Vietnam will no longer subject retailers from certain countries and regions to additional regulatory scrutiny when opening a second or subsequent store, Nikkei Asia reported.
A decree issued this month eases the country's Economic Needs Test (ENT) requirements, which gauge how new outlets affect surrounding businesses and have traditionally served to shield domestic retailers from competition.
The change takes effect on 18 October.
The move satisfies an obligation Vietnam accepted upon joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), under which it agreed to scrap ENTs by January 2024.
The rollout was held up while the commitment was written into domestic legislation. As businesses from a CPTPP member state, Japanese firms are entitled to the exemption.
Aeon Vietnam general director Daisuke Tezuka said: “This is extremely important as we pursue our medium-term plan to triple the scale of our business in Vietnam over the next five years.”
Aeon is reportedly aiming to run 300 supermarkets in the country by the year ending February 2031, which would mean opening more than one outlet a week.
Tezuka said ENT assessments had previously caused unexplained hold-ups, sometimes taking months to conclude.
FamilyMart is targeting 300 outlets in Hanoi alone by fiscal 2031, while supermarket operator FujiMart, which is partly owned by Sumitomo, plans to reach 50 stores nationwide over the coming years.
Clothing retailer Uniqlo and other chains are expected to gain more scope to launch standalone outlets, having previously needed to operate within shopping centres to keep their stores small enough to meet ENT requirements.
Vietnam's retail sales are expanding by more than 10%, and the Japan External Trade Organization's Hanoi office notes growing interest in the market.
A Sumitomo representative told Nikkei that it remained "necessary to carefully assess the effectiveness of deregulation”.
Earlier this month, Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung told visiting Japanese business leaders that the government would foster a "stable, transparent, fair, and predictable investment environment".
