Slow to solve problems, businesses face many difficulties

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The business law needs to be promptly amended by competent authorities to facilitate businesses.

Feedback was fixed after three years

At a recent seminar on the business law, many businesses gave their opinions on the regulations on quality safety inspection of elevators and escalators before customs clearance of the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs.

Accordingly, since 2018, enterprises have identified inadequacies in safety inspection of elevators and escalators before customs clearance, while these items must be put into use before evaluation. But it was not until April 2021, more than three years later, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs would amend it for businesses, turning it into post-clearance inspection.

Regarding this issue, Nguyen Hoai Nam, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said that at the beginning of April 2019, at a meeting with the Government Office, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had committed to closely coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as VASEP to develop separate national technical standards for wastewater from catfish ponds and intensive shrimp ponds to meet the specificities of these production industries.

Firms still have to apply Vietnamese national standards on industrial wastewater or Vietnamese national standards on livestock wastewater depending on each locality, which makes it difficult for businesses to manage.

However, Nam said the separate Vietnamese national standards that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had committed to have not yet been issued. As expected, wastewater from shrimp and fish ponds will be included in the Draft of Vietnamese national standards on industrial wastewater, not on livestock wastewater. Thus, seafood enterprises face more and more difficulties.

Recently, many businesses have reported that businesses in other provinces and cities had to send motorcycle and motorbike tire samples to the Register Office in Hanoi. Because this is the only place that can test samples according to standards when businesses want to import these items to Vietnam. Therefore, businesses have requested the Ministry of Transport to recognize additional units performing this function in other areas to save costs. However, these recommendations have not been solved.

Be decisive and attach personal responsibility

Obviously, the inadequate regulations have been identified but have not been responded to and handled by the authorities, which causes difficulties for businesses, especially in spending more money to resolve them.

At the Government meeting on law-making at the end of June, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said institutions, mechanisms, and policies had some limitations and obstacles. Subjective reasons are that the leadership and direction of several ministries and branches are not drastic, and the observance of discipline in law drafting is not strict enough.

Therefore, the Prime Minister requested ministries and branches to coordinate with relevant agencies and localities to carefully review to determine the order of priority, urgently propose amendments, remove obstacles, inadequacies, and supplement regulations to meet actual needs.

On the basis of assigned functions, tasks and powers, ministries and branches take the initiative, actively coordinate with relevant agencies and localities to review and adjust based on the actual situation, supplement and complete circulars and regulations within their competence.

The recently released Public Administration Reform Index (PAR Index) and Satisfaction Index of Public Administrative Service (SIPAS) 2020 reports have suggested that ministries, sectors and localities need to continuously promote reform of administrative procedures, review and propose to reduce and simplify regulations on business activities as prescribed in Resolution No. 68/NQ-CP of the Government. Therefore, businesses and experts believed that the Ministry of Home Affairs should deduct points when assessing the annual level of administrative reform of ministries, branches, and localities with problems and proposals that take a long time to respond to and modify.

Sharing the same opinion, Dau Anh Tuan, Head of Legal Department, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said legal agencies needed to strengthen consultation with the actual mechanism of enterprises to make more realistic regulations.

In the process of promulgating and implementing legal regulations, it is necessary to have impact assessment and collection of problems. The representative of VCCI also said that it is necessary to attach personal responsibility to problematic legal documents, causing damage to businesses and the economy; even encourage the mechanism of administrative lawsuits if causing damage or delays in amendments.