From DNA collection to thousands of business conditions

The Government has recently scrapped a procedure requiring the collection and updating of biometric DNA and voice data into the national identity database - a process that had been designed as “voluntary”.

But “voluntary” does not mean cost-free. Any procedure, once turned into an administrative process, carries a cost - whether citizens participate or not, according to the policy impact assessment approach.

If just 5 million people were involved, each spending an additional 1.5 hours, society would lose up to 7.5 million hours, equivalent to more than VND200 billion (US$8.2 million) even under a very modest estimate.

Yet even a “voluntary” procedure requires a system that is anything but voluntary: equipment, processes, data storage infrastructure and security - costs that exist regardless of participation levels.

There is also another kind of cost: risk. DNA and voice data cannot be changed like passwords; once collected, any breach carries permanent consequences.

A small procedure, but a significant compliance burden.

This case is only a fragment of the broader picture of business condition reform. Viewed at a system-wide scale, the current wave of reform reveals its full magnitude.

On April 29 alone, the Government issued eight resolutions, cutting a substantial portion of administrative procedures and business conditions. A total of 184 procedures were abolished, 890 business conditions removed, and hundreds more decentralized or simplified, requiring amendments to 163 legal documents.

The scale of central-level administrative procedures has been reduced to around 27 percent. More importantly, the Government estimates that these cuts could reduce compliance time and costs for citizens and businesses by up to 50 percent compared to 2024.

When these figures translate into reality, this is no longer just administrative reform. It is the release of resources back into the economy - resources that have long been tied up in cumbersome processes and invisible costs.

The “ask - give” mechanism, a direct consequence of business conditions and sub-licenses, has long inflicted damage on production and business activities, while also serving as a significant source of corruption and waste.

Prime Minister: the “shortest and fastest path” to improving the business climate

Behind this wave of cuts is a clear governing approach by Prime Minister Le Minh Hung.

In meetings in late April, he emphasized that reducing administrative procedures and business conditions is the “shortest and fastest path” to improving the business environment - fast because it requires no additional resources, and short because it directly impacts business costs and time.

This message has been translated into action with clear deadlines, direct accountability for ministers, and sufficient implementation pressure to ensure reform goes beyond paper.

What emerges is a notable shift in governance thinking: from managing by the number of conditions to focusing on the costs those conditions impose on the economy.

Reality has shown that reform can have profound impacts - in both directions.

In 2018, Decree 15 on food safety marked a major shift from pre-inspection to post-inspection, cutting more than 90 percent of administrative procedures and saving around 10 million working days and VND3,700 billion (approximately US$152 million) annually for businesses and society.

One decree, yet capable of unlocking vast economic resources.

Conversely, recent issues arising from Decree 46 demonstrate how insufficiently prepared changes can immediately translate into social costs, in the form of congestion, delays and disrupted supply chains.

Placed side by side, these two cases are not about right or wrong. They highlight a deeper truth: every policy decision has tangible, measurable impacts on the economy.

A complex challenge remains

At a mid-April meeting, ministries and agencies reported that there are still 198 conditional business lines with a total of 4,603 business conditions.

Looking back to 2015, when the Investment Law came into effect, this number stood at 267 sectors. A year later, the Central Institute for Economic Management recorded around 4,300 business conditions.

This was followed by a major overhaul during 2016-2020, when approximately 1,500 to 2,000 conditions were eliminated. The list of conditional sectors gradually narrowed from 267 to 227, and now to about 198.

But the story does not end there.

According to Government data for the 2021-2026 term, from 2021 to March 2024, an additional 2,866 business condition regulations were cut or simplified across 243 legal documents, equivalent to about 18 percent of the total 15,801 regulations.

Another figure emerges: 15,801 business conditions.

The question then arises - what are these 15,801 regulations, if not a dense network of “sub-licenses” that have been embedded, fragmented and multiplied within the legal system since the earlier benchmark of 4,300 conditions identified by the Central Institute for Economic Management?

This reveals a paradox: reform is real, yet the system still tends to regenerate new conditions over time.

The root lies in the legal structure. A sector may be broadly defined at the law level, but when implemented through specialized legislation, it is broken down into multiple sub-activities, each carrying its own conditions.

As a result, if reform only targets the lower layers - individual procedures and conditions - its impact is unlikely to be sustainable.

Building market confidence

Experts consulted by VietNamNet suggest a more effective approach is to redefine from the outset which sectors genuinely require business conditions, creating a narrower, clearer and more stable list, thereby limiting the space for new “sub-licenses” to emerge.

This is not merely a technical solution, but a fundamental shift - from pre-inspection to post-inspection, from gatekeeping to enabling.

Looking back, administrative reform is moving in the right direction. The numbers reflect not only determination, but a more decisive approach that begins to address the real bottleneck: compliance costs.

Yet the greater impact lies in trust. As barriers are removed, time and costs decline, and the business environment becomes more predictable and less risky - making it more worth engaging in. Business confidence does not come from slogans, but from concrete changes like these.

The road ahead is not easy. But if reform is sustained as a continuous movement rather than a series of short-term campaigns, each abolished procedure will represent not just a statistic, but the return of time, cost and confidence to citizens and businesses.

In the end, the question is not how many licenses have been cut, but whether a system can be built where unnecessary permits no longer have the chance to reappear.

Tu Giang