Many business conditions are still making it difficult for businesses.

Many business conditions are unnecessary and lack scientific basis, hindering the business environment and failing to ensure the effectiveness of state management.

Nearly 106,000 new enterprises were established and about 3,500 business conditions were no longer valid, which are remarkable results after 1 year of implementing the Enterprise Law and the amended Investment Law. However, there are still many problems in implementing these two Laws, requiring the Government and ministries, departments and branches to continue reviewing and amending so that the Law can truly come into life.

The amended Investment Law creates favorable conditions for business development (Illustration photo: baoninhbinh.org.vn)

According to statistics from the Department of Business Registration Management, Ministry of Planning and Investment, since the Law on Enterprises and the Law on Investment 2014 officially took effect from July 1, 2015, nearly 106 thousand newly registered enterprises have been established with a registered capital of nearly 768 thousand billion VND, an increase in both the number of enterprises and capital compared to the same period last year. The time for granting new business registration and registering changes to business registration contents has been significantly reduced compared to the time before the Law on Enterprises 2014.

Meanwhile, not having to record business lines in the business registration certificate and abolishing the regulation on granting investment registration certificates to domestic investors also helps reduce costs of administrative procedures, increase proactiveness and flexibility for businesses; at the same time, creating favorable conditions for foreign investors wishing to invest in Vietnam.

Mr. Do Nhat Hoang, Director of the Foreign Investment Agency, Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that the Party, State, Government, National Assembly and all ministries, branches and localities have been very active and made great efforts to improve the investment and business environment in two stages: perfecting laws and policies to be more open and favorable for investment and business activities. At the same time, resolutely implementing the implementation stage to be more favorable and friendly for investors.

Thanks to strong reforms in improving the business environment as well as changes brought about by the revised Investment Law and Enterprise Law, Vietnam has been assessed by the World Bank to have increased by 3 places in the "Global Business Environment" ranking.

Along with that, in the "Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 2015 Report of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, it was also noted that business registration had the biggest progress and the highest score in 11 years of PCI investigation.

In addition to the positive results achieved, up to now, the implementation of the Law on Enterprises and the amended Law on Investment still has many problems and shortcomings such as: although the regulation requiring business conditions to be recorded on the business registration certificate has been removed, enterprises still have to self-declare the registered business lines when registering and when amending business registration; regulations on the management and use of corporate seals still have many unclear points, which can easily cause risks in the transaction process; there are still some regulations that are not consistent between the Law on Investment, the amended Law on Enterprises and specialized laws...

Mr. Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: "Through the review process and consulting with businesses, we also found that there are some unreasonable points in the Enterprise Law and Investment Law, especially the list of 267 industries and professions with business conditions. In reality, some industries and professions do not necessarily have business conditions according to the requirements of the Constitution and the law. Therefore, we are reviewing to be able to recommend to the Government and the National Assembly to issue a law amending many laws related to business, including the Investment Law and the Enterprise Law to ensure the consistency of the legal system and ensure the best business environment, ensuring the freedom of business of people and businesses."

Although the Working Group for the Implementation of the Law on Enterprises and the Law on Investment, together with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Government Office and the Ministry of Justice, has reviewed and abolished thousands of unreasonable business conditions that cause difficulties for enterprises; at the same time, actively guided relevant ministries and branches in developing and drafting Decrees on business conditions, after July 1, 2016, there are still many unnecessary business conditions that lack scientific basis, both hindering the business environment and not ensuring the effectiveness of state management.

Economic experts say that reforming regulations on business conditions is very difficult and complicated, so this work cannot stop at July 1, but needs to be reviewed regularly to ensure transparency as well as effective implementation in practice.

Mr. Phan Duc Hieu - Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management Research said: "In the recent review, the Government assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to preside over the drafting of a law with the goal of amending related laws to ensure that the spirit and content of the Enterprise Law and the Investment Law are thoroughly implemented in practice and are not restricted by other regulations. Second, eliminate incompatibilities or contradictions between the Enterprise Law, the Investment Law and related laws. Third, in this session, the National Assembly also assigned the task of reviewing the list of 267 conditional business lines to abolish conditional business lines that are no longer necessary."

To improve the practical effectiveness of the Enterprise Law and Investment Law in the coming time, the Minister of Planning and Investment has directed relevant units to continue focusing on perfecting the legal framework, creating favorable conditions for enterprises in the spirit of Resolution 19 of the Government on improving the investment and business environment, enhancing national competitiveness, Resolution 35 of the Government on supporting and developing enterprises 2016 - 2020./.

According to VOV