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| Container handling at Gemalink Port in the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex, Ho Chi Minh City__Photo: VNA |
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has proposed abolishing 60 conditional business lines as part of ongoing efforts to reform administrative procedures, remove market access obstacles, reduce compliance costs, and create a more favourable business climate for enterprises.
The proposal is set out in a draft resolution on the reduction and amendment of a number of conditional business lines provided in Appendix IV to the 2025 Law on Investment.
If approved, the draft resolution, which comprises six articles and two appendices, would take effect from July 1, 2026, through March 1, 2027.
Under the draft, 14 conditional business lines would be amended, while 60 others would be abolished. These sectors are currently managed by the Ministries of Justice, Education and Training, Agriculture and Environment, Finance, Construction, Industry and Trade, Science and Technology, Culture, Sports and Tourism, Health, Home Affairs, National Defence, and Public Security, as well as the State Bank of Vietnam. The draft also addresses business lines for which business conditions or regulatory authorities have not yet been clearly identified.
Notably, the abolishment of sectors and trades subject to business conditions would adhere to three key principles.
First, business lines for which the application of business conditions is deemed unnecessary for the purposes of national defence, national security, social order and safety, social morality or public health would be abolished.
Second, business lines in which business conditions could be replaced by standards, technical regulations or professional standards under a post-licensing mechanism would be removed from the list of conditional business lines.
Third, business lines with unclear or overlapping requirements, or those already governed by other legal instruments without specific regulations, would also be abolished.
For example, in the field of justice, business lines proposed for removal from the list of those subject to business conditions include property auction practice, bailiff practice, and the provision of asset management and liquidation services for enterprises and cooperatives during bankruptcy proceedings.
In the banking sector, business conditions applicable to organisations other than credit institutions dealing in or providing foreign exchange services would be abolished.
In the fields of construction and infrastructure, business conditions applicable to several business lines are also being considered for removal or reduction, including traffic safety inspector training services, maritime and inland waterway navigation, commercial operation of seaports, clean water supply, and construction inspection practice.
Alongside the removal and reduction of business conditions, the MoF also proposes assigning ministries and sectors to formulate alternative regulatory mechanisms to prevent legal gaps while shifting towards governance based on standards, technical regulations and post-licensing mechanism.
Accordingly, ministries and sectors would be required to promulgate relevant standards, technical regulations or professional standards for the affected sectors before July 1 in order to ensure a synchronised, seamless transition process.- (VLLF)
