Land-use rights of foreign-invested enterprises according to Vietnamese law

Abstract

Aim: The article presents the provisions of Vietnamese law; concentrates on the basic issues directly related to land-use rights of foreign-invested enterprises, such as methods of establishing land-use rights and rights of foreign-invested enterprises in using land, trading rights for foreign-invested enterprises and how to secure land-use rights of foreign-invested enterprises.Method: Doctrinal research is described as a method that provides a systematic exposition of the rules governing a particular legal category, analyzes the relationship between rules, explains areas of difficulty and, perhaps, predicts future development.Findings: Land plays an essential role in economic activities. In Vietnam, land-use rights have meaning and nature similar to the ownership of land. Under the doctrinal research method, the paper describes the Vietnamese law of land focusing on foreign-invested enterprises’ land-use rights and points out the respective shortcomings. To have land use rights in Vietnam, a foreign-invested enterprise needs an investment project in Vietnam that a state agency has approved, and this project calls for the land. The land-use rights can be established directly from the State representing the landowner and (or) indirectly from the owners of land use rights. In principle, foreign-invested enterprises only have the right to access land-use rights directly from the State. Indirect access to land use rights is more limited.Implications/Novel Contribution: The paper recommends solutions so that foreign-invested enterprises may recognize the legal risks concerning land-use rights and avoid them.