Vietnamlawmagazine

All ministries evaluated for their effectiveness in business law making and enforcement scored just a little higher than the average level under the 2011 Ministerial Effectiveness Index (MEI) survey.

The research results showed that all surveyed ministries were rated average, with the highest-rated Ministry of Justice scoring a mere 59 points on the 100-point rating scale. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment got the lowest score of all with 51.37 points.

Under the survey conducted last year by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), 14 ministries dealing with businesses were evaluated for their business law development and enforcement in 2010 by 207 business associations which represented nearly 420,000 businesses and entrepreneurs nationwide.

The survey saw no big difference in the scores of the evaluated ministries, meaning no ministry was evaluated bad but none recorded good performance. A score of 60 points or higher would earn the ministries a good rating but none was able to reach this.

Tran Huu Huynh, director of VCCI’s Legal Department and leader of the research team said the picture drawn from the survey was not gloomy but lacked highlights.

VCCI President Vu Tien Loc said at the research announcement ceremony that by rating ministries at the average level, the business community appreciated the ministries’ efforts to barely fulfill their functions while commenting that they needed greater efforts to perform their tasks efficiently.

According to Loc, MEI 2011 was a useful source of reference for ministries and sectors to know more clearly about the situation and effectiveness of business lawmaking and enforcement activities and thus make greater efforts to improve the legal system to help Vietnamese businesses raise their competitiveness.

The survey showed that ministries were assessed best in law drafting, reaching an average score of 7.43 points on the 10-point scale for this indicator. The Ministry of Justice got the highest score of 7.96 points and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ranked lowest with 6.78 points.

Yet, ministries were rated lowest in what regarded as an easy job - collection of feedback from affected stakeholders in the lawmaking process, with all of them scoring below the average level. Leading in this indicator, the Ministry of Justice only earned 8.46 points on the 20-point scale while the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment got the worst rating with 6.99 points.

This reflected ministries sought good performance only in activities subject to close supervision while overlooking those requiring just proactiveness, good will and democratic practice, said Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, deputy director of VCCI’s Legal Department. She pointed to an unreasonable trend in law making and enforcement activities of ministries which focused mostly on complicated jobs rather than easier ones even though they were neither less efficient nor less significant.

Senior economic expert Pham Chi Lan said ministries were not open enough to feedback from the business community, referring to the fact that businesses were not consulted or were formalistically consulted by ministries in the lawmaking process.

Even when ministries held meetings to collect businesses’ opinions, these meetings were merely to meet the reporting requirement of the lawmaking process rather than to actually hear businesses’ views. Entrepreneurs’ comments were hardly taken into account after these meetings, Lan said.

Ministries also failed to create conditions for businesses to give their comments, she said, pointing to short deadlines for businesses to give their feedback as well as a shortage of reference materials supplied to consulted businesses.

Addressing the research announcement ceremony, Deputy Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long spoke highly of the survey findings, saying MEI 2011 could serve as a reference document for ministries to review their operation. However, he noted that MEI assessments were merely businesses’ perceptions and the index needed to complete its indicators to get more objective results.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, agreed MEI 2011 only partially reflected the truth, but noted that ministries should acknowledge the survey results and improve their effectiveness to better serve the society.

Acknowledging the survey was based on subjective perceptions rather than official statistics which had been so far unavailable, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang stressed that perception remained a significant assessment indicator since it was the only element to rate the level of satisfaction of the public.

With his ministry earning the lowest score of 51.37 points, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Manh Hien said the ministry considered the survey results an information channel for it to look at its operation and make appropriate adjustments accordingly.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Cong, chief of the Ministry of Transport’s Office said the ministries “should listen to the results,” but added MEI was only a source of reference rather than official criteria to evaluate effectiveness of the ministries.

The Ministry of Transport had attempted to collect businesses’ feedback concerning its legal documents through its own initiative, but always got few responses, Cong said, citing for example the ministry could receive a number of replies which could be counted on the fingers of one hand for 400 questionnaires it sent for feedback on the car registration procedures.

But Pham Chi Lan said businesses were enthusiastic to give their opinions if they were truly heard, citing the 1999 Enterprise Law which was regarded as a work of entrepreneurs rather than lawmakers.

She said MEI was a foundation for authorities to reassess their lawmaking process and avoid creating laws for the benefit of certain groups.

National Assembly Economic Committee Vice Chairman Nguyen Van Phuc was surprised at the survey results, saying not only National Assembly deputies but voters also deemed the nation’s regulatory quality low. Some laws had to wait for two years to have guiding decrees and relevant circulars were released much later, he said, blaming on low quality and effectiveness of legal documents issued by ministries.

Some 95% of Vietnamese laws were drafted by ministries and then submitted by the Government to the National Assembly for approval.

Initiated by VCCI in 2010, MEI officially became an annual activity of VCCI in coordination with the Government Office and the Ministry of Justice under the Prime Minister’s direction in Document No. 2353/VPCP-PL of April 18, 2011.(VLLF)-

MEI 2011 Rating