Four legal streams and reform expectations from businesses

Workshop to announce the Report "Vietnam Business Law Flow 2024" - Photo: VGP/HT

On April 22 in Hanoi, the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) held a workshop to announce the report "Vietnam Business Law Flow 2024".

Last year, the National Assembly issued 31 laws, the Government issued 182 decrees and the Ministries issued 629 circulars, showing a sharp increase in legislative intensity compared to the previous year. However, the increase in quantity does not mean that the quality and effectiveness of implementation have also improved accordingly.

Mr. Pham Tan Cong, Chairman of VCCI, assessed the overall economic picture in 2024 with a bright spot of GDP growth reaching 7.09%. Along with this result, businesses are still struggling with a series of difficulties such as declining orders, domestic consumption has not recovered, high production costs, labor and capital continue to be difficult problems.

In that context, institutional and legal reform is considered the key to paving the way for businesses to recover and grow. General Secretary To Lam once emphasized: "Institutions are the bottleneck of bottlenecks" and the Prime Minister also requested a shift from the mindset of "if you can't manage, then ban" to "both manage and clear and promote".

In fact, 2024 will see many laws, decrees, and circulars issued and amended in the direction of reform. However, according to VCCI, the legislative process still has many shortcomings from the stage of selecting issues, drafting documents to the process of collecting opinions and issuing regulations under the law. Many opinions say that many documents are still formalistic, have a rushed preparation time, and do not accurately reflect reality.

One of the notable points is that the business community has shown an increasingly clear role in contributing and criticizing policies. However, many policies are still built without the real participation of the main beneficiaries, businesses.

Mr. Pham Tan Cong, Chairman of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) - Photo: VGP/HT

According to the VCCI leader, 2024 will continue to see a dynamic year in law-making - with many Laws, Decrees, and Circulars being amended and issued in the direction of reform. Through monitoring and analyzing issued documents and collecting opinions from the business community, VCCI sees 4 main "currents" in the business law system in 2024.

First, administrative procedure reform and compliance cost reduction continue to be strongly promoted.

According to Mr. Pham Tan Cong, the Government has made great efforts in reducing business conditions, reforming administrative procedures, decentralizing and delegating more power to local authorities and specialized agencies. Many regulations have been amended to make them simpler, more transparent and more favorable for businesses.

"A positive signal is that the business community is increasingly proactive in giving comments and criticism on policies. Many policies issued in 2024 have clearly shown their imprints from business practices," the Chairman of VCCI stated.

Second, some reform policies have not been really favorable in implementation. Regarding this issue, Mr. Pham Tan Cong said that despite many efforts, some policies have not yet created substantial changes. The main reason is that the old management mindset has not been completely changed. Besides, there are still inflexible regulations that do not create favorable conditions for business operations.

Third, fiscal and tax policies have seen many positive changes but remain problematic. Specifically, tax and fiscal policies continue to be seen as effective tools to support economic recovery. Many tax and fee exemption and reduction policies have been implemented. However, businesses still report some shortcomings in implementation such as cost pressure, compliance time and lack of consistency in tax laws.

Fourth, e-commerce policies have been adjusted positively but not consistently. According to Mr. Pham Tan Cong, e-commerce is developing rapidly and plays a key role in the digital economy. Many new policies have been issued promptly to meet management requirements.

However, there are still regulations that do not cover all the realities. Accordingly, it is necessary to perfect the legal framework to protect the rights of stakeholders and ensure fair and transparent competition.

In his speech at the Workshop, Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha - Deputy Director of Vietthink Law Firm said: Particularly in the field of waste treatment for power generation, especially waste-to-energy projects, there are also many legal problems.

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha proposed: It is necessary to soon supplement specific mechanisms and guiding documents to allow ordering of domestic solid waste treatment services, and at the same time issue appropriate model contracts to ensure transparency and economic efficiency.

In addition, it is necessary to complete waste management planning at provincial, regional and inter-regional levels to reasonably allocate treatment facilities and ensure a stable waste input flow for waste-to-energy projects. The lack of a synchronous legal framework not only makes investors hesitant but also slows down the urgent process of socializing waste treatment.

The report "Business Law Flow 2024" conducted by VCCI since 2018 has become an important information channel, connecting business practices with policy-making agencies. Although there are still many shortcomings, the reform flows still show continuous efforts in building a transparent and favorable legal environment.

Mr. Minh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/bon-dong-chay-phap-luat-va-ky-vong-cai-cach-tu-doanh-nghiep-102250422153706405.htm