With the above cut, time required for implementing three procedures reduces from 16 to six days, as stipulated in Decree No. 122/2020/NQ-CP on coordination and interconnection of procedures for registration of establishment of enterprises, branches, representative offices.

Viet Nam’s global ranking of starting a business remains low, standing at 115th out of 190 economies, according to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 report.

The key reason behind the low ranking is because businesses are required to provide overlapping or unnecessary information while some procedures are not interconnected between related agencies, according to Bui Anh Tuan, Director-General of the Business Registration Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

In addition, Viet Nam’s reform process remains slow compared to other countries, Tuan added.

Starting a business is one of the 10 subindices used by the World Bank to evaluate annual regulatory reforms and rank economies around the world.

These subindices have been introduced in the Vietnamese Government’s Resolution No. 19 from 2014-2018 which was renamed as Resolution No. 02 from 2019. The resolution has been renewed annually and promulgated on the first day of each year, figuring out measures to improve the country’s business environment and sharpen national competitiveness.

Regarding the subindice of starting a business, the Government sets goal to raise the ranking of starting a business by 10-15 places this year, making Viet Nam one of the four easiest economies to do business in ASEAN.

The promulgation of this Decree is part of the Government’s effort to realize the aforesaid goal, said Tuan, adding that it will help facilitate market entry by reducing procedures, information required to be declared, and number of related agencies.

The current procedures according to Decree No. 122: