Cutting business conditions and administrative procedures needs to be more substantial

Efforts to reduce the list of conditional business lines

Sub-licenses that used to take businesses months to complete are now being eliminated. Reforming administrative procedures and reducing business conditions is not only an objective requirement of the economy , but also a major policy strongly directed by the Party, the State, and especially the Government and the Prime Minister.

Despite many improvements, there are still many barriers to market entry, especially for small and medium enterprises when participating in some conditional business sectors. In response to this reality, in the draft Law on Investment and Business (replacing the Investment Law) currently being consulted, the Ministry of Finance proposed to abolish 16 business sectors that do not really need to be controlled by business conditions.

With more than 10 years of foreign language training, this year the facility is transforming itself, adding study abroad consulting services for Chinese language students. The business representative said that to provide study abroad consulting services, the business needs a Business Service Certificate issued by the Department of Education and Training and needs to meet many requirements regarding human resources and facilities.

Ms. Pham Kim Thien Van - Director of My Chinese Education Joint Stock Company said: "Many of the regulations are formal, do not directly reflect the quality of service, but make businesses spend a lot of time preparing and completing documents. For example, the job requires people doing study abroad consulting to have a university degree or higher, but in reality, many people have a college degree, but with experience, skills and dedication, they can completely take on this job."

The draft Law on Investment and Business not only proposes to abolish 16 industries with business conditions but also proposes to remove the entire list of conditional industries from the law and assign the Government to issue details. This is to ensure that the Government will have more flexibility in making timely adjustments when new industries appear that pose risks to public interests.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh - Vice President of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) shared: "The reduction of these conditional business lines is also in line with the world trend of shifting from pre-control to post-control. And it is also time for us to change and manage business lines to make them more suitable and increasingly create more favorable conditions for businesses to go out into the world."

The reduction of the list of conditional business lines sends a strong message to the business community and international investors about Vietnam's determination to reform institutions and build an open and transparent investment and business environment.

Mr. Haruhiko Ozasa - Chief Representative of the Japan External Trade Organization in Hanoi commented: "We hope that complicated administrative procedures and the legal system will be improved day by day. Reducing the number of conditional business sectors also shows Vietnam's more open policies. This is an attractive point for us."

The breakthrough in cutting business conditions demonstrates the determination to reform institutions and build an open and transparent investment and business environment. This is both a goal and a driving force for businesses to operate stably and long-term, contributing to the overall development of the country.

Cutting business conditions and administrative procedures needs to be more substantial

Positive signals to attract more FDI

This year, completing the review and elimination of unnecessary business conditions, overlapping and inappropriate regulations that hinder business development... is one of many goals set out in Resolution No. 68 of the Politburo on private economic development. This is also a key issue raised by the Government when continuously issuing Resolutions and telegrams, urging ministries, branches and localities to take action.

Implementing Resolution No. 138 promulgating the Government's Action Plan to implement Resolution No. 68 of the Politburo, as of September 22, the Ministries have proactively cut and simplified 890 administrative procedures and cut 222 business conditions.

The Prime Minister has approved a plan to reduce and simplify 2,051 administrative procedures; reduce 2,041 business conditions under the management of 14 ministries and ministerial-level agencies. These efforts have helped make the business environment more open and attractive in the eyes of investors.

Mr. Sacha Dray - World Bank Economist in Vietnam commented: "Notably, the Government aims to cut and simplify at least 30% of unnecessary business conditions by 2025, shorten administrative procedure processing time by 30% and reduce compliance costs for businesses by 30%. This is a positive signal to attract more FDI. Despite the uncertain global context, FDI disbursement in Vietnam remains resilient, increasing by over 9% this year. New investment commitments also continue to be positive, reflecting investors' confidence in the improving business environment. Measures to reform and simplify administrative procedures will further strengthen this prospect."

Mr. Tim Evans - General Director of HSBC Vietnam shared: "Vietnam continues to attract a lot of FDI and this is partly due to Vietnam's cost-benefit and quality workforce, along with the Government's stable policies. We clearly see the Government's encouragement for investment in the market".

Mr. Ko Tae Yeon - Chairman of the Korean Business Association in Vietnam said: "The Vietnamese government has recently merged localities into 34 provinces and cities and implemented a two-level local government, cutting many administrative procedures. Vietnam's efforts to reduce business conditions and improve the investment environment are very attractive to foreign investors."

The Government and Prime Minister's determination to cut administrative procedures and business conditions is very clear and strong.

Cutting business conditions and administrative procedures needs to be more substantial

In reality, many specialized management agencies still want to retain business conditions for control. The biggest challenge is to change the management mindset of specialized agencies - from strict control from the beginning (pre-control) to effective monitoring during the operation process (post-control). Only then will these reforms really come into life, bringing practical benefits to businesses and the economy.

When building a factory, in terms of land, the project is managed by the Planning Law and the Land Law related to land allocation, leasing, and bidding for land use rights. In addition, it is necessary to report on environmental impact assessment, environmental license, construction license, and fire prevention and fighting design approval. Therefore, in many cases, it is unnecessary to request investment policy from State agencies, causing the project to take several years to complete the procedures. Therefore, if this sub-license is reduced, it will both increase efficiency and reduce the burden on businesses.

Dr. Le Duy Binh - Executive Director of Economica Vietnam commented: "The cost of administrative procedures has been reduced through various measures of procedural reform, digital transformation, and improvement of administrative procedure implementation processes. However, the cost of administrative procedures still discourages many people and businesses, especially procedures related to land, construction, fire prevention and fighting...".

The effectiveness of cutting business conditions and administrative procedures is quite clear, but the business community also frankly said that some reduction options are still too formalistic when only changing information fields or small tables in administrative procedures, resulting in a reduction in quantity, but arising in other forms. For example, 2-3 procedures are combined into one, meaning only reducing quantity but not changing in nature, or licenses and business conditions become complicated technical standards for businesses.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Dieu Hong - Head of the Law Development Department, Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry commented: "We have also received many recommendations from businesses about problems. In the past time, we have also forwarded those recommendations to relevant agencies. There are problems that businesses have reported for many years but those recommendations have not been included in the amendments this time."

Dr. Nguyen Minh Thao - Head of the Department of Enterprise Development and Business Environment, Institute of Strategy and Economic - Financial Policy commented: "What is the impact on people's health, what is the impact on social issues, needs to be clarified and specified to avoid creating room for us to arbitrarily add many occupations when specifying these conditional business occupations".

Representatives of many Associations are proposing to radically reduce business conditions in a number of industries. Instead of pre-control, there will be a strong shift to post-control in the direction of expanding the form of allowing enterprises to announce and notify state management agencies of meeting the requirements on business conditions, on the basis of which the state management agencies will conduct post-control. Some unnecessary requirements are proposed to be regulated as business conditions, or to be abolished or included in the Guidance Document or technical standards for enterprises to voluntarily participate.

The determination of the Government and the Prime Minister to cut administrative procedures and business conditions is very clear and strong, demonstrated by specific figures and close instructions. But for those efforts to truly become a driving force for growth, reform must go to the root - thoroughly cutting unreasonable business conditions, creating a transparent, open and substantial investment environment for Vietnamese enterprises. Cutting administrative procedures in a substantial and in-depth direction is becoming an urgent requirement. This is considered an important "push", paving the way for the business community to develop strongly and contribute more to the economy.

Source: https://vtv.vn/cat-giam-dieu-kien-kinh-doanh-thu-tuc-hanh-chinh-can-thuc-chat-hon-100251004061236435.htm