The Vietnamese Government will improve legal awareness for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), helping them raise competitiveness and efficiency in law enforcement process.

Administrative procedures at Thanh Xuan district. Photo: Thanh Hai

This move is under the Prime Minister's Decision No.81/QD-TTG on a legal assistant program for SMEs, which currently account for 90% of the business community in the country in the 2021-25 period.

By 2025, the program expects to raise legal awareness for at least 30% of SMEs so that they could minimize their legal risks during business operation, while providing training for 60% of SMEs’ legal assistant providers.

The program would set up three groups that are responsible for different tasks, including legal information provision, legal tranining and consultation for SMEs.

By rolling out the program, the government aims to better meet enterprises’ demand for legal assistance by taking advantage of technological advancements during this process.

“Those participating in the legal assistant program would have better understandings of the legal environment,” stated the Decision.

Along with higher legal awareness among the business community, enterprises could then play a more active role in the process of perfecting legal framework towards enterprise development and improvement of the business environment.

To better providing legal information to enterprises, in the 2021-25 period, the government will build up a database related to legal concern of SMEs; informing of updated policies and projects to raise legal awareness among enterprises; receiving feedback from enterprises to revise regulations and its subsequent enforcement process.