clause 11 Article 2 is amended as follows:

“Article 2. Definitions

11. “industrial cluster development plan” means the rational arrangement or allocation of space for industrial clusters, which must be associated with policies and solutions for synchronous management and construction of technical infrastructure facilities of a province in each period and ensures environmental protection, economical and efficient use of land and other local human and natural resources.

The industrial cluster development plan is an integral part of, formulated and integrated with, the provincial planning in accordance with regulations of the Law on planning.”

3. Article 5 is amended as follows:

“Article 5. Industrial cluster development plan

1. An industrial cluster development plan is formulated on the following grounds:

a) Vietnam's industrial development strategy, and local strategies for development of priority industries and sectors;  

b) Socio-economic development orientations, regional planning, and local technical and specialized planning;

c) The demand for ground area for attracting investment in industrial clusters and serving relocation of business and production facilities to industrial clusters;

d) The ability to mobilize investment capital from enterprises and the Government, and other lawful capital sources to build technical infrastructure facilities of local industrial clusters;

dd) Requirements for environmental protection, economical and efficient use of land and other local human and natural resources.

2. An industrial cluster development plan shall include, inter alia, the following contents:

a) Legal grounds for and the necessity to formulate an industrial cluster development plan;

b) The assessment of objectives and contents of Vietnam’s industrial development strategy, and of local strategies for development of priority industries and sectors; planned objectives of and the need to develop priority or targeted industries and sectors, and forecasted enabling and disabling factors that may impact on the development of industrial factors in each planning period; estimated demand for ground space serving investment in industrial clusters;  

c) The assessment of current status, construction progress and efficiency of investment in technical infrastructure facilities of local industrial clusters; investment attraction, occupancy rate and management of industrial clusters; assessment of business and production situations, environmental protection, environmental remediation measures, socio-economic efficiency of each industrial cluster; achievements, shortcomings and causes thereof;

d) Scenarios for development of local industrial clusters; each scenario should provide description of each industrial cluster, including name, location, area and land use status, which should be determined according to the principle that the use of land planned for paddy, protective and reserve forests must be limited; sectors of operation (with orientations towards industries/business sectors that can be linked or of the same value chain of products or services); explanation about grounds for amending an industrial cluster development plan; solutions for investment attraction, planned progress of construction of infrastructure facilities, occupancy and creation of jobs to local workers; assessment of ability to connect socio-economic infrastructure outside industrial clusters as well as enabling and disabling factors;

dd) The assessment of enabling and disabling factors of industrial cluster development scenarios; a possible scenario shall be proposed as the development plan and enclosed with the list of industrial clusters to be developed and shown on the map, including name, location, area, operation sectors and technical infrastructure construction progress;

e) Solutions for raising funding for constructing technical infrastructure facilities, incentive mechanisms and policies for development of industrial clusters; solutions for assessment and treatment of environmental pollution, estimated environmental impacts and environmental remediation measures for industrial clusters included in the development plan, especially established and operating industrial clusters in the province, and implementation thereof.

3. Funding and phasing of an industrial cluster development plan shall adhere to regulations on provincial planning."

4. Article 6 is amended as follows:

“Article 6. Formulation and integration of industrial cluster development plan into provincial planning

1. Each provincial Department of Industry and Trade shall play the leading role and cooperate with relevant provincial departments, agencies, district-level People’s Committees, and relevant units in formulating and completing the provincial industrial cluster development plan in accordance with the provisions of Article 5 hereof, and then submitting a report on the plan to the provincial People’s Committee.

2. The provincial People’s Committee shall direct the provincial planning agency to process and integrate the industrial cluster development plan into the provincial planning, and get opinions about such provincial planning (which includes the industrial cluster development plan) in accordance with regulations of the Law on planning for completing and submitting it to competent authorities for approval.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall give its opinions about the conformity of the industrial cluster development plan with regulations on provincial planning.

3. The decision on approval for the provincial planning must include contents about the industrial cluster development plan and the enclosed list of industrial clusters to be developed, including name, location, area, sectors of operation and progress of construction of technical infrastructure facilities of the industrial cluster, implementation solutions and relevant contents (if any).”

5. Article 7 is amended as follows:

“Article 7. Grounds for amendment of an industrial cluster development plan

1. There are amendments to Vietnam's industrial development strategy, local strategies for development of priority industries and sectors, regional planning, provincial planning, and other local technical and specialized planning.

2. There are changes in the land area used for development of industrial clusters to meet demands for lease of land to serve business operations and match with efficiency of investment in technical infrastructure facilities and ability to lease spaces of industrial clusters of districts.

3. The investor in the technical infrastructure facility of the industrial cluster must be determined; if an industrial cluster is removed from the industrial cluster development plan, the industrial cluster relocation plan must be developed.”

6. Article 8 is amended as follows:

“Article 8. Contents of report on amendment of an industrial cluster development plan

1. Legal grounds, necessity and explanation about grounds for amendment of an industrial cluster development plan.

2. The assessment of progress and efficiency of investment in technical infrastructure facilities, investment attraction, occupancy rate of industrial clusters; assessment of business and production situations, socio-economic efficiency, environmental protection and environmental remediation measures of the industrial cluster; achievements, shortcomings and causes thereof.

3. The assessment and estimated demands for production premises for investment attraction, relocation to the industrial cluster, current use of land, investment sources and progress of investment in technical infrastructure facilities, ability to connect with external infrastructure facilities, legal status and capacity of the investor, estimated environmental impacts, environmental remediation measures and management of industrial clusters to be added to the industrial cluster development plan; assessment of current status, efficiency of investment in technical infrastructure facilities, objectives, contents, progress and feasibility of the industrial cluster relocation plan regarding the industrial cluster to be removed from the industrial cluster development plan.

4. Proposed amendments to the industrial cluster development plan, enclosed with the list of industrial clusters, including name, location, area, sectors of operation; expected investor, progress of investment in technical infrastructure facilities and attraction of investment for occupancy of the industrial cluster.

5. Implementation solutions.”

7. Article 9 is amended as follows:

“Article 9. Formulation and integration of amended industrial cluster development plan into amended provincial planning

1. The district-level People's Committee shall prepare and send a written request for amendment of the local industrial cluster development plan to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

2. The provincial Department of Industry and Trade shall play the leading role and cooperate with relevant provincial departments, agencies and relevant units in completing the report on amendment of provincial industrial cluster development plan in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 and Article 8 hereof, and then submitting it to the provincial People’s Committee.

3. The provincial People’s Committee shall direct the provincial planning agency to process and integrate the amended industrial cluster development plan into the amended provincial planning, and get opinions about such amended provincial planning (which includes the amended industrial cluster development plan) in accordance with regulations of the Law on planning for completing and submitting it to competent authorities for approval.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall give its opinions about the conformity and fulfillment of relevant conditions and requirements of the amended industrial cluster development plan with regulations on provincial planning.

4. With regard to minor changes in name, location, area, sector of operation, progress of investment in technical infrastructure facilities and other contents relating to an industrial cluster, which do not cause changes in objectives, nature or increased land area of the industrial cluster development plan in the approved provincial planning or the land area for development of industrial clusters approved by competent authorities, the relevant provincial People's Committee shall submit a written request to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to give approval for implementing and updating such changes to the provincial planning, and for reporting to the Prime Minister in the period of formulation and approval for the provincial planning.

5. The decision on approval for the amended provincial planning must include contents about the amended industrial cluster development plan and the enclosed list of industrial clusters to be developed, including name, location, area, sectors of operation and progress of investment in technical infrastructure facilities, implementation solutions and relevant contents (if any).”

8. Point a Clause 1 Article 10 is amended as follows:

“Article 10. Eligibility requirements for establishment or expansion of industrial clusters

1. Eligibility requirements for establishment of an industrial cluster:

a) The industrial cluster development plan must be available and included in the approved provincial planning;”

9. Clause 3 Article 15 is amended as follows:

“Article 15. Investors in construction of industrial cluster technical infrastructure facilities

3. Enterprises and cooperatives should be given priority in the course of selecting investors in construction of industrial cluster technical infrastructure facilities if an application for establishment or expansion of the industrial cluster meets the requirements herein.

During the appraisal carried out as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 12, the provincial Department of Industry and Trade shall submit a report to the provincial People's Committee for establishing an assessment council for selecting a qualified investor (the assessment council is comprised of a Chairperson who is a leader of the provincial People's Committee, a Deputy Chairperson who is a leader of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, and other members who are representatives of relevant provincial departments and agencies) for marking on a scale of 100 points according to the following criteria: the plan for investment in technical infrastructure facilities (maximum 15 points), the plan for environmental protection and management of the industrial cluster (maximum 15 points), capacity and experience of the assessed enterprise or cooperative (maximum 30 points) and the financial plan for construction of technical infrastructure facilities (maximum 40 points).

An enterprise or cooperative given 50 points or higher shall be considered and selected as the investor of technical infrastructure facilities by the provincial People’s Committee according to the decision on establishment or expansion of the industrial cluster (if two or more enterprises or cooperatives jointly apply for approval as investor of technical infrastructure facilities, the enterprise or cooperate with the highest mark shall be selected). After a period of 12 months from the establishment or expansion of the industrial cluster, if the selected investor fails to execute the technical infrastructure construction project, suspends or delays the project by 12 months compared to the progress specified in the decision on establishment or expansion of the industrial cluster, the provincial People’s Committee shall consider granting an extension or selecting another investor.

If a technical infrastructure construction project is executed in the form of public-private partnership, the investor shall be selected in accordance with regulations on investment in the form of public-private partnership. The duration of appraisal of proposal for establishment or expansion of an industrial cluster shall exclude the duration of selection of investor in accordance with regulations on investment in the form of public-private partnership.”

10. Clause 1 Article 35 is amended as follows:

“Article 35. Powers and responsibilities of Ministry of Industry and Trade

1. Formulate and promulgate or request competent authorities to promulgate programs, plans, mechanisms, policies, laws, certifications and confirmations relating to industrial clusters; give opinions about the conformity and fulfillment of relevant requirements of industrial cluster development plans.”

11. Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 42 are amended as follows:

“Article 42. Powers and responsibilities of each provincial People’s Committee

1. Direct formulation and integration of the industrial cluster development plan into the provincial planning, get opinions about the industrial cluster development plan for completing and submitting it to competent authorities for approval; issue decisions on establishment or expansion of industrial clusters, mechanisms, policies and plans for development of industrial clusters; provide the People's Council of the same level with the state-funded supporting programs for construction of technical infrastructure facilities of industrial clusters (allocation of funding for construction and finishing of environmental protection facilities of operating industrial clusters shall be given priority).

2. Promulgate regulations on management of industrial clusters, adopt single-window system or inter-agency single-window system in following procedures for implementation of technical infrastructure construction projects and business projects in industrial clusters; based on the actual conditions of the province, assign provincial Department of Industry and Trade or district-level People’s Committee to take charge of handling procedures for implementation of technical infrastructure construction projects and business projects in industrial clusters according to the provisions in Clause 2 Article 43 and Clause 3 Article 44.”

Article 2. Replacement of words

1. The phrases “QUY HOẠCH” (“PLANNING”) in heading of Chapter II and heading of Section 1 of Chapter II shall be respectively replaced by the phrases “PHƯƠNG ÁN PHÁT TRIỂN” (“DEVELOPMENT PLAN”) and ““PHƯƠNG ÁN" ("PLAN").

2. The phrase “quy hoạch” (“planning”) shall be replaced by the phrase “phương án phát triển” (“development plan”) in Article 4, Clause 1 Article 33, Clause 1 and Clause 3 Article 43, and by the phrase “xây dựng phương án phát triển” (“formulation of development plan”) in Clause 1 Article 44; the phrase “quy hoạch đã được thỏa thuận” (“agreed planning”) shall be replaced by the phrase “phương án phát triển cụm công nghiệp nằm trong quy hoạch tỉnh đã được phê duyệt” (“the industrial cluster development plan included in the approved provincial planning”) in Clause 4 Article 12; the phrase “quy hoạch” (“planning”) shall be replaced by the phrase “phương án phát triển cụm công nghiệp” (“industrial cluster development plan”) in Clause 1 Article 31 and Clause 5 Article 35.

Article 3. Transition

During their implementation, provincial industrial cluster development planning approved before January 01, 2019 may be modified and supplemented in accordance with regulations on management of industrial cluster development planning laid down in Decree No. 68/2017/ND-CP until the provincial planning is given approval in accordance with regulations of the Law on planning.

Article 4. Effect and responsibility for implementation

1. This Decree comes into force from August 01, 2020.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial agencies, heads of Governmental agencies, Chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities, and relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for the implementation of this Decree./.