On March 16, 2021, the Prime Minister issued Decision 10/2021/QD-TTg regulating the criteria for identifying high-tech enterprises issued by the Prime Minister, which replaces the Decision No. 19/2015/QD-TTg (“Decision 10“).

Here are some highlights of Decision 10:

1. Subjects covered by Decision 10:

Enterprises producing high-tech products and providing high-tech services in Vietnam and related agencies and organizations.

2. Criteria for defining high-tech enterprises:

A high-tech enterprise must satisfy the following criteria:

• Manufacturing high-tech products on the List of high-tech products encouraged for development;
• Apply environmentally-friendly and energy-saving measures in production and product quality management meeting Vietnam’s technical standards and regulations; In cases where Vietnamese standards and technical regulations are not available, the standards of specialized international organizations shall apply.
• Revenue from high-tech products must be at least 70% of the total annual net sales of the business.
• The proportion of total expenditure on research and development of enterprises in the value of total net sales minus the annual input values:

1. For enterprises with a total capital of VND 6,000 billion and total number of employees from 3,000 people or more, it must be at least 0.5%;
2. For enterprises with a total capital of VND 100 billion and the total number of employees from 200 people or more, it must be at least 1%;
3. For enterprises not in points a and b, but must achieve at least 2%.

• Percentage of employees who directly conduct research and development with a college or higher qualification of the enterprise (the number of employees who have signed a labor contract with a term of one year or more or have a contract with no definite term, in which workers with college degrees do not exceed 30%) of the total number of employees:

1. Enterprises with total capital of VND 6,000 billion and total number of employees from 3,000 people or more must reach at least 1%;
2. Enterprises with total capital of VND 100 billion and total number of employees from 200 people or more must reach at least 2.5%;
3. For enterprises not in points a and b, but must achieve at least 5%.

Decision 10 takes effect from April 30, 2021. Enterprises that have submitted their application for a high-tech enterprise certificate before the effective date of Decision 10 and have not yet been issued shall comply with the criteria specified in Decision 10.

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