Regulations on capital owner's representative agency at enterprises need to be specified

	Clearly define the applicable subjects when amending the law on state capital management in enterprises
	Reviewing policies when state-owned enterprises are not profitable

The draft Law provides specific provisions on capital owner's representative agency. Photo: Internet

Create legal framework for exercising capital owner's rights

The draft Management and Management of State Capital at Enterprises, which is developed and widely consulted by the Ministry of Finance, stipulates that the capital owner's representative as the capital investor of the State is equal to other capital investors.

Accordingly, the draft Law stipulates capital owner's representative agencies (Article 50), as saying that State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises is a specialized agency performing management the State capital invested in enterprises; regulates the rights and responsibilities of the capital owner's representative agency (Article 51 and Article 52); stipulates the standards of capital owner representatives (Article 53), the appointment of representatives (Article 54); regulates the rights and obligations of capital owner’s representatives (Article 55).

According to the Ministry of Finance, the provisions aim to concretize and revise the current Law No. 69/2014/QH13 which stipulates that the owner's representative agency is an agency or organization assigned by the Government to implement rights and responsibilities of the state owner's representative for the enterprise established by itself or is assigned to manage and exercise the rights and responsibilities for the state capital invested in joint stock companies and limited liability company with two or more members.

However, in the management structure of the State Capital Management Committee at enterprises, the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) jointly receives and exercises the right of the capital owner's representative at enterprises transferred by ministries, branches, and provincial People's Committees.

Ms. Vu Thi Thanh Nga, Deputy Director of Chan Hung Company (a company belonging to the Vietnam Fatherland Front), said that the draft Law saying that the central capital owner's representative agencies including political organizations, socio-political organizations, and socio-professional organizations under the central government, is consistent with the actual situation, creating a legal basis for these organizations in performing the duties and powers of capital owner's representative at enterprises.

However, the 2015 Law on the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Vietnam Fatherland Front stipulates provides that the Vietnam Fatherland Front is Vietnam Fatherland Front is a political coalition organization, a voluntary union of political organizations, socio-political organizations, social organizations…Therefore, Ms. Nga said that it is necessary to supplement that the Vietnam Fatherland Front as the central capital owner's representative agency and operates independently as a separate entity, not merged with other central organizations.

Ensuring the independence and autonomy of the enterprise

An opinion said that the Resolution of the 12th Party Congress requires to “separate the function of the owner of the State assets and capital and the function of state management and business administration of state-owned enterprises; eliminate the function of owner's representative of ministries and people's committees for state capital and assets in enterprises. Establish a specialized agency as the owner's representative agency of the state-owned enterprises.

Representative of the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises said that the Committee was established under Resolution No. 09/NQ-CP dated February 3, 2018 of the Government and has officially operated from September 29, 2018 under provisions of Decree No. 131/2018/ND-CP of the Government. Therefore, in the Draft Law on Management and Investment of State Capital at Enterprises, the Committee proposed to specify the contents related to the tasks and powers of the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises as a specialized agency that performs the function of the owner's representative agency at enterprises.

Some experts said that specialized authorities should research to unify the owners of state capital invested in enterprises into one focal point to unify effective management, monitoring and evaluation methods for operations of businesses, thereby quickly resolving requirements of businesses. At the same time, the responsibilities of business owners and business managers can be easily identified and handled.

At a recent workshop to gather comments on the draft Law, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, member of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, said that it is necessary to accurately determine subject to design policies, especially the tasks and powers of the Government, ministries, branches, localities and agencies and the state capital owner's representatives at enterprises. This ensures the independence and autonomy of the enterprise in production and business activities, in accordance with the provisions on corporate governance in the Enterprise Law. Additionally, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung noted that the current management of state investment capital flows instead of enterprise management must fully demonstrate the content of monitoring this capital flow and clearly specify the responsibilities and objects implementing supervision.