Clock ticking for directions on new laws on investment and enterprises

The Law on Enterprise and the Law on Investment both took effect on July 1, 2015, but the central government has yet to issue new decrees to provide specific guidance for their implementation.

Currently, there are 114 legal documents that set out the requirements for 167 different occupations and business sectors that were issued by various ministries, but under the new Law on Investment, they will become invalid on July 1. The central government must issue new regulations to replace them as ministries will no longer have the authority to regulate this area.

However, the government may not have time to issue the 15 decrees it plans to cover this area before July 1. This is partly due to a lack of willingness among various ministries to cooperate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, which is in charge of advising the central government on the new decrees.

So far only eight out of 18 ministries have submitted reports on their business regulation requirements. “It took us almost a month to arrange a meeting with some ministries. Even then, when we arrived, the deputy minister had to leave at the last minute and was replaced by a department head,” said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong.

“I don't know why so many ministries have failed to submit their reports on their own regulations. If they do not do it, enterprises have a right to think that the regulations are unreasonable and that's the reason they do not want to publish them,” said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

To avoid a ‘legal void’ after July 1, the prime minister has ordered ministries to submit their reports to the central government by May 30. Phuc also asked government officials to finish the decrees before July 1. There may be less than the originally planned 15, but they must cover as many areas as possible.

“I agree with the proposal to shorten the time needed to issue [government] decrees. We must finalize everything before May 30, including upgrading ministry-level circulars to government-level decrees,” Prime Minister Phuc said.