Most investors are still frustrated with administrative procedures when seeking to establish their business, and in certain cases it takes years to obtain a business registration certificate, said officials at a seminar on Tuesday.

Investors have to undergo at least 18 types of administrative procedures in the first phase of a business startup, said Dau Anh Tuan of the Legislation Department under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in Hanoi.

Tuan said that troublesome and time-consuming formalities are hindering business activities of investors.

“The greater problem is that each locality has its own process in accepting projects, sending investors into a great confusion,” he told the seminar co-held by VCCI and the Council for Consultancy on Administrative Procedures to collect opinions on administrative reform.

Nguyen Quoc Hiep, chairman of the Vietnam Bidders Association, related how investors had to spend time on administrative procedures.

It takes an enterprise some 40 days for its dossiers to be considered by the provincial Department of Planning and Investment. This agency will then submit the dossiers to the provincial government, a process that takes 30 days. The provincial government will then send the dossiers to relevant agencies for feedback, which also takes another 30 days.

Then, Hiep said, relevant agencies in the province will need at least 30 days to make their replies to the provincial government.

“This zigzagging process in reality lasts quite long, though formal rules prescribe the whole process within 60 days only,” said Hiep, citing as example one project at his company that was licensed after up to 14 months.

That is not to mention fast-changing regulations.

“In 2009, the Government issued an abrupt decision disallowing high-rise housing structures in Hanoi downtown, while my company was developing a high-rise building in Hanoi then,” he commented.

VCCI President Vu Tien Loc warned of the adverse impacts caused by such procedures on the country’s business environment compared to other regional competitors.

“Compared to other ASEAN countries, the investment environment in Vietnam is losing its appeal,” he said.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, vice head of the Central Institute for Economic Management, noted that administrative procedures related to land, construction and investment are now the most troublesome.

“If we want to have sweeping changes to the business environment, we have to quickly introduce large-scale reforms,” Cung said.

He suggested that between now and 2015, central authorities should map out a set of standardized procedures as the input for an interdisciplinary circular to be issued. This circular will be the basis for provincial governments to issue their own administrative procedures, he said.

Loc of VCCI, meanwhile, said he hoped the National Assembly would next year make amendments to investment-related laws so as to simplify procedures for investors.