Reducing business regulations to enhance national competitiveness is one of the government's priorities in its efforts to improve the business environment for enterprises.
Reduce business regulations by more than 50%.
According to data in the Report on the Implementation of Resolution 2014-2018 - 5/2018 by the Central Institute for Economic Management Research, ministries and sectors plan to add, amend, or eliminate up to 51% of business conditions. However, the number of business conditions actually eliminated is still less than 50%.
The Ministry of Finance proposed cutting up to 51.4% of business conditions under its management on August 13th, just two days before the deadline set by the Prime Minister for ministries to submit their plans for reducing business conditions.
The Ministry of Finance did not cause as much controversy as the Ministry of Industry and Trade's actions last September, just before the Prime Minister's Task Force visited the Ministry, when it announced it would cut 675 business conditions.
"Providing oxygen" remains essential for businesses.
Businesses will find it much easier to breathe if the Ministry of Finance's plan is implemented.
Because the Ministry of Finance plans to use a decree to amend and supplement 16 decrees across various sectors as part of this round of business condition reductions. These sectors include:
- Securities trading
- Insurance Business
- customs
- Valuation
- Audit
- Accounting
- Business of electronic games with prizes for foreigners.
- Lottery business
- Casino business
- Credit rating services
- Betting business
- Voluntary retirement fund management services
In this round of revisions and cuts, only the tax sector was excluded from consideration. This is because tax-related regulations, such as the Tax Administration Law, are being reviewed and revised to be simpler, more progressive, and more convenient.
Only nearly 1000 out of 5000 business conditions have been reduced so far, with the remaining 3000 still held by various ministries.
However, in a recent exchange with the press, the Minister and Head of the Government Office stated that not all ministries have completed their plans to reduce business conditions. While 14 ministries have submitted plans, 7 are still lagging behind. This indicates that compliance with the Prime Minister's directive is not yet truly serious, and in the future, businesses will certainly continue to face difficulties due to these business conditions.
Minister Mai Tien Dung also stated that only about 1000 business conditions have been reduced out of nearly 5000. The remaining 3000 conditions are still held by various ministries. Meanwhile, implementing the requirement of Resolution 01/2018 to reduce business conditions by 50% may be difficult to achieve due to the strict regulations of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents. Furthermore, during the review and inspection process, many cases were discovered where ministries simply combined business conditions instead of actually reducing them.
Reform is not just a “battle”.
Although business regulations do not allow local authorities to unilaterally issue business conditions, these conditions have been distorted in a wide variety of ways. It must be acknowledged that reducing investment and business conditions has become a "battle" since the beginning of this term. One side strives to implement reforms, while the other tries to cling to the interests and privileges of ministries, sectors, and localities.
The government has focused on reducing business regulations throughout its first half of the term in an effort to improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness. However, over the past nearly 20 years, the number of business regulations has increased to thousands, whereas previously there were only a few hundred sub-licenses. This number would rise to tens of thousands if we include regulations that are "similar" to business regulations hidden in lower-level documents.
Throughout the past half-term, reducing business regulations has been one of the Government's priorities in its efforts to improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness. However, over the past nearly 20 years, from just a few hundred sub-licenses, business regulations have proliferated to thousands. If we include regulations similar to hidden business conditions in sub-legal documents at various levels, the number of business conditions has reached tens of thousands.
The decisive action of the Prime Minister.
In Government Resolution 01/2018, the Prime Minister mandated that ministries reduce their business regulations by at least 50% in 2018. This target was considered relatively appropriate given the current context and quite feasible for implementation by the ministries. However, the ongoing struggle remains protracted and its end is uncertain. The tension and difficulty are evident in the fact that within each ministry, there is a genuine reluctance to change; moreover, they are demanding "strengthened state management" in areas where they hold significant power.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment recently reiterated outdated targets in the draft Government Resolution on reducing costs for businesses. “Significantly reduce informal costs for businesses, while minimizing unreasonable costs in complying with business regulations; build a stable business environment with low, predictable costs that encourage market entry, investment, and competition.” The target of reducing business conditions by 50% is, of course, a recurring theme. More importantly, businesses will remain uneasy as the reduction and simplification of business conditions, along with specialized inspection procedures, remains a “battle” among regulators.
Another important point to consider is that the meaning of the phrase "business conditions" has not been fully clarified to form a basis for evaluating and reviewing the legal regulations governing conditional business sectors. The ambiguity between the concepts of technical standards and business conditions remains a topic for discussion.
And so, the battle over reducing business regulations will naturally continue without end.
