The Ministry of Construction (MOC) has unveiled an ambitious plan to abolish 41% of the current business regulations under its jurisdiction and simplify another 44% in a move to improve the business environment in Vietnam.
The ministry plans to keep just 15% of the business requirements intact, said Tong Thi Hanh, head of the MOC’s department of legal affairs, at a workshop on December 13.

She added that business rules will be amended in a way that cuts the time of administrative procedures, reduces the number of subsectors requiring practising certificates and relaxes the requirements on capacity, the management system and company size, among others.
In September the Ministry of Industry and Trade also discarded more than half out of a total of 1,216 business rules, in a move considered by many as historic.
The MOC also proposed a new law to revise four current laws concerning the sector, including the Law on Construction, the Law on Housing, the Law on Real Estate Business and the Law on Urban Planning.
Hanh said that these four laws have helped to create a fair and open business environment but a number of issues have emerged during their implementation, such as it taking long time to complete construction permit application procedures.
In addition, the proposed changes are also in line with the government’s repeated requests for ministries to streamline their administrative procedures and abolish unnecessary business requirements within their power.
The MOC officials informed those present that the ministry also suggested amending the Law on Bidding, the Law on Advertising and the Law on Investment, which are overseen by other ministries, in addition to those under its charge.
Law revisions are scheduled to be presented to the government in March next year before being brought up for discussion at the National Assembly in two plenary sessions in May and October.
The Ministry of Construction expects the new laws to come into effect as of January 1, 2019.