Nearly 40 laws involved in investment and business activities need to be revised to suit practical operations of enterprises, a seminar in Ha Noi was told yesterday. — Photo zing.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Nearly 40 laws involved in investment and business activities need to be revised to suit practical operations of enterprises, a seminar in Ha Noi was told yesterday.

According to the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), these include laws on commerce, land, construction, environmental protection, science and technology.

They also include laws regulating taxes, accounting and advertisement, as well as telecommunications, prices and the use of State capital in production and business activities.

Experts said there is a need for continuing legal revisions, although about 50 new decrees have become effective earlier this month, providing guidelines for the enterprise and investment laws, which took effect in mid-2015.

Dau Anh Tuan, director of VCCI's legislation department, said further revisions were needed to remove barriers to the development of enterprises. Unnecessary business conditions must be eliminated to create a transparent and equal environment for all firms.

More revisions would also help resolve conflicts among laws and foster general administrative reforms that were being accelerated in the country.

Le Manh Ha, vice chairman of the Government Office, said the Government had made significant efforts in improving the business environment in recent years.

The endeavour could be seen in the renewal of the enterprise and investment laws in 2014, and recent Government resolutions on supporting businesses and intensifying national competitiveness.

However, he said, unreasonable and incompatible rules within laws remain a hindrance to businesses.

Le Ai Thu, chairman of the Viet Nam Geological Economics Association, said the incompatibility between the environmental protection and mineral laws led to different regulations on the inspection of enterprises operating in these areas.

"An enterprise may be inspected several times a year. Why don't the authorities adopt a single regulation to minimise the burden on businesses?" he asked.

Lam Chi Quang, a representative of the Viet Nam Automobile Manufacturers' Association, said Circular No 20/2011/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance was troubling member companies of the association.

As the circular stipulated certain supplemental procedures for importers of cars with nine seats or less, some small companies sensed that bigger firms were favoured in the automobile market.

The VCCI suggested that business conditions should be removed for a variety of areas such as car maintenance, insurance agent training, joint stock company evaluation, driving examinations and debt trading.

It also proposed the removal of conditions for tenement management, common infrastructure exploitation, radio engineering receiver and transmitter import, bids retraining and project assessment. — VNS