Proposal for Adjusting Construction Operation License with Foreign Contractors According to Current Laws

1. Who are Foreign Contractors?

According to Article 3, Clause 12 of Decree No. 15/2021/NĐ-CP, foreign contractors are organizations or individuals from foreign countries with legal capacity in civil law; for individuals, they must also have legal capacity to act in civil matters to sign and execute contracts. The legal capacity in civil law and the capacity to act in civil matters of foreign contractors are determined by the laws of the country of their nationality. Foreign contractors can be general contractors, main contractors, joint contractors, or subcontractors.

2. When to Adjust the Construction Operation License with Foreign Contractors?

According to Article 104a, Clause 1 of Decree No. 15/2021/NĐ-CP (supplemented by Decree No. 35/2023/NĐ-CP), after obtaining a construction operation license, if there are changes in the name, address of the contractor, changes in members of the contractor's consortium, or subcontractors, or other information recorded in the issued construction operation license, foreign contractors must directly submit or send a dossier to the construction operation licensing authority for consideration of adjusting the issued construction operation license.

3. Latest Proposal for Adjusting Construction Operation License with Foreign

Contractors The latest proposal for adjusting the construction operation license with foreign contractors, according to Article 104a, Clause 2 of Decree No. 15/2021/NĐ-CP (supplemented by Decree No. 35/2023/NĐ-CP), includes:

• A request form for adjusting the construction operation license as stipulated in Form No. 8 in Appendix III of Decree No. 15/2021/NĐ-CP;

• Supporting documents for the proposed adjustments. These documents must be translated into Vietnamese and authenticated in accordance with Vietnamese law.

4. Regulations on Revoking Construction Operation Licenses with Foreign Contractors

Regulations on revoking construction operation licenses with foreign contractors, according to Article 106 of Decree No. 15/2021/NĐ-CP, are as follows:

Foreign contractors' construction operation licenses are revoked in the following cases:

• Forgery of documents in the application for a construction operation license;

• Alteration or falsification of the contents of the construction operation license;

• Errors in the construction operation license due to the issuing authority's mistakes;

• Issuance of the construction operation license without proper authority.

Authority to revoke construction operation licenses:

• The authority that issued the construction operation license is responsible for revoking it;

• In cases where the construction operation license was issued improperly and the issuing authority does not revoke it, the Ministry of Construction directly decides to revoke the construction operation license.

Procedure for revoking construction operation licenses:

• Within 10 days of receiving the inspection conclusion, the examination document from the state management agency in construction, including the proposal to revoke the construction operation license or when discovering or having grounds to determine any of the cases stipulated in Clause 1 of Article 106 of Decree No. 15/2021/NĐ-CP, the competent authority issues a decision to revoke the construction operation license; if not revoked, there must be a written opinion sent to the recommending agency;

• The authority responsible for revoking the construction operation license must send the decision to the organization or individual being revoked; and simultaneously send it to the investor and relevant authorities;

• The organization or individual whose construction operation license is revoked must return the original license to the authority within 05 working days from the date of receiving the revocation decision;

• In case of revoking the construction operation license due to errors by the issuing authority, the authority must reissue the construction operation license within 05 working days from the date of receiving the revoked construction operation license; for violations under points a and b of Clause 1 of Article 106 of Decree No. 15/2021/NĐ-CP, the authority issuing the construction operation license to foreign contractors only considers reissuing the license after 12 months from the date of the revocation decision;

• If the organization or individual whose construction operation license is revoked does not return the license as required, the authority may issue a decision to nullify the construction operation license, notify the organization/individual, and inform the investor and relevant authorities.

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