Construction Permit for Factories in Industrial Parks: Checklist
Since 01/7/2026, Vietnam's construction-permit framework has changed comprehensively: Construction Law No. 135/2025/QH15 (passed 10/12/2025) took effect, replacing Construction Law No. 50/2014/QH13, while Decree No. 217/2026/ND-CP detailing construction activity management took effect the same day. For FDI investors building factories in industrial parks, the three biggest changes are: licensing authority is now drawn more clearly, some already-appraised projects are exempt from permits, and the entire procedure runs online with shorter processing times.
This article is a practical checklist for investors, in-house legal teams and consultants on FDI projects building factories, warehouses and ancillary works in industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks or economic zones in Vietnam. It focuses on new construction permits; repair, renovation, relocation and permit-extension procedures are covered only in principle.
1. Who this checklist is for and when to use it
- Audience: foreign-invested (or domestic) enterprises developing factory, warehouse or ancillary construction projects in industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks or economic zones.
- When to use it: from the investment-preparation stage, before signing the design contract — because several checklist items (land-use rights, feasibility-study appraisal, fire prevention, environment) drive the whole permitting timeline.
- Not directly for: single-family houses of households or individuals, or works outside industrial parks (authority and dossiers differ).
How to mark: ☐ not done · ☑ done · ⚠ have a lawyer review.
- 1. Confirm where to file and the licensing authority
- 2. Check whether the works are exempt from permits
- 3. Work through the 12-item dossier and procedure checklist
2. Step 0: where to file — authority of the Industrial Park Management Board
The first rule, and the most common mistake: a factory inside an industrial park files with the Industrial Park Management Board, not the Department of Construction.
- Legal basis: Article 53 of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP. Article 53(2) provides that the Management Board of an industrial park, export processing zone, hi-tech park or economic zone issues construction permits for works built in those zones within its assigned management scope. Commune-level People's Committees only permit grade-III, grade-IV and single-family-house works in their locality (excluding Article 53(2) works); the Department of Construction permits the remaining works in the province.
- Projects with multiple works of different types and grades: licensing authority follows the highest-grade work in the project. A project with a grade-II factory and a grade-III office building in the same industrial park still files with the Industrial Park Management Board.
- Adjustment, extension, re-issuance, revocation and cancellation: the authority that issued the permit is also the authority for adjusting, extending, re-issuing, revoking and cancelling it. File adjustment or extension applications with the same body that issued the original permit.
- Practical note: each Management Board works under its own published administrative procedures; before filing, check the latest procedure list and forms on the National Public Service Portal or directly with the Board.
3. Preliminary check: are the works exempt from construction permits?
Before preparing a dossier, the investor must check whether the works are exempt. Article 43(2) of the 2025 Construction Law lists 8 permit exemptions. For FDI factory projects, two deserve close reading:
- Exemption (6): construction works in investment projects whose feasibility study report (or adjusted feasibility study report) has been appraised by the specialised construction authority and approved under regulations are exempt from construction permits. This is a significant expansion under the new law, aimed at avoiding duplicate procedures: a project already controlled at the specialised authority need not seek a permit again. Many large FDI projects have gone through this appraisal step.
- Exemption (7): grade-IV works and single-family houses under 07 storeys with total floor area under 500 m² outside managed planning areas — rarely relevant to ordinary FDI factories, but worth knowing so it is not misapplied.
The remaining exemptions (state-secret works, emergency works, special public-investment projects, line works, offshore works, advertising, passive telecom infrastructure, minor interior repairs not changing use) hardly ever apply to factories in industrial parks.
- The right approach: match each Article 43(2) exemption against the project's actual legal position. When in doubt, ask the Industrial Park Management Board for written confirmation of whether the works require a permit — that letter protects the enterprise in later inspections.
- Even when exempt, the investor must still meet other statutory duties, including the construction-commencement notice and responsibility for design and construction quality.
4. The 12-item dossier and procedure checklist
If the works require a permit, here are the 12 items to prepare under Article 57 of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP and the conditions in Article 44(1) of the 2025 Construction Law.
Item 1 — Identify the permit type needed. Article 43(1) of the 2025 Construction Law provides three permit types: new construction permits; permits for repair, renovation or relocation of works; and fixed-term construction permits. A newly built factory in an industrial park falls under the first.
Item 2 — Lawful land documents. One of the lawful land documents under Article 55 of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP. For FDI projects, the most common is the land lease or sublease contract in the industrial park signed with the infrastructure developer, plus documents evidencing the lessor's land-use rights. ☐ checked ☐ valid ⚠ review where subleasing from a third party or the land is mortgaged.
Item 3 — Conformity with land-use purpose. Article 44(1)(a) requires the works to conform to the land-use purpose under land law. Factory land must be industrial-park, industrial-cluster or production/business land with the correct designated purpose.
Item 4 — Conformity with planning. Article 44(1)(b) requires conformity with urban-rural planning or separate urban design, architectural management regulations, or other detailed sectoral planning under planning law. Inside an industrial park, check the park's zoning plan and the infrastructure developer's site layout.
Item 5 — Construction design drawing set. Under Article 57, the dossier includes the construction design drawings showing the project site master plan, work location, principal plans, elevations and sections, foundation and main structural solutions, and the connection scheme to external technical infrastructure. Drawings must be prepared by qualified organisations or individuals.
Item 6 — Fire-prevention, rescue procedure results. Article 57 requires the results of fire-prevention and rescue procedures (where required). Factories subject to fire-prevention design appraisal must complete that step before filing for the construction permit.
Item 7 — Environmental procedure results. Article 57 requires the results of environmental protection procedures (where required) — depending on scale and production type, the project may need an environmental impact assessment report or an environmental registration.
Item 8 — Technical-infrastructure connectivity. Article 44(1)(c) requires the design to ensure technical-infrastructure connectivity. Inside an industrial park, prepare the infrastructure developer's written acceptance of utility connections (power, water, transport, drainage, wastewater treatment).
Item 9 — Project approval decision and design verification report. Article 57 requires the construction investment project approval decision and the construction design verification report (if any). Note: the new law no longer requires "02 hard-copy sets" as before; dossiers are electronic.
Item 10 — Capacity of the design and verification organisations. The application on Form No. 01 of Appendix II requires the names of the design and design-verification organisations or individuals, with capacity-certificate and practice-certificate numbers of the design managers and lead designers. Keep copies of valid certificates ready.
Item 11 — Application on Form No. 01, Appendix II. Use the current form issued with Decree 217/2026/ND-CP, not the old decree's form. Declare the work type and grade, areas, heights and other indicators as the form requires.
Item 12 — File online and track processing. Decree 217/2026/ND-CP provides that issuance, adjustment, extension and re-issuance of construction permits run fully online via the National Public Service Portal. State agencies may not demand documents or information already available on connected national databases — if asked for duplicates, the enterprise may decline and ask the authority to retrieve them from the system.
5. The three groups of issuance conditions
Article 44(1) of the 2025 Construction Law sets three condition groups applying to all three permit types in Article 43(1):
- Conformity with land-use purpose under land law.
- Conformity with planning — urban-rural planning or separate urban design under urban-rural planning law, architectural management regulations under architecture law, or other detailed sectoral planning under planning law (except for fixed-term construction permits).
- Design safety — the construction design must ensure safety of the works and neighbouring works, fully implement environmental protection and fire-prevention rules, and ensure technical-infrastructure connectivity.
Enterprises should also know the licensing authority's powers in order to cooperate proactively. Article 45(1) gives the competent permit-issuing authority the right to: require the investor and the design organisations or individuals to provide, explain and clarify information serving permit issuance; refuse requests that would falsify the permitting outcome; and check the conditions against the law and send written requests for opinions from state management agencies in relevant fields. Article 45(2) at the same time obliges the authority to publish the rules openly, return results on time, and holds the authorised person legally responsible for wrongly or belatedly issued permits.
6. Procedure and processing timelines
Article 54(2) of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP sets the processing procedure as follows:
- Dossier appraisal: within 03 working days (single-family houses) or 05 working days (other works, including factories) of receiving a complete and valid dossier, the competent authority must appraise the dossier, inspect the site where necessary, and check the conditions to send written opinion requests to state management agencies in relevant fields where dossier information is incomplete or inconsistent.
- One-time supplementation notice: during appraisal, the authority identifies missing or non-compliant documents and notifies the investor once by email or text message to supplement and complete the dossier. Within 02 working days of receiving the notice, the investor must supplement; if supplementation fails to meet the notice, the authority notifies the reason for non-issuance within 01 working day.
- Consulted agencies' opinions: consulted state agencies must reply within 02 working days; silence after the deadline counts as agreement, and they bear responsibility for matters within their management function.
- Issuance timelines: other works (new, relocation, fixed-term) — 10 working days; adjustment, repair, renovation — 09 working days; extension or re-issuance — 05 working days; single-family houses — 07 working days.
- Permit publicity: construction permits are published on the electronic information portal for at least 12 months.
One notable change from the old regime: supplementation notices go by email or text message instead of paper letters, and only once — enterprises should get the dossier right the first time, as there are no longer multiple supplementation rounds.
7. The four mistakes that get dossiers returned most often
Mistake 1 — Filing with the wrong authority. Filing with the Department of Construction when the works sit in an industrial park managed by the Management Board. Check Article 53 of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP before filing.
Mistake 2 — Land documents failing Article 55. Common patterns: subleasing from a third-party enterprise without documents evidencing the sublessor's rights; land-use purpose on the papers not matching the proposed works; leased area not matching the site master plan. Land legal review must come before every other step.
Mistake 3 — Missing fire-prevention or environmental results, or drawings silent on infrastructure connections. Factories subject to fire-prevention appraisal filing before results are in; projects subject to environmental procedures not yet completed; drawings lacking the connection scheme to the park's technical infrastructure.
Mistake 4 — Letting the groundbreaking deadline lapse without extension. The groundbreaking deadline is no more than 12 months from permit issuance or extension. If the works have not broken ground by then, the investor must apply for an extension; each permit may be extended at most twice, 12 months each time (Article 63). The extension dossier comprises the application on Form No. 02 of Appendix II plus the original or a certified copy of the issued permit, processed within 05 working days. Many projects are caught out for forgetting to track this deadline.
8. After the permit: the investor's obligations
Getting the permit is not the end. Article 46 of the 2025 Construction Law obliges the permit applicant to: submit a complete dossier and take responsibility for the accuracy and truthfulness of its contents; ensure the validity of land-use rights and work ownership for the permitted contents; pay the permit fee as regulated; and implement the permit's contents correctly.
In particular, the investor must notify construction commencement under Article 48(1)(dd): send the notice in writing or online to the local state construction management agency before breaking ground (except single-family houses of households and individuals). The permit itself follows the Appendix II forms of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP, stating the permitted indicators — work type and grade, areas, heights, building density — and building off-permit is a violation that can be sanctioned.
9. When to have a lawyer review the dossier
For standard workshops, an experienced design consultant usually handles the procedure well. But four situations call for lawyer review: (i) complex land position (sublease from a third party, mortgaged land, unclear boundaries); (ii) special project components (chemical warehouses, workshops with special fire-prevention requirements, works near safety corridors); (iii) projects potentially exempt under Article 43(2) but without the Management Board's written confirmation — the legal risk needs assessment before deciding not to seek a permit; (iv) repeated unexplained dossier returns, where someone needs to work directly with the licensing authority.
FLAT Law Firm supports FDI investors through the full legal life cycle of industrial-park construction projects: land legal review before leasing, exemption assessment, preparing and tracking construction permit dossiers with Industrial Park Management Boards, resolving fire-prevention and environmental issues, advising on permit adjustments and extensions, and completion procedures. Contact hotline 0988424851 for a quick assessment of your project's dossier.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I file for a factory construction permit inside an industrial park?
With the Industrial Park Management Board (export processing zone, hi-tech park or economic zone board) under Article 53(2) of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP. Enterprises do not file with the Department of Construction for works inside industrial parks managed by the Board.
What documents does the construction permit dossier include?
Under Article 57 of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP: the application on Form No. 01 of Appendix II; lawful land documents under Article 55; the project approval decision; the construction design verification report (if any); results of fire-prevention, rescue and environmental procedures (where required); and the construction design drawing set.
Are factories in industrial parks exempt from construction permits?
As a rule, ordinary workshops still require a permit. Article 43(2) of the 2025 Construction Law lists 8 exemptions — notably, works in investment projects whose feasibility study report has been appraised by the specialised construction authority and approved. Investors should check the text and seek written confirmation from the Industrial Park Management Board rather than assuming an exemption.
How long does construction permit processing take?
Within 05 working days of receiving a complete and valid dossier, the authority must appraise it and notify once by email or text message if supplementation is needed (Article 54(2), Decree 217/2026/ND-CP). Issuance takes 10 working days for other works (new permits); extensions or re-issuance take 05 working days.
What happens if construction starts before the permit is issued?
Breaking ground without a permit (for works requiring one) is an administrative violation in construction — it can draw fines, a stop-work order, and demolition of the violating portion. Complete the permitting procedure before breaking ground.
How long is a construction permit valid, and what if it expires?
The groundbreaking deadline is no more than 12 months from permit issuance or extension. If the works have not broken ground by then, the investor must apply for an extension; each permit may be extended at most twice, 12 months each time (Article 63, Decree 217/2026/ND-CP).
References
- Construction Law No. 135/2025/QH15 (National Assembly passed 10/12/2025, effective 01/7/2026).
- Decree No. 217/2026/ND-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Construction Law on construction activity management (effective 01/7/2026).
- Law on Fire Prevention, Firefighting and Rescue 2024 (fire-prevention procedures for works).
- Law on Environmental Protection 2020 (environmental procedures for projects).
