Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked ministries and agencies when developing inspection and audit plans to ensure that enterprises are inspected and audited no more than once a year. — Photo thesaigontimes.vn

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked ministries and agencies when developing inspection and audit plans to ensure that enterprises are inspected and audited no more than once a year.

This is aimed at creating favourable conditions for firms, as part of the effort towards improving the business climate.

Phuc requested that inspection and audit plans must not be overlapped and businesses must be informed in advance (except in cases where firms were found to violate laws).

Accordingly, a firm would be inspected and audited a maximum of once a year.

At a recent conference, Dau Anh Tuan, head of the Legal Department under the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said firms were dealing with dozens of inspections within a year, adding that there was a shortage of transparency in developing inspection and audit plans.

At the National Assembly (NA)’s meeting last month, Tran Thi Hien, deputy of the Ha Nam NA Delegation, said inspection and audit were necessary but must not create a nuisance or burden firms.

She said the frequency of inspection and audit should be included in the law on supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Simplify procedures

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has signed a decision on the ministry’s plan to simplify administrative procedures in 2017.

Accordingly, 15 procedures will be abolished while 108 others will be simplified, out of 443 procedures under the ministry’s management.

The Government was hastening efforts for improving business and investment climate towards building a Government which focused on development for the sake of citizens and businesses, in which administrative reform was one of its priorities.

The ministry said administrative reform must go hand in hand with transparency and modernisation, adding that it welcomed comments and contributions for improvements. — VNS