TO: THE GOVERNMENT’S PRIME MINISTER NGUYEN XUAN PHUC

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vietnam (VCCI) is pleased to report on a performance of tasks assigned in the Resolution 35 / NQ-CP dated 16 May 2016 by the Government on supporting and developing businesses until 2020, solving difficulties, obstacles and recommendations of businesses in August 2019 as follows:

I. IMPLEMENTATION OF BUSINESSES’ RECOMMENDATIONS UNDER RESOLUTION No. 35 / NQ-CP OF MINISTRIES, BRANCHES AND LOCALITIES.

The implementation of gathering and resolving businesses' recommendations in August 2019

In August 2019, the VCCI made a statistics that there were 105 new recommendations from businesses and business associations to 18 ministries, branches and localities. In particular, 2 ministries of Finance and Planning and Investment received 55 recommendations, accounting for 52.4% of the total number of recommendations in August. By the end of August 31, 2019, there were 21 recommendations answered, while 84 recommendationss were not answered, in which, the number of overdue recommendations were 22, accounting for 20.9%, the remaining 62 recommendations were still in due for answer. The Ministry of Planning and Investment were the most active unit responding to recommendations during the month.

Details of data and contents of new recommendations were presented in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 attached to the report. The deadline for resolution of recommendations was calculated by the VCCI according to the time limit requested by the Government’s Office in the official dispatch sent to ministries, branches and localities.

The main content of the proposals of enterprises and business associations mainly required guidance on the provisions of law to implement. There were also a number of recommendations on legislation and some specific cases of businesses. Some key contents included as follows:

The Ministry of Finance received 28 recommendations from enterprises, which was the most unit to receive recommendations in the month (answered 5 recommendations, remained 23 recommendations, in which 17 recommendations were in due, 6 recommendations were overdue). There were 22 recommendations with content related to tax administrative procedures, customs and tax policies such as: Corporate income tax policy; refunding tax to enterprises that were declared monthly or quarterly by mistakes; import of raw materials and accessories by export production were entitled to tax grace; the delaying in settling complaints about late payment interest; salary policy and personal income tax; Declaring and deducting e-invoices to not spend immediately; instructions for issuing electronic invoices; proposing not to increase MFN tax rate for hot rolled coils; guiding classification of HS codes of goods; identifying HS code of imported food and beverage mixer; problems in determining the list of goodson  "agricultural tractors used to drive the rotary, plow, harrows, bulldozers ...

 Some enterprises requested guiding the implementation of the law on issues such as: continuing application the current preferential policies for enterprises after equitization; guiding the deduction of reward and welfare funds; guiding the clearance of credit commitments in financial proof when performing bidding packages; revoking the headquarters of one-member State limited liability companies to auction and make adjustments to the discount of state-owned assets; ...

The Japan Business Association in Vietnam, on behalf of its member businesses requested the Government to review Article 8, Point 3 of Decree 20/2017 / ND-CP of the Government issued on 24/22017 on reasonable deduction rule for associated transactions. In the opinion of the Association, the application of this provision to both interest costs from the independent party when in Vietnam, it still needed actual capital mobilization that would have a huge negative impact on the Businesses’ operations.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment received 27 recommendations (answered 10 recommendations, remaining 17 recommendations, in which 13 recommendations were in due, 4 recommendations were overdue). The basic contents requested by the Ministry to guide the implementation of policies and laws including:

+ Guided the law on bidding regarding the following contents: Handling situations in selecting construction contractors; demonstrated the ability to mobilize personnel and equipment when participating in bidding; similar contracts in bids; contents of contract negotiation during the process of investor selection of contractors; stipulated the duration of licenses in biddingdocuments; guided online bidding implementation according to the Directive No. 03 / CT-BKHDT dated May 24, 2019 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment; scope of authorization to participate in bidding according to the Circular No. 05/2015 / TT-BKHDT; the holding company (conglomerate) used its capabilities and experience; Based on the plan of contractor selection before obtaining the project approval decision in accordance with Circular 10/2015 / TT-BKHDT ...

+ Guided the implementation of the law in the field of investment included the following contents: Guided competence to decide on investment policies on seaport projects; Failed to issue the investment certificate adjusting the project location; monitored the situation of processing investment registration dossiers; guided procedures for changing investment project locations to other provinces; ...

+ Guided the implementation of the law in a number of other contents such as additional registration of business lines; the application of the Circular No. 34/2013 / TT-BTC dated December 24, 2013 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade; reflecting difficulties in the procedures for granting certificates of changing business registration contents at the Department of Planning and Investment of Binh Duong Province; focal agencies under the ministries and ministerial-level agencies are assigned to organize the operation of the network of consultants for small and medium-sized enterprises; instructing to receive business registration results by post ...

Ministry of Construction received 15 recommendations from enterprises (answered 3 recommendations, 12 recommendations remained, in which there were 9 recommendations in due, 3 recommendations were overdue). The contents of the recommendations requested to guide the implementation of the law on: Guiding the making of bidding packages for procurement of supplies and equipment; guiding the procedures to make dossiers of application for certificates of construction operation capability; guiding certificates of equipment installation and self-executing bidding packages; guiding legal bases, order of adjusting supplies, labor and machine shift prices according to the time and procedures for receipt and settlement of recommendations; applying construction norms for the production of erection of formwork and erection of precast concrete and yin-yang panels; instructions for payment of installation contracts in the form of packages; answering common cost calculation method in power project ....

- Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment received 8 recommendations from enterprises (answered 2 recommendations, 6 recommendations remained, in which 4 recommendations were in due, 2 recommendations were overdue). The contents of the recommendations included: inadequacies in calculating charges for granting mining rights; guiding the households to rent land once to rent land to foreigners; judgment on the implementation of administrative procedures was not published, conditions for receiving transfer of kindergartens and schools in urban areas; guiding the identification of hazardous waste and guiding the recovery and reuse; recognition of residential land for land users before December 18, 1980 ...

Ministry of Industry and Trade received 8 recommendations from enterprises (there were not any recommendation replied yet, in which, 4 recommendations were overdue and 4 recommendations were still in due). Content of the recommendations: guidelines for goods origin, criteria of origin for bicycles and electric bicycles; guiding foreign investors' purchase of shares in Vietnamese enterprises engaged in goods retailing activities; establishment of representative offices of foreign traders in the field of computer services and related services; guiding procedures for granting business licenses for trade promotion activities; guiding to revise the project goals of the company on the investment certificate ...

Notably, the recommendation of Thuan Phat Export Service Co., Ltd reflected the total cost for specialized inspection of a laptop was: VND 50,545,000 for 7 testing procedures including: QCVN 118: 2018 / BTTTT- tested at QUATEST3 with  the price of VND 5,250,000 QCVN 54: 2011 / BTTTT- tested at QUATEST3 with the price of VND 2,625,000; QCVN 65: 2013 / BTTTT - testing at QUATEST3 with the price of VND 2,625,000; QCVN 112: 2017 / BTTTT- testing at QUATEST3 with the price of VND 5,250,000; QCVN 101: 2016 / BTTTT- testing at QUATEST3 with  the price of VND 26,250,000; Certification of conformity included fee for receiving and reviewing documents: VND 1,815,000 and fee for evaluating and granting certificate of conformity: VND 2,530,000; Energy efficiency standards TCVN 11848: 2017- tested at QUATEST3 with price of VND 4,200,000 (done before customs clearance). Therefore, if a computer sold a profit of VND 500,000, it was required to enter more than 100 new ones to pay enough fees for specialized testing. This was a major challenge for small businesses. Businesses recommended a solution to reduce this cost.

The Ministry of Transport received 2 recommendations that reflected the state of mayhem and lack of compliance with road transport activities. Specifically, the situation of the parachute, the toad landing was openly operating, disregarding the law and the authorities on the Quang Ninh - Hanoi route and the unsafe traffic situation on the National Highway 5A as well as the solutions overcome.

- Enterprises also proposed some contents under the responsibility of the Ministries of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs; Judicial; Vietnam Social Security; Public Security; Science and technology; Agriculture and Rural Development; The State Bank of Viet Nam; the People's Committees of Quang Ninh, Ninh Binh, and Can Tho Provinces; Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh Cities, some outstanding contents such as signing contracts with laborers who were receiving salaries from the State budget; signing indefinite-term labor contracts with foreigners; online auction procedures; problems related to the understanding of the application of Article 155 of the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code to adjust investigations only; patent examination was wrong in terms of expertise in intellectual property assessment activities; quarantine of imported animal products for inter-provincial transportation; consider and settle debts between Dai Thanh Company and PVCombank; created conditions for enterprises to act as distribution agents of Toyota firms in Ninh Binh Province; solved the determination of additional land levies and complete the procedures for land lease in Hanoi; ...

2. Answering Implementations of recommendations of ministries, branches and localitities:

In August 2019, the VCCI received 57 written answers to businesses’ recommendations from 10 ministries, branches and localities (an increase of 2 documents compared to July 2019). These documents were fully posted on VCCI's website as prescribed in the Resolution 35. (Details in Appendix 3 attached to the report)

Despite receiving quite a large number of recommendations, the Ministry of Planning and Investment; The Ministry of Finance answered to enterprises’ recommendations promptly, in which the Ministry of Planning and Investment is the Ministry answered quickly and the number of overdue recommendation answered less than the total number of recommendation received. Some ministries and branches responded slowly to recommendations such as the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, ...

According to VCCI's monitoring, from January 1, 2019 to August 31, 2019, 192 recommendations of businesses and business associations were not answered by ministries, branches and localities. The number of unanswered recommendation of August 2019 was quite large (84 recommendation, accounting for nearly half of the number of unanswered recommendation) due to the large number of enterprises sending recommendations at the end of the month, the ministries and branches have not yet been able to pay them. Some recommendations have been backlog since the beginning of the year but have not been resolved.

Details of unanswered proposals and responsibilities of ministries, branches and localities were presented in Appendix 1, Appendix 2 and Appendix 4 attached to the report.

It was suggested that the Government’s Office continued urging ministries, branches and localities to definitely answer enterprises' recommendations, especially those that was outstanding since the beginning of the year.

II. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VCCI'S RESOLUTION 35 / NQ-CP

In August 2019, The VCCI deployed the following assigned tasks:

1. Implemented activities that contributed to administrative reform and created favorable conditions for enterprises; Created a favorable environment to support startups and businesses to innovate; Ensured the right to business and equal access to business resources and opportunities; reduced business costs for businesses and protect their legitimate rights and interests:

The VCCI actively participated and coordinated to organize many activities to comment on the draft of the amended and supplemented Labor Code (Labor Code): The VCCI’s President participated in the meeting on August 14, 2019 of Standing Committee ofThe National Assembly provided comments on completing the draft Labor Code; organized a seminar on "Suggestions to amend the draft Labor Code from the business community" in provinces / cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang Cities; Can Tho and Ba Ria Vung Tau Provinces. ... The VCCI and 6 Business Associations Enterprises included Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (LEFASO), the Japan Business Association in Vietnam ( JCCI), the Vietnam Electronics Business Association (VEIA) and the American Business Association in Vietnam (AmCham) for the first time agreed to sign a joint recommendations on 5 issues in the draft revised Labor Code, if approved, it may affect to production activities of enterprises.

- Leaders of VCCI and professional units took part in law-making activities and policy comments such as: Attending Government meetings on law formulation; Meeting to review and completion of the list of sectors and trades banned from business investment and the list of sectors and trades subject to conditional business investment promulgated together with the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Investment Law and the Law on Enterprise; attending the National Conference on Improving Labor Productivity and Launching the National Labor Productivity Movement; joining the inspection team of the Ministry of Justice in Lam Dong and Khanh Hoa Provinces; joining the working group of the Inter-sectoral Task Force to conduct a survey on the Index of cross-border trade transactions at enterprises on the Index of cross-border trade transactions in Ho Chi Minh City; Implementing the Summary Report of Resolution 48-NQ / TW on Strategy for building and perfecting Vietnam's legal system by 2010, with orientations to 2020 ...

The VCCI collaborated with General Department of Taxation to organize a forum on "Removing problems in implementing electronic invoices". According to the Decree 119/2018 / ND-CP of the Government, the conversion of paper invoices into electronic invoices was carried out according to a 24-month schedule that would be completed before November 1, 2020. However, in reality, enterprises implementing the transformation still faced many difficulties and obstacles because so far, there were not any circulars guiding the implementation of this Decree that has been issued.

- Conducted  a review of overlaps and conflicts in the legal documents on investment, land, construction, environment, housing, real estate business and bidding to propose to the Government’s Prime Minister. Government solutions to handle and overcome.

- Completed and continued implementing some thematic studies such as Research on "Compliance costs of businesses in Vietnam and comparison with other countries in ASEAN"; studied on "Difficulties and obstacles when converting from business households to enterprises in Vietnam due to the costs incurred during conversion and operation"; reported on "collecting feedbacks of people and businesses about the quality of public administration and costs in production and business"; Made a survey on  "Research Business Costs for Vietnamese Enterprises, compared to other countries in the region and the world"; Made a Survey on " Dynamic Vietnamese Enterprise in the first 6 months of 2019".

The VCCI contributed opinions on a number of draft legal documents such as: the Decree detailing and measures to implement the Law on Crop Production; the Decree amending and supplementing the Decree 67/2017 / ND-CP stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the field of oil and gas, petroleum and gas trading; The Decree details measures to implement the Livestock Law; the Decree on management and operation of airports and airfields; the Decree amending and supplementing the Decrees related to business investment conditions in the field of state management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade; The Circular on Commercial Defense to enforce CPTPP; the Circular National Technical Regulation on safety in production, testing, acceptance, storage, transportation, use and destruction of industrial explosives; Reported on the mission  of "Perfecting policies, promoting investment attraction in the field of logistic infrastructure" in the Prime Minister's Decision No. 200 / QD-Ttg of February 14, 2017 ... Comments are updated at: http://vibonline.com.vn/tim-kiem-y-kien-vcci.

- Continued post-publication activities of the Provincial Competitiveness Assessment Index (PCI) 2018 and implementing the PCI Plan 2019: Finalized the Operational Evaluation and Monitoring Plan (M&E) of PCI project in the new phase (2019-2022); Conducted surveys DDCI Kontum, Dak Nong, Quang Nam, Quang Binh and Gia Lai Provinces; coordinated with the Ministry of Construction in evaluating construction licensing procedures in localities integrated in the PCI survey; continued cooperating with Asia Foundation (TAF) to conduct a study  on "Overview of enterprise resilience assessment" integrated in PCI survey ...

VCCI contributed opinions on a number of draft legal documents such as: The Decree guiding CPTPP on bidding; The Decree replaced the Decree No. 44/2017 / ND-CP stipulating the level of compulsory social insurance contributions into the Insurance fund for occupational accidents and diseases; the Decree providing for credit information activities; The Decree provided for a list of dangerous goods and management of dangerous goods transport activities; The Decree on import and dismantlement of used ships; the Decree on fertilizer management; the Circular on organic agriculture; ... the Detailed content of comments was updated at: http://vibonline.com.vn/tim-kiem-y-kien-vcci.

Continued post-publication activities of the Provincial Competitiveness Assessment Index (PCI) 2018 and implementing the PCI Plan 2019: Finalizing the Operational Evaluation and Monitoring Plan (M&E) of PCI project in the new phase (2019-2022); Conducting surveys DDCI Kontum, Dak Nong, Quang Nam, Quang Binh, Gia Lai; coordinated with the Ministry of Construction in evaluating construction licensing procedures in localities integrated in the PCI survey; continue to cooperate with Asia Foundation (TAF) to conduct the study "Overview of enterprise resilience assessment" integrated in PCI survey ...

- Continued implementing the Action Program to Promote the Implementation of Business Integrity: Preparing an Assessment Report on the risk of corruption and group interests in issuing legal documents, reviewing, evaluating, proposing improvement of the law; organizing a consultation workshop to finalize the Handbook for enterprises to develop an internal control mechanism (CoC); developing a commitment to business integrity of Vietnamese businesses.

Coordinated with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and relevant ministries and agencies to develop the Action Plan for 2019 and the period 2019-2025 for the Public-Private Partnership Committee (Committee 17).

- Continued implementing activities within the framework of the Recirculating Economy Program: Continued carrying out research activities to build a secondary raw material market in the paper and plastic industry; prepared a survey of business situation after three years of applying the CSI Index; updated and adjusted the set of Sustainable Enterprise Index (CSI) in 2019; coordinated with UNICEF in implementing activities under the Project on the promotion of children's rights in business (CRBP), integrating the implementation of children's rights in the CSI Index 2019; held a press conference on the award "Honoring business initiatives for the community - Green Enables 2019" ...

- 2. Deploying trade promotion and investment in activities, programs and projects to support the competitiveness of enterprises and business associations:

- Organized a Seminar on "Identifying Business - investment opportunities in the context of the expected EVFTA” that be soon to be approved" in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Cities in order to provide useful information to businesses, The manufacturers presented challenges from EVFTA and the prospect of attracting investment from the EU. With EVFTA, the opportunity opens up to promote import and export accompanied with many difficulties and challenges from tariffs, requirements on goods origin ... To take advantages of opportunities for the economy to break out on the real platform. EVFTA, not only needs efforts from the Government but also from the business itself. For the Government, institutional reform, business environment improvement and internalization of EVFTA regulations were urgent requirements. On the business side, businesses must have a more comprehensive and proactive vision in accessing information about new markets. In this context, the VCCI would continue supporting businesses, could exploit and take advantage of opportunities from Free Trade Agreements.

Collaborated with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Dutch Trade Union to organize a Preliminary Preliminary Meeting of the Project to promote social dialogue at the workplace and negotiate internships. Efficiency in Vietnam's textile and garment industry. The activity was in the framework of tripartite cooperation between the VCCI, Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and Dutch Trade Union Organization (CNV). The project aimed to promote the dialogue between employees - business management and effective collective bargaining at enterprises in Vietnam's textile and garment industry, focused on training and guiding users' representatives. employers and workers to dialogue together, towards developing collective labor agreements of businesses groups. The project contributed to building harmonious, stable and progressive labor relations, reduced labor disputes, through promoting substantive social dialogue at the workplace in the Textile industry and business groups. The pilot area includes Hung Yen and TP. Ho Chi Minh and Dong Nai.

Collaborated with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) to organize the Taiwan Product Trade Fair in Hanoi. The activity aimed to promote the exchange and cooperated relations between Vietnamese and Taiwanese businesses, with the participation of a delegation of 152 Taiwanese enterprises in Vietnam. This was a good opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to find partners in the fields of green and environment-friendly technology, The ICT information technology equipment, e-commerce, cold supply chains, and processing machines. food and packaging materials, beverages, food, cosmetics, health and sports health, household appliances, orchid growing technology, smart transportation ... On this occasion, the VCCI and TAITRA signed a cooperation agreement to implement trade promotion activities between Vietnam and Taiwan.

Organized and coordinated to organize a number of activities to support businesses to promote trade, investment, and international economic integration such as Gala connecting Vietnames - Australian businesses; a Workshop on promoting trade in South Africa, Hong Kong; Vietnam - India Trade Forum; a Vietnam - Poland Trade Exchange; Meeting to meet Vietnamese - Korean businesses; Connecting Vietnam - Russia trade and introducing Russian products; a Conference on Meeting and Seeking opportunities for trade and investment cooperation with Chinese enterprises ...

Organized 58 training courses for 2829 enterprises on topics: Performance planning and evaluation, contract drafting and dispute resolution, financial management to improve management capacity. Management and access to financial resources for businesses; training for employers and employees' representatives on labor and employment statistics in Vietnam's Sustainable Development Index; guiding the compliance with regulations in associated transactions, preventing risks in inspection and tax examination related to related transactions ...

Received and worked with international delegations: the Delegation of the National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation of China (CNCPEC), the Minister and Mission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Botswana, the Ambassador of Sweden in Vietnam, the Indonesian Embassy, the President of Polish Chamber of Commerce, the French Business Association in Vietnam and Cambodian business delegation ...

Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry respectfully reports to the Government’s Prime Minister.

C/C :

- As above;

- Standing Committee;

- Government’s Office (DMDN Dept );

-The Business Information Center. (for posting on the Website)

- Saved by Archives and Admin Dept. (for synthetics)