The 267 conditional business activities in Vietnam are to be reduced to 226 as part of creating a more favorable business and investment environment.

The 14th National Assembly (NA)’s Economic Committee began discussions on amending and supplementing the Law on Investment, Appendix 4, on October 29, which the government expects will come into being from January 1, 2017.

The government proposed removing 27 business activities, adding 15, uniting 29 with duplicate content into 19 business activities, and updating and correcting the name of 18 conditional business activities.

Business lines proposed to be removed include arts, photography, and surrogacy services, while those proposed to be added include manufacturing and assembly and cars imports.

Given the short notice and the significant nature of the changes, some delegates were confused about the list of changes in the draft law. “It is difficult to assess whether the changes are right or wrong,” Mr. Do Van Sinh, Member of the NA’s Economic Committee, said during discussions. “If we want to do it fast then standards must be ensured. If the law creates negativity, we will be responsible.”

Mr. Sinh also proposed the government add an assessment of the effects of the removal of the 27 conditional business activities and the addition of the 15 conditional business activities. The NA’s Economic Committee will have a meeting at a later time to decide the issue.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong, though, said that the drafting stage was shortened and therefore it did not require an impact assessment. He also asked the Director of the Department of Legal Affairs to study the matter as he could also not grasp all of the conditional business activities. 

After listening to the explanation from Director of the Department of Legal Affairs, delegates were still not able to reach mutual agreement about the addition and removal of conditional business activities.

Deputy Chairman of the NA’s Economic Committee, Mr. Nguyen Duc Kien, said the case for removals and additions was not convincing.

Agreeing, Chairman of the NA’s Economic Committee Mr. Vu Hong Thanh closed the discussion by stating that the changes in conditional business activities proposed by the government lacked a legal framework and therefore were not convincing. 

However, in order to resolve the problem to improve the investment environment, policy makers as well as supervising agencies and authorities should complete the draft law as soon as possible for the NA to further consider.

According to the Law on Investment, a conditional business is a business that must meet social demands, including the military, national security, social safety, social morality, and the health of society.

In the first eight months of the year there were 73,404 new enterprises registered with capital of $25.4 million, an increase of 19.7 per cent in number and 50.9 per cent in capital year-on-year.

Total employees at new businesses were 112,800 in August, 13.7 per cent higher than in July. There were 9,282 newly-established companies in the month, with total registered capital of $3.13 million, an increase of 2.6 per cent in capital against July.

VN Economic Times