Facilitating the flow of legal policies

Solar panel manufacturing at JA Solar Vietnam Co., Ltd. in Viet Yen Industrial Park, Bac Giang province.

The government, along with ministries, departments, and localities, has made great efforts to remove obstacles for businesses. However, there are still some legal "bottlenecks" that cause many businesses to incur additional costs and reduce their competitiveness.

The business community hopes that the Government will identify and promptly "unblock" the flow of policies and laws to support businesses and create a favorable investment and business environment for businesses to develop in the new phase.

Legal barriers

According to VCCI, in 2023, central agencies issued 16 laws, 98 decrees, 33 decisions, and 510 circulars; including several major policies such as the Land Law, the Housing Law, and the Draft Law on Special Consumption Tax, which received great attention and support from the people and businesses.

In addition, VCCI has submitted nearly 100 issues and shortcomings from businesses regarding regulations affecting investment and business activities to relevant agencies. The majority of these recommendations have received feedback, been acknowledged, and plans have been made to review and amend them to address business difficulties related to administrative procedures, costs, etc. Notably, the policy-making mindset and implementation process of regulatory agencies have improved significantly, creating more favorable conditions for businesses.

However, some obstacles remain in the issuance of construction regulations on fire prevention and fighting, inspection of goods in transit, and ceilings on interest expense in related-party transactions with banks, which have not yet been thoroughly resolved or have not reached a consensus between management agencies and businesses. VCCI Chairman Pham Tan Cong stated that while efforts to reduce and simplify business conditions have been implemented very aggressively, they have not been as strong recently as in previous periods.

Paradoxically, when drafting new legal documents or amending existing ones, unreasonable regulations and business conditions often reappear or are incorporated as sub-licenses within technical standards or presented as certificates, adding further burdens to businesses. Therefore, with the continuous evolution of economic activities, state management agencies must address this "bottleneck" and shift their reform mindset towards creating transparent institutions and implementing substantive, decisive reforms to provide more appropriate and favorable policies for businesses in production and trade.

Chairman of the Vietnam Contractors Association, Nguyen Quoc Hiep, shared that administrative procedures for investment in Vietnam are very cumbersome and complicated. To meet investment regulations, businesses need more than 30 seals, causing them to waste a lot of time and money. Therefore, legal procedures need to be thoroughly streamlined, with clear judicial regulations on responsibility in handling administrative procedures, and decisive action from all levels of government is necessary for reforms to be truly effective.

Substantive and effective cost reductions.

In fact, over the years, the State has taken many measures to address policy shortcomings through reviewing and amending regulations that cause obstacles. A report on administrative procedure reform from the Government Office shows that from 2021 to 2023, 2,770 regulations in 224 legal documents out of a total of 15,801 business regulations updated and publicly available on the Business Regulation Consultation and Search Portal were reduced or simplified.

However, according to experts, these activities only address the situation, fixing a few shortcomings at the "superficial" level without considering the "root" of the problem within the legal system. The number of business conditions eliminated is very small, or only those with little significance are removed, failing to truly facilitate businesses. Furthermore, the number of regulations considered reduced or simplified is mainly compiled from administrative reports, without an assessment of the quality of the reforms. Therefore, in reality, while the compliance costs for businesses have decreased, the reduction is not significant.

According to Dr. Nguyen Minh Thao, Head of the Business Environment and Competitiveness Department at the Central Institute for Economic Management Research (CIEM), since 2019, and especially from 2020 to the present, the reform of the business environment and the reduction of business conditions have tended to stagnate. Business conditions remain vague and unclear, creating many barriers, limiting the freedom of business, harboring risks, and adding a burden of compliance costs for businesses.

The 2023 review by CIEM revealed several shortcomings, noting that the streamlining of conditional investment and business sectors has not been truly effective or in line with the spirit of reform. Unnecessary, unreasonable, and meaningless business conditions for state management still exist; some long-standing issues remain unresolved. For example, the regulations on fire prevention and fighting, which businesses have been reporting since 2020, are still in the draft guidance stage due to overly stringent requirements and the need for 100% consensus from ministries and agencies.

To improve the business environment as directed by the Government, Dr. Nguyen Minh Thao suggested that ministries and agencies should make efforts to review and decisively reform to reduce administrative procedures and compliance costs for businesses. Reforms must be detailed, specific, transparent, easy to understand, easy to identify, and consistent in implementation and with existing laws. In addition, before amending or reforming, it is necessary to strengthen consultation and gather feedback from businesses to ensure that business conditions are specific, transparent, clear, easy to understand, and feasible. For business conditions that are not in line with practical realities or interfere deeply with the investment and business activities of enterprises, it is recommended that they be abolished or amended to simplify, reduce compliance costs, and avoid excessive interference in business operations. Only then will it build more confidence among investors and businesses, increase the attractiveness of the business environment, and remove bottlenecks in the flow of policies and laws for businesses in the future.

According to Nhan Dan Newspaper

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/khoi-thong-dong-chay-chinh-sach-phap-luat-post384411.html