Legal support for businesses: Still heavy on formalities

(Baonghean.vn) - Enterprises have received support but not much, the effectiveness of the support is not high, many State agencies are not enthusiastic about supporting enterprises... That is the opinion of many enterprises today regarding the legal support work of State agencies in the province.

Bamboo and rattan production at Duc Phong Company Limited (Nghi Loc).

Businesses lack legal understanding

As a company specializing in exporting rattan and bamboo products abroad, Duc Phong Company Limited has not yet fully grasped the regulations of other countries when exporting goods. Because of that, most of the company's goods are imported to a third party before being exported abroad. That has a significant impact on the production and business activities of the enterprise.

Mr. Thai Dai Phong - Director of the company said: Currently, the understanding of the law, especially the legal system of other countries for the staff in the company is still very limited. When I work with them but there are some issues related to the law, I have to ask a third party to explain or support, which affects the transaction process. Therefore, many transactions have to be discussed many times, taking a long time.

Not only Duc Phong Company Limited but also most enterprises in the province have very limited legal awareness. In reality, enterprises are self-learning to approach the legal regulations. Because of self-learning, it leads to incompleteness, lack of uniformity or misunderstanding of the nature of legal documents.

Mr. Phan Thanh Mien - Chairman of the Provincial Small and Medium Enterprises Association said that most businesses have not received basic and complete training. Many people have money to open businesses or see others doing profitable business and follow suit. Due to limited legal knowledge, lack of capital, and inability to plan a clear business strategy, many businesses have dissolved, gone bankrupt, and gotten into litigation.

With the aim of supporting business development, in recent years, the province has focused on providing legal support for businesses. On August 24, 2009, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 4172/QD-UBND approving the project "Strengthening legal support for businesses in the province from 2009 to 2015". During the 5 years of implementing the project, the Provincial People's Committee directed the organization to build, maintain, and update fully and promptly legal documents issued by the Central and local levels, posted on the electronic information page of the Provincial People's Committee and of the sectors. Strengthening forms of legal support for businesses such as providing free legal documents, legal Q&A, and organizing dialogue conferences with businesses.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Hao - Director of the Department of Justice affirmed: Legal support activities have contributed to solving problems and difficulties of enterprises, at the same time creating a favorable environment for enterprises to develop. Thanks to that, the number of enterprises in the province is increasingly growing in quality, including enterprises that are increasingly affirming their brands in the general business community of the whole country.

Currently, the most difficult problems for businesses are procedures related to tax and environmental policies. In addition, due to the system of legal documents, especially for production and business activities, which many businesses assess as still overlapping and unclear, combined with many administrative officials handling the case in an unfair manner, businesses need a lot of support.

Along with that, enterprises in the area are mainly small and medium-sized, the awareness of business owners about legal regulations is not high, many businesses have not grasped the benefits of participating in legal aid organizations; most businesses have not arranged officers in charge of legal work to help businesses enforce the law; or if they do, they often hold concurrent positions and have not been properly trained, therefore, accessing and understanding legal documents is very difficult and limited...

Not very effective

According to the business community, in the past, they have received legal assistance from state agencies but not much... Currently, the most applied form of legal assistance is training on legal documents and improving the capacity of staff and business managers. Participating in training sessions, it can be seen that not many businesses are interested in this form.

Mr. Phan Thanh Mien - Chairman of the Provincial Small and Medium Enterprises Association said that for a long time, legal training and education for enterprises has not been very effective. The training content is still formal, rigid and has not gone into depth about what enterprises lack. The training and propaganda methods are focusing on what the departments and branches have, not really focusing on what enterprises need.

Fertilizer production at Sao Vang Fertilizer Factory (Nghe An Agricultural Materials Joint Stock Company)

In the process of production and business, enterprises encounter many difficulties and problems from mechanisms, policies to the legal system. At that time, enterprises must seek advice and guidance from organizations and units that are knowledgeable about the law. However, through research, it is found that many enterprises in the province are confused when they want help.

Mr. Tran Hoang Hai - General Secretary of the Provincial Young Entrepreneurs Association said that many businesses want to receive legal support but do not know which agency to turn to. Currently, the way businesses often apply is to send their opinions to the association and from there the association synthesizes and gives opinions to the province through monthly dialogues. However, not all problems and concerns are resolved promptly, which makes businesses frustrated.

“In my opinion, the province should establish an institution that specializes in resolving, advising, and guiding businesses on legal issues and concerns. At the same time, it should strengthen administrative reform, support businesses in accessing capital, and build a transparent investment and competitive environment,” Mr. Hai said.

Recognizing this reality, in the summary report of 5 years of implementing the project to support legal affairs for enterprises, the Provincial People's Committee also assessed that the organization and implementation of the projects according to the proposed plan is not synchronous, some sectors and units have not strictly complied, there is a lack of resolute and decisive direction, and some sectors and units have not fully promoted their roles and responsibilities in coordination work.

The content of propaganda at each time and place is not timely and extensive, the form of propaganda has not attracted many subjects, mainly through conferences and propaganda on the radio system without a diverse, attractive form, attracting many subjects to participate in learning.

To facilitate businesses, on April 7, 2016, the Provincial People's Committee issued Program 194 on legal support for businesses in the period 2016 - 2020. In addition to overcoming limitations, the province is promoting support with many practical, specific and effective contents. The goal of the program is to synchronously implement support policies for businesses to proactively improve their capacity and proactively integrate into the international economy;

At the same time, legal support activities for enterprises must create fundamental changes in legal awareness, awareness of learning and complying with the law in production and business activities, proactively preventing and combating legal risks for enterprises, contributing to improving the effectiveness of state management by law for enterprises...

Pham Bang