On September 12, 2024, the Government Office issued Official Dispatch 6532/VPCP-KSTT 2024 regarding comments on the plan for simplifying business regulations.
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Regarding the Draft Plan:
The draft plan proposes a reduction and simplification of 69 out of 642 business regulations (10.75%) under the management functions of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, across 24 legal documents (03 Laws, 14 Decrees, 07 Circulars), covering areas such as competition management, import-export, food safety, electricity, chemicals, industrial explosives, automobiles, petroleum trading, and light industry. The proposed measures focus on:
+ Reducing and simplifying administrative procedures (AP);
+ Reducing and simplifying requirements and conditions;
- Decentralizing the resolution of administrative procedures to facilitate ease and reduce costs for those involved.
+ Certain aspects of the proposals do not meet the requirements of rationality, as seen in the following examples:
+ Some business-related regulations have already been approved for reduction and simplification (such as eliminating the requirement for a copy of the business registration certificate, investment registration certificate, or equivalent legal documents, since these can be retrieved by the competent authority from the National Enterprise Registration Database for certain administrative procedures in the field of trade promotion, as approved in Decision 209/QĐ-TTg of the Prime Minister in 2024).
However, many administrative procedures in other fields with similar requirements (e.g., issuance of Certificates of Eligibility for Tobacco Investment; issuance/reissuance of Alcohol Distribution Licenses; Cross-border Trade Business Licenses; Licenses for Establishing Branches of Foreign Traders in Vietnam; reissuance and amendment of Business Licenses for Foreign-invested Economic Organizations, etc.) have not been reviewed or proposed for reduction and simplification.
+ The proposed simplification for certain fields of import-export (items 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 16) and industrial explosives (items 1, 2) were already approved by the Prime Minister in Decision 1015/QĐ-TTg in 2022.
+ The proposal to decentralize 12 administrative procedures in the light industry sector from the Minister of Industry and Trade to heads of subordinate units within the Ministry lacks justification.
+ The timeline for implementing the simplification plan in certain areas (competition management, import-export, etc.) does not begin in 2024 or extends until 2026, which is untimely and fails to promptly facilitate ease for citizens and businesses.
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Recommendations for the Ministry of Industry and Trade:
- Based on the comments in Section 1 above, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is requested to continue reviewing and refining the simplification plan in the draft, ensuring that it is comprehensive, rational, feasible, and meets the goals and requirements of the Government outlined in Resolution 68/NQ-CP in 2020, Resolution 01/NQ-CP in 2024, and Resolution 02/NQ-CP in 2024, before submitting it to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval.
- Do not include the content of simplification plans already approved by the Prime Minister in Decision 1015/QĐ-TTg in 2022. In addition, promptly implement the decentralization plans already approved as directed by the Government and the Prime Minister (34 out of 45 plans have not been implemented and are overdue).
- The Ministry is also urged to continue researching and reviewing the reduction and simplification of business regulations within its management functions to ensure substantive and effective outcomes in accordance with the directives of the Government and the Prime Minister.
