Investment approval must be based on risk.
Commenting on the draft Investment Law (amended) in the hall on November 27, National Assembly member Le Hoang Anh ( Gia Lai ) commented that the mechanism for approving investment policies is the "first entrance" for all capital flows, determining the cost, speed and predictability of enterprises. Therefore, amending Article 24 needs to be based on three pillars: selective retention, principled removal and design according to the level of risk.
According to delegates, it is necessary to first maintain eight groups of projects with extremely high risks related to national defense, security, serious environment and heritage, to protect core national interests.
In addition, the “one size fits all” approach must end. Article 25 is applying the same procedure to projects with very different risks: low-risk projects are unnecessarily delayed by 3-6 months, while high-risk projects lack enhanced monitoring mechanisms.
The delegate cited a nuclear power plant - a particularly high risk - that went through the same process as a 5-hectare housing project, which had low risk and could be fixed if there were any mistakes.
“Many countries like Singapore and South Korea have moved towards risk-based investment management, and this draft needs to take that approach.”
The delegate also proposed to streamline the list of 21 articles down to 18 articles by adjusting 10 articles and removing regulations that overlap with specialized laws, avoiding the situation of "pre-inspection on top of pre-inspection".
For example, airlines are already subject to strict management standards under the Law on Aviation and ICAO; Class I seaports or cargo terminals are already fully controlled by the Law on Maritime and the Law on Aviation. Therefore, Article 25 should be removed to comply with the principle of “one job – one time – one agency”.
For strategic sectors such as semiconductors, data centers, digital infrastructure or next-generation renewable energy, a more flexible mechanism is needed. Delegates proposed reducing the land area and population threshold by 50% for projects on the National Priority List, but with strict conditions on financial capacity, environment and disbursement progress.
Regarding procedures, delegates proposed amending Article 25 to clearly stipulate the time limit for processing dossiers: 30 days for provincial level, 45 days for the Prime Minister and 60 days for the Government; overdue dossiers are considered as accepted and only one extension is allowed.
Along with that, it is necessary to amend Article 47 to build the National Investment Information System into a comprehensive electronic platform, publicizing processing progress, reasons for refusal and post-audit results; and at the same time connecting with the Business Registration Portal to save costs and increase transparency.
Delegates also proposed a transitional mechanism during the system completion period, in line with the Prime Minister's commitment to the International Semiconductor Association on implementing the One-Stop Investment Portal.
“The issue is not to remove or retain procedures, but to redesign them to reduce costs, increase efficiency, manage risks, and at the same time ensure national defense, security and sustainable development goals,” said delegate Le Hoang Anh.
Continue to streamline the list of conditional business lines and occupations
Regarding conditional investment and business sectors, delegate Le Hoang Anh (Gia Lai) completely agreed with the Government's bold decision to cut down many sectors and occupations that are no longer suitable, in line with the reform spirit of Resolutions 66 and 68.
However, Appendix IV still has inappropriate industry groups when many contents are essentially just product standards and techniques, which do not really need to be maintained in the Investment Law.
Specifically, delegates proposed narrowing the food business group because the scope is too broad; safety standards have been fully regulated in specialized laws.
With e-commerce, conditions should only be applied to large platforms with consumer data, avoiding covering logistics, payments or small-scale platforms.
The group of animal feed, aquatic products, pesticides, veterinary drugs and testing services are only technical in nature, the risks have been controlled through registration and testing so there is no need to keep them in Appendix IV.
Similarly, the group of construction, testing and conformity assessment services requires professional skills and practice certificates; it should be assigned to specialized laws to regulate specifically instead of considering it a conditional industry.
Delegate Le Hoang Anh emphasized: “Appendix IV only lists high-risk industries that need to be controlled by law; technical standards and conditions must be placed in sub-law documents for flexibility and quick updating according to practice.”
At the same time, it is proposed to add a 3-year periodic review mechanism; if the profession is no longer suitable, it will automatically expire according to the practice of OECD and many ASEAN countries; remove the phrase "other requirements" in Clause 6, Article 7 to avoid the emergence of hidden sub-licenses.
Investment incentives must be linked to quality, responsibility and results.
Considering investment incentives as an important "institutional lever", National Assembly Deputy Le Hoang Anh emphasized that this policy is only effective when it is transparent, measurable and linked to the responsibility of businesses.
According to delegates, Article 14 is still inclined towards attracting large-scale, labor-intensive projects, while Vietnam needs high-quality projects such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, green energy or circular economy.
"Incentives must shift their focus from scale to quality." From this perspective, delegate Le Hoang Anh suggested adding quantitative criteria such as the rate of R&D investment, the use of renewable energy, carbon emissions or the rate of high-quality labor.
With the Prime Minister's authority to decide on "other forms of incentives", it is necessary to clearly stipulate the principle: it only applies to projects with spillover effects on technology, innovation or green transformation, and must be public, transparent, and in accordance with international commitments.
Article 15 on the List of Preferential Industries is currently only indicative and does not link the prioritized industries, incentive levels and output results. Delegates suggested that the law must stipulate a mandatory principle: when issuing the Preferential List, the Government must simultaneously determine the corresponding incentive levels and measurable output targets such as R&D, high-quality jobs or renewable energy ratio.
In addition, in Articles 16 and 17, delegate Le Hoang Anh proposed adding a mechanism for periodic assessment, publicizing incentive results and revoking the unimplemented incentives if enterprises do not meet their commitments on R&D, technology transfer or green emissions, in accordance with international practices (OECD).
“Incentives must go hand in hand with responsibility, be measurable, and have adjustment and recovery mechanisms,” delegate Le Hoang Anh emphasized.
Presenting before the National Assembly, National Assembly Deputy Le Hoang Anh emphasized that the important thing is not only to amend regulations, but also to innovate the thinking of law-making so that the Investment Law (amended) must become a pioneering law.
Accordingly, “take freedom of business as the principle, ensure the legitimate business rights of people and enterprises. Take risk management as the exception, only control areas with real high risks, avoid unnecessary administrative intervention. Take trust, responsibility, transparency as the center, create a stable, predictable and honest investment environment. Take national defense, security and sustainable development as the limit, ensure the balance between growth and national strategic safety. Take the health, life and safety of the people as the supreme standard, to choose strategies, responsibly”.
“Selective retention and principled removal”, according to National Assembly Deputy Le Hoang Anh, is a smart strategy: maintaining safety but still creating a strong driving force for innovation, in line with the strategic resolutions of the Politburo.
Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/luat-dau-tu-sua-doi-phai-la-dao-luat-mo-duong-10397424.html
Comment (0)