The simplification of administrative procedures was important to overcoming crisis and turning challenges into opportunities, Government Office Minister and Chairman Nguyen Xuan Phuc said while opening an ASEAN-OECD workshop in Ha Noi Friday.

Poor and unwieldy procedures burdened society, hindered enterprise growth and limited people’s contributions to their communities, he said.

Building an intelligent regulatory system was the best way to prevent crisis and maintain sustainable growth.

Viet Nam was doing so through the Government’s master plan to simplify administrative procedures known as “Project 30,” he said.

The gathering, to discuss regulatory reform, emphasised the need to involve enterprises, social organisations and the public in simplifying administrative regulations to make Viet Nam’s economy more competitive.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) deputy secretary-general Mario Amano said Viet Nam was on track to meet its target of a 30-per cent reduction in compliance costs stemming from administrative procedures.

But the Government now faced the challenge of ensuring the changes benefited businesses and citizens.

Much remained to be done to implement the simplified procedures, he said.

Viet Nam should now take advantage of the momentum and broad political support to complete the implementation of the programme, strengthen its links with related government programmes and engage in a medium-term programme of regulatory reform.

OECD Regulatory Policy Division Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development administrator and policy analyst Daniel Trnka proposed the Government give the private sector an active and genuine voice.

It should also enhance dialogue with citizens and businesses to make Project 30 more efficient, he said.

The opinions of stakeholders must be taken into account in the formulation of legal instruments and not after their drafting had started, he advised.

New draft regulations were often published separately on ministry web sites and people were not always aware of them.

The analyst suggested the creation of a central web site where all new draft regulations could be posted.

Momentum

A communication plan for all relevant agencies, businesses and organisations to provide regular updates would also create reform momentum.

Policy makers needed to be more attuned to the needs of the “end-users” of regulations – those who were going to have to comply with new rules, he said.

USAID Viet Nam Competitiveness Initiative chief regulatory advisor Faisal Naru said consultation would help the Government minimise the risk of unexpected consequences and encourage public ownership of policies and commitment to them.

Uncertainty

An uncertain regulatory environment sapped investor confidence and entrepreneurial initiative, said Central Institute for Economic Management deputy director Nguyen Dinh Cung.

The result was a negative impact on the country’s competitiveness,

Viet Nam did not have a single agency responsible to oversee the overall economic, social and environmental impacts of regulation and, as a result, policy makers did not have the information needed to ensure objectives were met after policies were issued.

Cung and advisor Naru provided figures showing the number of regulations governing businesses has increased dramatically since 2005.

These had caused many difficulties and unnecessary costs for citizens and businesses, they said in a jointly written paper dealing with the challenges of a better regulatory system for Viet Nam.

The Global Competitiveness Index 2010-11 ranks Viet Nam 120th of 133 countries in terms of the burden of government regulation, a drop of 14 places from 2009.

Viet Nam is also 20 places behind last year’s ranking for transparency of policy making.

The OECD representatives suggested the Viet Nam Government build its capacity for impact assessment and move toward evidence-based policy making.

It should also provide the Government Office’s Administrative Procedure Control Agency with the capacity necessary to lead and implement the regulatory reform agenda.
Source: VNS