Green channel is about to open, eliminating 'asking

The Ministry of Finance is seeking comments on the draft Investment Law (replacement), which proposes policies to improve and simplify investment and business procedures.

Regarding the regulations on conditional investment and business sectors, the drafting agency proposed 3 amendment options and recommended option 1. The law only stipulates the principles for determining conditional investment and business sectors for reasons of national defense, security, order, social ethics, and public health; assigns the Government to prescribe a detailed list; specialized laws are not allowed to prescribe separately. This option will review and abolish unnecessary sectors, switch from pre-inspection to post-inspection, and manage by technical standards.

The Ministry of Finance proposed simplifying investment and business procedures and strengthening the decentralization of authority to approve investment policies.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Chung - Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Industrial Park Finance Association - assessed that the investment licensing process in industrial parks has seen many improvements, but there are still major bottlenecks. Overlapping procedures and long processing times are causing significant difficulties for investors.

In fact, the appraisal of investment policies according to the Investment Law, appraisal of land use needs according to the Land Law, appraisal of basic designs according to the Construction Law, or appraisal of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports according to the Environmental Protection Law often take place separately. Investors have to submit many sets of duplicate documents, even waiting for the results of one stage before being able to carry out another stage, causing the project progress to be significantly delayed.

With gold jewelry and fine arts business, it is currently a conditional industry. According to Mr. Dinh Nho Bang - Chairman of the Vietnam Gold Trading Association (VGTA), each year Vietnam imports about 5 billion USD of raw gold. If exporting half of the gold processed from this raw material, the industry can also earn 2.5-3 billion USD, creating a very high added value from labor, up to 25%, while contributing to job creation and bringing in foreign currency.

According to Mr. Bang, this is a field that needs to be encouraged to develop. If it is untied and developed in the right direction, the export of gold jewelry and fine arts alone can bring the country 5-7 billion USD each year.

gia-vang-hom-nay--11--1543388549-48-width640height480.jpg — Gold, jewelry and handicraft business is a conditional business.

At the recent policy consultation workshop on the Investment Law (replacement) at the Ministry of Finance, many opinions suggested simplifying procedures to facilitate implementation by agencies and clarifying the concept of conditional business.

The representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed not to completely eliminate the procedure for approving investment policies for projects in industrial parks, but only to narrow the scope of application; it is necessary to supplement flexible investment forms to ensure compatibility between the Investment Law, the Land Law and other specialized laws. Regarding the assignment of responsibilities, it is proposed to let the provincial People's Committee decide on decentralization to relevant departments and branches, instead of having rigid regulations in the law.

Mr. Tran Van Lam - Committee of Delegation Affairs of the 15th National Assembly - emphasized the need for strict but effective management, avoiding falling into the two extremes of "if you can't manage, then ban" or "if you can't manage, then let go". Mr. Lam proposed promoting the "green channel" mechanism, switching to post-audit to reduce hassle; requiring investors to take responsibility for financial, security and environmental factors; carefully reviewing the list of preferential industries and occupations and clearly identifying laws that need to be amended synchronously when adjusting the Investment Law.