Nghe An plans to spend 1 billion VND each year to provide legal support for small and medium enterprises.

Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the conference. Also attending were representatives of departments, branches, provincial business associations and People's Committees of some districts and cities..

Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee raised the issue of the need for legal support policies for small and medium enterprises in the province. Photo: Nguyen Hai

The province currently has nearly 22,000 registered enterprises, of which approximately 12,000 are operating. However, over 90% of enterprises in the province are small and medium-sized, even micro-sized, so support, including legal support, is extremely necessary. Currently, although small and medium-sized, they still operate under the common legal corridor with other enterprises, which is Decree No. 66/2008 of the Government on legal support for enterprises, so small and medium-sized enterprises face many difficulties and are often at a disadvantage.

Representative of the Department of Justice presented the draft document to the Provincial People's Council on legal support policy for small and medium enterprises. Photo: Nguyen Hai

In fact, due to the limited funding (only 72 million VND/year through the Department of Justice), after 10 years of implementation, although the province has a legal support program for businesses, the ability of small and medium enterprises to access legal information is very limited.

According to a 2017 survey conducted by the Department of Justice, 60% of surveyed enterprises found it difficult to access legal information on business administrative forms and procedures, and nearly 70% of enterprises found it difficult to access legal information related to regulations on standards and technical regulations, and nearly 80% of enterprises said it was difficult to access legal information related to plans and zoning.

Small and medium-sized enterprises operating in industrial zones and clusters in districts are in great need of legal support. Photo: Nguyen Hai

After the Law on Support for Small and Medium Enterprises and Decree No. 55/2019/ND-CP were issued, the Department of Justice was assigned by the Provincial People's Council to draft a Resolution to submit to the Provincial People's Council.

In the draft, there are 4 legal support policies proposed, accordingly from 2021 to 2025, the province will spend about 5.15 billion VND, an average of over 1 billion VND per year to provide legal support for small and medium enterprises. Notably, there are 4 policies, including a support policy of 10 million VND per enterprise and no more than 10 enterprises per year...

Providing legal knowledge to employees is also a way to help businesses avoid problems caused by fines and spontaneous strikes. Photo: Nguyen Hai

At the conference, representatives of the Department of Justice summarized the comments of a number of departments, branches and associations on the policy; explained the reasons for accepting and not accepting comments of departments, branches and associations on the draft because there were still some points that overlapped and duplicated with other policies.

For their part, representatives of departments, branches, associations and districts and cities continued to give additional comments to clarify the principles and beneficiaries being small and medium enterprises.

Representatives of the Provincial People's Council's Legal Committee commented on the draft policy, according to which the province needs resources to support separately, instead of the policy according to Decree 55/CP of the Government, in which the Central Government supports 70% and the province 30%. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Concluding the working session, Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee received highly practical contributions from departments, business associations as well as district and city People's Committees.

Based on listening to the explanation of the Department of Justice, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested departments and branches to review and balance financial support resources, and further balance to increase the number of enterprises directly supported annually, instead of 10 enterprises/year as in the draft; assign the Provincial Drafting Committee to continue to receive and review the beneficiaries of enterprises, limit overlap with other policies; in the process of implementing support policies, pay attention to integrating channels and sources to provide practical legal support not only for enterprises but also for workers; promptly complete the draft of the above policy to submit to the Provincial People's Council for early comments and approval as planned./.