At the prime minister’s meeting with investors in Hanoi on April 22, Kim Sung Hun, general director of Amkor Technology Vietnam, presented several proposals to help Vietnam to improve the investment environment. Two of the three main proposals related to fire regulations.

“Being a new investor in Vietnam, we appreciate the support from the government and local authorities during the factory’s construction process, including the support to complete the procedures for fire protection and fighting licences,” Hun said. “However, we think that it is necessary to have detailed instructions by sub-law documents for this work, simultaneously loosen the regulations during the process to appraise this work at high-tech projects.”

Fire safety regulation frustration lingers for FIEs, illustration photo/ Source: freepik.com

Amkor Technology is one of the world’s largest providers of outsourced semiconductor packaging, design, and test services. The company is developing a 23-hectare plant for manufacturing, assembling, and testing semiconductor materials at Yen Phong II-C Industrial Park in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

“We propose to open a government online Q&A portal to answer enterprises’ questions relating to construction licences and fire protection licences to save time for enterprises. Simultaneously, it is necessary to establish more authorities that have the right to appraise and approve licences for fire protection work,” Hun added.

The standards and regulations on fire prevention and control are bottlenecks for the business community. To get a handle on the situation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed a dispatch on April 5 which stated that construction works and business units that have difficulties with fire prevention facilities will be classified specifically. The classification was set to be completed by April 30.

The prime minister has also requested the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS), Ministry of Construction (MoC), and relevant agencies, to review and immediately supplement technical standards and regulations, ensuring they are consistent with the current practice on fire prevention, creating better conditions for production and business activities.

The review will promptly help management agencies promote reforms, reduce administrative procedures, and meet practical requirements for socioeconomic development. Ministries and relevant agencies will guide fully and in detail the regulations and solutions for agencies, enterprises, and people to effectively serve production and business activities.

Pham Thi Ngoc Thuy, board office managing director for Private Economic Development Research under the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform, said that within the past 18 months, several legal documents had been released that set standards and regulations related to fire prevention and control.

“The consecutive changes in fire prevention leave enterprises confused, and many businesses do not know how to comply properly,” she said.

According to Thuy, many enterprises are building workshops and warehouses under old regulations on fire prevention and control, but when construction finishes, the inspection agency tells them to observe new regulations.

“In addition, there are many regulations which are not matched with the practice and conditions in Vietnam, while some standards have even been heightened to be equal to those being applied in the UK,” Thuy said.

In a meeting with the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Business Association on April 21, Huynh Ngoc Quan, deputy head of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department in Ho Chi Minh City, also said that there were too many documents relating to the issue.

“As a result, companies face difficulty in updating these regulations. Even the staff in our department are confused with the continuing changes,” he said.

Many South Korean-invested companies in Bac Ninh province reported that they invested tens of thousands of US dollars to complete the fire protection system for their facilities to comply with all regulations, but after construction ended, the work did not meet the new regulations.

“Many functions, tasks, and rights in management overlap, and some works just need certificates granted by commune authorities but are still required to be inspected by both the MoPS and the MoC,” a representative of one South Korean company said.