Perfecting laws on investment, finance and budget

Promoting reform of investment, finance and budget procedures

On May 17, the National Assembly listened to the Presentation and Report on the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Bidding; Law on Investment under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model; Law on Customs; Law on Export Tax and Import Tax; Law on Investment; Law on Public Investment; Law on Management and Use of Public Assets (Law amending and supplementing 7 Laws).

The Draft Law amending and supplementing 7 Laws is designed to promote support, decentralization, delegation of power and reform of administrative procedures on investment, finance and budget.

Authorized by the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang presented the Draft Law at the meeting - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang said that the completion of laws on investment, finance, and budget, especially laws in areas such as investment, bidding, public investment, investment under the public-private partnership model, customs, export tax, import tax, and management and use of public assets, has been of great concern to the Party, the National Assembly, the Government, and the Prime Minister , who have closely led and directed the implementation of the arrangement and organization of the local government apparatus.

In addition, the completion of this Law also creates momentum to contribute to promoting the development of science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation, promoting economic growth and is stipulated in many documents such as: Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017, Resolution No. 27-NQ/TW dated November 9, 2022, Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW dated December 22, 2024 of the Politburo, Resolution No. 60-NQ/TW dated April 12, 2025 on the 11th meeting of the 13th Party Central Committee, the Politburo's Conclusions on rearranging and reorganizing administrative units at all levels and building a 2-level local government organization model, to achieve the growth target of 8% in 2025 and double-digit growth in the coming years...

The Minister of Finance shared: “In the face of changes in the socio-economic situation, legal documents on investment, finance and budget have also encountered some difficulties and obstacles in the implementation process, so they need to be reviewed and studied for amendment and supplementation. The Government has urgently reviewed, summarized and assessed the implementation of the Laws in the fields of investment, finance and budget and has identified 7 Laws that need to be amended and supplemented appropriately to implement the arrangement and organization of the local government apparatus, creating a driving force to contribute to promoting the development of science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation, promoting economic growth…”.

Minister Nguyen Van Thang said the purpose of building the Law is to fully institutionalize the policies and orientations of the Party and State on science and technology development, innovation, digital transformation; reorganize the State apparatus; promote support, decentralization, delegation of power and reform of administrative procedures on investment, finance and budget.

Timely remove difficulties, obstacles, clear up, effectively use resources for economic development, science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation; ensure the unity and synchronization of the legal system; improve the investment and business environment; promote economic growth.

Add urgent content to remove obstacles

Reporting on the review of the Draft Law, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee - Phan Van Mai said that the Committee agreed with the necessity of amending and supplementing the Laws with the political basis, legal basis and practical basis stated in the Government's Submission.

However, the Committee recommends that the Government direct relevant agencies to continue to carefully review, closely follow the goal of amending the law, focus on amending and supplementing urgent contents to remove difficulties and obstacles in practice, especially in the field of science and technology activities; to ensure creating favorable and transparent conditions and procedures for businesses, organizations and individuals, while ensuring strict management requirements, having a transparent and effective post-inspection mechanism, avoiding creating loopholes and taking advantage of policies.

Specifically, the review agency suggested that the drafting agency consider some major contents such as: amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Bidding, regulating in the direction of allowing investors and competent persons to base on the scale, nature, and actual conditions of the bidding package and project to choose to apply forms of selecting contractors and investors, which can create conditions to shorten the time for budget-using units, but can easily lead to the emergence of mechanisms of asking and giving, taking advantage of policies, assigning contracts, and appointing contractors in a narrow scope for a number of enterprises or for friendly enterprises, leading to small and medium-sized enterprises having difficulty accessing public procurement and participating in public investment projects.

Therefore, the review agency recommends that the Government carefully assess the policy impact and clearly report on the political and practical basis for the National Assembly to consider and decide.

Regarding amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the PPP Law, the Economic and Financial Committee recommends carefully considering the proposal to remove the prohibition on the application of direct toll collection contracts from users for PPP projects and not requiring the guarantee of service users' right to choose in cases of renovation, upgrading, expansion, modernization, and operation of existing expressway infrastructure systems or roads in operation that are renovated or upgraded into expressways, supplementing full impact assessments and regulations in the Draft Law to ensure harmony of interests between the State, enterprises and people...

Regarding the amendment and supplementation of a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment, although the majority of opinions of the Economic and Financial Committee agreed to add two new contents, namely “policy for special public investment projects” and “tasks of preparing for site clearance” to promptly meet practical requirements. However, it is recommended that the Government have specific regulations for implementation, ensuring the consistency of the legal system…

Regarding amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the Laws: Customs Law, Law on Export Tax, Import Tax, Investment Law and Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, agreeing with the proposed amendments and supplements to these Laws, focusing on preferential treatment for science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, etc. However, the examining agency requested the Government to direct the review of specific regulations to ensure strictness; strengthen the monitoring mechanism, post-inspection, and the mechanism for handling arising risks to ensure transparency and avoid taking advantage of policies.

Phuong Lien

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/hoan-thien-phap-luat-ve-dau-tu-tai-chinh-ngan-sach-102250517103144493.htm