There are still nearly 3,000 illegal business conditions.

Initial review results from the Ministry of Planning and Investment show that, out of 5,826 investment and business conditions applied to 267 conditional investment and business sectors as stipulated in the Investment Law, 2,833 conditions are regulated in documents issued without proper authority, including documents issued both before and after the Investment Law came into effect.

Many business regulations still restrict businesses operating illegally.

This is the result of a review of regulations on investment and business conditions that were issued inappropriately in terms of authority according to the Investment Law, as stated in a report submitted by the ministry to the Government.

"It is particularly noteworthy that after the Investment Law came into effect, some ministries continued to issue and draft circulars regulating business conditions," according to a report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

In a recent interview with TBKTSG Online, Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh affirmed that only government decrees and higher-level regulations have the authority to restrict the business rights of individuals and enterprises. However, ministries and agencies still issue circulars setting business conditions.

"Any business condition that unlawfully prohibits people's rights must be strictly restricted. I see a situation where many sub-licenses are issued that contradict the spirit of the Investment Law," Mr. Vinh said.

He stated that the government has just established a task force to implement the Enterprise Law, and in the coming year, this task force will conduct a comprehensive review to determine how many additional business conditions have been created and report the findings to the government.

A report by the Ministry of Planning and Investment indicates that many investment and business conditions are unnecessary, creating high compliance costs and hindering market entry for businesses. Examples include requirements for a minimum number of vehicles, equipment, warehouse space, the number of people with professional certifications, vague requirements that business managers must have sufficient professional experience, and requirements that business premises must be owned or used by the business owner.

During the review of investment and business conditions, obstacles were discovered related to the application of the Investment Law and other relevant specialized laws concerning the authority to regulate investment and business conditions.

According to Article 7 of the Investment Law, investment and business conditions must be stipulated in laws, ordinances, and decrees. However, in cases where some laws delegate the authority to ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies to issue regulations on investment and business conditions, does this issuance contradict the provisions of the Investment Law?

"This is an issue that requires consensus among ministries and agencies," the Ministry of Planning and Investment stated.

Regarding the review of investment and business conditions, the Ministry complained that most ministries and sectors had not submitted reports to the Ministry of Planning and Investment as required by Decree No. 16/2013/ND-CP. The ministries named included: National Defence, Public Security, Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs, Information and Communications, Education and Training, Science and Technology, Health, Culture, Sports and Tourism, Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, and Industry and Trade.

Only a few ministries have submitted reports on the review of business investment conditions: Agriculture and Rural Development, Finance, Transport, Justice, and the State Bank of Vietnam.

Regarding the issuance of decrees stipulating investment and business conditions for conditional investment and business sectors as prescribed by the Investment Law, the Ministry of Planning and Investment stated that the Ministries of Public Security, Transport, Information and Communications, and Health are still in the process of drafting decrees stipulating investment and business conditions for the following sectors: paintball gun business; maritime security services; business of jamming and disrupting mobile communication signals; information security services; tissue banking services, cosmetic services, clinical drug trial services, etc.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment explained that the main reason for the delay in submitting these decrees to the Government for promulgation was that most of the laws regulating the aforementioned conditional investment and business sectors were only recently passed by the National Assembly in 2015.

According to VnEconomy