It's time for businesses to move from evading the law to complying with the law

(Dan Tri) - According to experts, when business barriers are removed, the level of competition in the market will be greater and the risk of business elimination will be greater.

Institutionalizing Resolution 68 after only 12 days

Opening the Vietnam Investment Forum 2025 held on the afternoon of June 3, Dr. Phan Duc Hieu, member of the Economic Committee of the 15th National Assembly, Deputy of the 15th National Assembly, especially emphasized the determination of the Party, National Assembly and Government in institutional reform.

Mr. Hieu said that in the resolution on socio-economic issues issued at the end of 2024, for the first time, the National Assembly put the issue of having strong and drastic solutions to remove institutions, overcome bottlenecks, further promote the review, supplementation, and completion of institutions, laws, mechanisms, and policies associated with improving the effectiveness and efficiency of organization and implementation of laws, focusing on cutting and simplifying administrative procedures, business regulations, etc. to the first position in the contents.

The important changes mentioned by Mr. Hieu include resolutely abandoning the mindset of "if you can't manage it, then ban it", promoting decentralization and delegation of power; overcoming bottlenecks to free up resources, reforming administrative procedures to cut costs for people and businesses.

He said that this session the National Assembly works in a "rolling" format, very different from before. When the laws are discussed and edited well, they will be approved immediately in this session. He said that the Government has submitted about 30 laws and 7 normative resolutions in this 9th session.

Dr. Phan Duc Hieu, Member of the Economic Committee of the 15th National Assembly, Delegate of the 15th National Assembly (Photo: Organizing Committee).

In addition, in order for Resolution 68 issued by the Politburo on May 4 to soon come into practice, the National Assembly issued Resolution 198 on May 17 to immediately institutionalize some contents in the Resolution instead of waiting for law amendments.

The basic contents of Resolution 198 have immediately taken effect, such as 3-year exemption of corporate income tax for small and medium enterprises, 2% interest rate support for green, circular, ESG projects, inspection of enterprises no more than once a year, ordering, limited bidding, and designated bidding for important, key, strategic projects, etc.

“The current context has changed dramatically. In the past, businesses always pushed and put pressure on the government, but now it is the opposite,” said lawyer Truong Thanh Duc, Director of ANVI Law Firm, when sharing about the changing context of policy.

He compared that in the past, businesses often worried about whether today's mechanisms and institutions would tighten or tie up anything, but now they are excited about what will be untied and what will be opened up.

Experts say that in the past, businesses were running out of breath, so now they need to run even faster. Previously, a Party resolution took at least 6 months, or even 3 years to complete, while now it takes 1-2 months to complete. This also affects civil servants to run faster and work faster.

“I am full of faith and hope that everything is moving very quickly and positively,” said lawyer Truong Thanh Duc.

Businesses need to change their thinking

A new point shared by Dr. Phan Duc Hieu is that the spirit of amending the law is different from before. Accordingly, the spirit of amending the law before was to amend and supplement, but this time it was to remove barriers and remove them. This time, there are very few additions, mainly removals.

Therefore, business procedures will be simpler. Although the National Assembly amends many laws, understanding the law will be easier.

Agreeing with Mr. Hieu’s point of view, lawyer Truong Thanh Duc said that in the new institutional context, businesses also need to change their mindset. Accordingly, in the past, businesses paid little attention to the law or if they did, they were interested in circumventing the law, so it is time for them to change their mindset with a higher and more up-to-date level of compliance.

Mr. Truong Thanh Duc, Director of ANVI Law Firm (Photo: BTC).

In addition to the positive aspects of rapid institutional reform, Mr. Phan Duc Hieu said that businesses also need to improve their competitiveness. Accordingly, institutional reform always has two sides. Previously, in the context of old and complicated institutions, a business idea would have difficulty entering the market, but if institutional reform is good, new ideas, initiatives, and business models can easily enter the market when barriers are removed.

As barriers to competition decrease, competition increases, and business elimination becomes more likely. Therefore, businesses need to do business more systematically than before.

In addition, the spirit of Resolution 198 and Resolution 68 always requires Ministries to always set the principle of legal risk management when designing policies and laws, and take into account the legal compliance of enterprises.

For example, Resolution 198 emphasized the spirit of inspection and examination based on the history of legal compliance of enterprises. Enterprises that comply with the law well and have green lanes are less likely to be inspected and examined. Mr. Hieu said that policy discussions raised many issues of legal compliance.

Dr. Phan Duc Hieu shared that compliance criteria will be one of the contents when building upcoming policies. Therefore, businesses must calculate the cost of legal compliance as part of business costs to ensure business safety.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/da-den-luc-doanh-nghiep-chuyen-tu-tu-duy-lach-luat-sang-tuan-thu-phap-luat-20250603180339464.htm