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 July 2019 as follows:

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

1. The implementation of gathering and resolving businesses' recommendations in July 2019

In July 2019, the VCCI made a statistic and  had 100 new businesses and business associations’recommendations sent to 18 ministries, branches and localities (increasing 15 recommendations compared to June 2019). In particular, the 2 Ministries: The Ministry of  Finance; the Ministry of Planning and Investment received 58 recommendations (accounting for 58%), most that was the Ministry of Finance received 31 recommendations. As of the end of July 31, 2019, there were 37 recommendations answered and 63 recommendationswere not answered, in which, the number of recommendations that were beyond the deadline was 12, accounting for 19%, the remaining 51 recommendations were still in due for answer.

Details of the data and contents of the new recommendations were presented in Appendix 1, Appendix 2 attached to the report. The deadline for resolution of recommendations shall be calculated by the VCCI according to the deadline requested by the Government’s Officeat the dispatch to ministries, branches and localities.

The main contents in businesses and business associations’s recommendations mainly proposed guiding the provisions of law for implementation. In addition, there were a number of recommendations on law development and some specific cases of businesses. Some main contents includedas follows:

- The Ministry of Finance received 31 businesses’ recommendations, which was the unit to receive the most recommendations in the month (answered 14 recommendations, remained 17 recommendations, in which there were 13 recommendations in due, 4 recommendations were overdue). The  recommendations contentmajorlyrelated to tax administrative procedures, customs and tax policies such as corporate income tax policies; land rent exemption policies; enterprise income tax incentives for areas with difficult socio-economic conditions; the basis for determining VAT rates for goods transferred for use purposes;  time required to apply electronic invoices; issuing electronic invoices issuance with digital signatures but no arising date; paying current value-added tax; tax system error of the General Department of Taxation when establishing a branch of a business; paying license fees and VAT for non-business branches; Cuba debt-related payments in the dossier of handover to joint-stock companies according to tax-final inspection; terms of code HS code for dust filter cloth ...

 Some businessesrequestedto guide the implementation of the law in such issues as: transferring losses from the branch to the parent company by transforming the independent accounting method to dependency; investment incentives for industrial zone construction projects to be handed over before 2009; regulations on foreign investors' money transfer into investment in the company; procedures for receiving aid goods from non-governmental organizations; sublease workshops for satellite partners; verification of settlement of contracts in the form of package; the validity of the authorized person must not continue authorizing another person in the Circular No. 05/2015 / TT-BKHĐT; procedures for importing soap embryo materials; requested a clarification of the basis for application of a number of provisions in the Decree No. 59/2018 / ND-CP and No. 08/2015 / ND-CP of the Government; classified investment costs without asset formation ...

- Ministry of Planning and Investment received 27 businesses’ recommendations (answered 12 recommendations remained  15 recommendations, in which 15 recommendations was in due, 0 recommendations was overdue). The basic contents of the Ministry's guidance on implementation of policies and laws included:

+ Guided the law on bidding for the following contents: applying the Bidding Law 2013 and Decision 17/2019 / QD-TTg in providing and posting bidding information and contract performance assurance ; price reduction in bidding; additionally arising, changing the construction ground which required re-bidding; the accumulation of contract value in bids; competence to issue decisions to set up a team of experts to evaluate bids; evaluation situation in bids; applied bidding to select investors for projects proposed by the company ...

+ Guided the implementation of the law in the investment field, including the following conditions: procedures and procedures for converting 100% Vietnamese-invested schools and colleges into 100% foreign-invested schools; investment conditions for post-production activities; procedures for foreign investment in Vietnam; procedures after the end of the project's operating time; criteria for determining a foreign-invested businesses under the 2014 Investment Law; competence deciding on the policy of investment in urban area construction projects; annual registration of adjustment of investment capital; investment procedures for commercial housing projects ...

+ Guided the implementation of the law in a number of other contents such as: Authorized the branch to sign contracts and seal branches; sold surplus assets without further business of the enterprises; implemented the goal of "Sanitation and similar services" (CPC 9403); record the contributed capital, charter capital at the actual exchange rate; contributied capital to a joint stock company with land use rights; ...

- Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment received 5 of businesses (there were not any recommendations answered,in which,3 recommendationswere in due, and 2 recommendationswere overdue). The recommendationscontent included: identifying subjects that must register environmental protection plans; determining the type of land used for public purposes; the lease of land in industrial parks; guidelines for changing land use purposes ...

In July 2019, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment received 5 recommendations, but the Ministry has not yet responded to any recommendations. In general, the response/resolution of the Ministry's recommendationswas quite slow, the number of recommendations received by the Ministry in the previous months of 2019 still remains unresolved.

- The Ministry of Construction received 8 businesses’ recommendations (2 recommendationswere answered, 6 recommendation were still not answered, in which 4 recommendations were in due and 2 recommendations were overdue). The recommendations contents all requested guiding the implementation of the law on: Gathering survey and measurement costs in service of the project site clearance compensation; experimental activities under the Ministry of Construction; determining project management costs in construction investment; authorized / decentralized in checking and acceptance of construction works; construction activity competency ‘s content; contributing capital with land use rights for real estate business.

+ The Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors had a document to send to the competent authorities for comments to amend the Construction Law. The comments content include: Uniformity in the legal system; Inequality between subjects in construction contracts; Inadequacies in short-term labor contract insurance from 1 month to less than 3 months of construction industry; problems in granting practice certificates in construction activities; the examination and inspection caused difficulties for construction businesses; obstacles about norms - unit prices and cost estimates.

- The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs received 8 of businesses 3 recommendations were answered, 5 recommendations were still not answered, in which there were 4 recommendations in due and 1 recommendation was overdue). The all recommendationscontents guided the implementation of the law on: Working hours for female workers during the time of raising children, determining the wage payment for maternity regime and confirming how to calculate the number of annual permissionholidays (annual license); problems when conducting labor disciplinary procedures; paying for the working time of overtime overlapping shift on weekends, holidays, Tet; paying for job loss allowance due to restructuring of the industry; confirming not being granted a Work Permit; duration and number of times of labor sublease; clarifying the scope of activities of employment service enterprises; the application of the provisions at Point c, Clause 8, Article 10 of the Government's Decree No. 11/2016 / ND-CP ...

- The Ministry of Health received 4 businesses’ recommendations (0 recommendations was answered, 4 recommendations were not answered, in which there were 2 recommendations in due and 2 recommendations were overdue) with the following contents: Proposing implementation guidance of the Decree No. 155/2018 / ND-CP dated November 12, 2018 of the Government on amending and supplementing a number of provisions relating to business investment conditions under the state management scope of the Ministry of Health; applying for a certificate of eligibility for food hygiene and safety; guiding procedures related to business conditions for polyclinics ...

In particular, the Cekindo Co., Ltd. reflected the Department of Food Safety - Ministry of Health many times delayed in processing dossiers and returning the registration results. Many times businesses contacted the Department leaders, only received the reply that they would responded soon or, but did not specify the reasons for the delay and did not give a specific date for the result. The delay of the Department of Food Safety seriously affected the business of the enterprise. Moreover, this was not the first time that the Food Safety Department have been delayed, all products registered bythe  Cekindo Business International Co., Ltd. have been delayed to pay results compared to the regulations without explanation.

In general, the answerof the Ministry of Health's recommendationswas still slow although the number of recommendationshas received was not much.

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade received 4businesses’recommendations (2 recommendations were answered,  2 recommendations still were not answered, in which 1 recommendation wasin due, 1 recommendation was overdue). Recommendations content: Guiding subjects and procedures exempted from land rent in accordance with the provisions of the Decree No. 68/2017 / ND-CP for investment projects in the Industrial Cluster; procedures for importing locally consumed alcohol; regulations on the distance of 2 petrol and oil stores of provincial roads;

- Businesses also proposed some contents under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and the State Bank; Science and technology; the Ministries of Information and Communications; Transport; Education and Training; Public Security;  Agriculture and Rural Development; The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, some outstanding contents such as: Change the middle name in the name of a citizen whose father is a foreigner; Guidance on setting up investment capital accounts of foreign individuals living in Vietnam; Agribank of Dak Nong Province violated the law on auction and bad debt settlement; cancellation of a trademark registration certificate causing damage to the business; quality testing for telecommunications equipment; granting certificates of registration for studying abroad consulting services; visa conversion for foreign workers; prescribing experimental activities under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; ...

2. The implementation of answering recommendations of ministries, branches and localities

In July 2019, the VCCI received 57 documents to answer businesses’recommendations of 10 ministries, branches and localities (up 12 documents compared to June 2019). These documents were fully posted by the VCCI on the VCCI’s Website as stipulated in Resolution 35. (Detailed in Appendix 3 attached to the report)

In general, the ministries and agencies responded to the proposals in a timely manner and the number of recommendations for overdue replies was lower than the total number of recommendations received, including: the Ministries of Planning and Investment; Finance; Construction; Industry and Trade. Some ministries and agencies responded quite slowly to recommendationssuch as: The Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, ...

Through monitoring by the VCCI, from January 1, 2019 to July 31, 2019, 144 recommendations of businesses and business associations were not answered by ministries, branches and localities. Many recommendationswere transferred from the Government Office and the VCCI since the beginning of 2019, but was not resolved. Ministries and agencies had many unanswered recommendations, including: the Ministry of Finance: 31 recommendations; the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment 22 recommendations; the Ministry of Planning and Investment 21 recommendations; .... For localities, there were 11 provinces and cities directly under the central government that was not responded to recommendations of businesses included Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Quang Ngai and Bac Giang; Binh Phuoc, Son La, Kien Giang, Ha Tinh, Thai Nguyen, Phu Tho, Binh Duong.

Details of unanswered recommendations and handling responsibilities of ministries, sectors and localities are presented in Appendix 1, Appendix 2 and Appendix 4 attached to the report.

We recommend the Government’s Office to continue urging ministries, branches and localities to give a complete answer to the recommendations the Government’s Office to continue urging ministries, branches and localities to give a complete answer to the proposals of enterprises. of businesses.

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

1. In July 2019, VCCI deployed the assigned tasks as follows:

Implemented activities to contribute to administrative reform, facilitated businesses; created a favorable environment to support start-up businesses and innovative businesses; ensured business rights, equal rights to access business resources and business opportunities; reduced business costs for businesses and protect legitimate rights and interests of businesses:

- VCCI commented on a number of draft legal documents such as: the Decree guiding CPTPP on bidding; The Decree replaces Decree No. 44/2017 / ND-CP on regulating the compulsory social insurance premium for the Labor accident and occupational disease insurance fund; the Decree regulating credit information activities; the Decree regulates the list of dangerous goods and manages dangerous goods transport activities; the Decree stipulating the import and demolition of used ships; the Decree on fertilizer management; the Circular on organic agriculture; ... Details of comments were updated at: http://vibonline.com.vn/tim-kiem-y-kien-vcci

- Coordinated with the Central Propaganda Department to organize the 2019 Business and Press Forum with the theme "Sharing opportunities, successful cooperation in the new context and Launching the voting program for press publications on joint ventures. personnel - business and the seventh business environment ". The forum was organized to help businesses and press agencies had more opportunities to exchange, discuss, and solve problems together in order to promote cooperation better and serve the purpose. General of the country and the people. The evaluation forum and press have made an important contribution to create a healthy business environment, becoming a bridge between the state and the business, between businesses and the community. The forum also raised the issue of journalism that must be bright, clean,sharper and important to become more reliable. In the technologyage, social networks are causing a lot of information disorder, the press must provide the right information, sufficient and timely for readers. This is the strength for newspapers to compete with social networks.

- Coordinated with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the European Union Delegation in Vietnam to hold a Dialogue on "EVFTA and IPA: Opportunities for businesses". Attended the seminar were Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, the VCCI president, Mr. Vu Tien Loc and representatives of relevant ministries, branches, professional associations and more than 200 Vietnamese businesses. South and EU. At the seminar, participants expressed their belief that EVFTA and IPA will be the leverage for Vietnam's economic growth in the coming time. Thanks to the complementarity between the economic structure of Vietnam and the EU, both Vietnam and the EU will exploit to the utmost the benefits of the EVFTA Agreement, not only in the immediate future but also in the long term. The discussion session was exciting and effective, showing the great expectation that the Agreement of EVFTA and IPA brings to the people and business community in Vietnam and the EU. The seminar is also an opportunity for businesses to have more information about the Agreement, identify the opportunities and challenges associated with the initiative and proactive preparation when the Agreement comes into effect. In order to realize the benefits brought by EVFTA and IPA, it is necessary for the people and the business community to join hands with the Government, in which the Government plays a coordinating and supporting role to create EVFTA worthy expectations of the economy.

- Coordinated with the Center for Supporting Community Service Initiative (CSIP), Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam to launch the program. 2019 Green Enclave with the theme "Search and honor business initiatives for the community". The program aimed to promote and support business initiatives for the community, well implementation of the Politburo Resolution 09 on building a team of Vietnamese entrepreneurs with responsibility to the community and society. Blue Ench is the first program of a national scale to seek and honor business initiatives for the community, contributed to promote and spread the spirit and business solutions to help solve social problems. and environmental protection. One of the new features of the Green Enlightenment program 2019, which is focusing on the main topics towards the sustainable development goals of the United Nations (SDGs).

- Organized a number of policy consultation workshops: A Seminar on "Administrative Procedure Reform in Customs - tTaxation" in Vinh Phuc; A Workshop to get comments on drafting the Construction Law in Ho Chi Minh City ...

- VCCI Leaders and specialized units participated in activities of developing laws and policy comments such as: Working with the Building Contractors Association with a number of National Assembly Committees on the main contents of draft of Construction Law; joined the delegation of the Ministry of Justice to inspect the implementation of law in the field of insurance ...

- Completed a number of thematic studies such as the study on "Compliance costs of businesses in Vietnam and comparisons with ASEAN countries"; Researched on  "Difficulties and obstacles when converting from a business household to an enterprise in Vietnam due to the costs incurred in the transition and operation"; Reported on "Collecting feedback of people and businesses on the quality of public administration and costs in production and business"; Reported on "Assessing the results of policiesimplementation and laws on industrial businesses development in Vietnam"; coordinated with the Ministry of Science and Technology to carry out the "Science and technology potential of science and technology organizations in 2019" ...

- Continued post-publication activities of the Provincial Competitiveness Assessment Index (PCI) 2018: Prepared for PCI diagnostic workshops 2018 of Tay Ninh, Ca Mau and Quang Binh provinces; supported Quang Ngai, Dak Nong and Kon Tum provinces to complete the DDCI 2019; continued to coordinate with the Ministry of Construction to conduct assessment on construction licensing procedures in the localities integrated in the PCI survey; continued to cooperate with the Asia Foundation (TAF) to implement the "Overall assessment of businesses' resilience" integrated in the PCI survey ...

- Continued implementing the Action Program Promotion in  business Integrity.

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

- Continued carrying out activities under the Program of Recirculating Economy: Continued conducting research activities to build secondary materials market in the paper and plastic industry; prepared a survey of businesses' status after three years of applying the CSI Index; updated and adjusted the Ministry of Sustainable Enterprise Index (CSI) in 2019; coordinatedwith UNICEF to implement activities under the Project on Promoting Child Rights in Business (CRBP), integrated the implementation of child rights in the CSI Index of 2019 ...

 2. Implementation of  trade and investment promotion activities, programs and projects to support the competitiveness of businesses and business associations:

- In the framework of the official visit to Vietnam, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a formal working visit to the VCCI and a representative of some leading Vietnamese businesses. The turnover of bilateral trade between Vietnam and Armenia in 2018 reached USD 3.6 million. According to the assessment, bilateral trade turnover between the two countries was still very modest. At the meeting, the VCCI President expressed his hope that the visit of the Armenian Prime Minister will open a cooperative relationship between the two countries' businesses. As a national trade promotion unit, the VCCI was committed to work closely with the Embassy of Armenia to develop a plan to organize cooperation programs and business forums to provide information and support. Armenian businesses has understood the market and seeked partners in Vietnam. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also affirmed that in order to promote investment, the Armenian Government also made strong reforms to create a favorable business investment environment for foreign businesses and without any barriers. This would be an advantage for goods of both sides to reach each other's markets. Vietnamese enterprises in the textile and garment industry, export of agricultural products made some suggestions to the Armenian Prime Minister on promoting the joint cooperation program as well as providing a lot of market information for both businesses to understand more about each other and proceed to more cooperation projects in the future.

- Coordinated with Taiwan Industry Federation to organize a "Vietnam-Taiwan Industrial Cooperation Forum" in Ho Chi Minh City. At the forum, economic experts all acknowledged that the investment capital of Taiwanese enterprises investing in Vietnam had been continuously grown in the past years, which affirmed Vietnam had a favorable investment environment. attractive and increasingly attracted Taiwanese businesses. As of May 5, 2019, two-way trade turnover of Vietnam - Taiwan reached 7.5 USD billion, up 15.7% over the same period in 2018, of which export turnover reached USD 1.5 billions. This year's forum had 3 technical discussion sessions and signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) between Vietnamese and Taiwanese enterprises in the fields of textile, light industry and automation, technology application in a smart city. These were areas with development opportunities in Vietnam and were encouraged by the Government. Speaking at the Forum, the VCCI president said that with the new wave of FDI investment, Vietnam wanted Taiwan enterprises to step up investment in research and development of high-tech products and supporting industries. Created greater value, more friendly with environment and closely linked with Vietnamese businesses.

- Coordinated with the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) to organize the Vietnam - Singapore Business Exchange Conference and sign a Cooperation Agreement to establish Vietnam - Singapore Business Council. At the event, the VCCI and SBF signed a cooperation agreement to set up a Vietnam-Singapore Business Council, including prestigious businesses and wish to contribute to the multi-faceted development between Vietnam and Singapore. Vietnam-Singapore Business Council is the official information channel for the business community to contribute ideas to the Government of the two countries in order to create an increasingly more favorable business and investment environment. In addition, the Council would create opportunities to strengthen cooperation between businesses with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Singapore Business Federation as well as Singapore Business Associations.

- Organized a number of activities to support businesses promoting trade, investment, international economic integration: Vietnam - Latvia Business Forum in Hanoi; Vietnam - Cambodia Trade and Investment Promotion Forum; coordinated with the International Arbitration Center (VIAC) to organize a workshop on "Prevention and resolution of public private partnership contracts in the field of infrastructure - Practical Vietnam, international experience and orientation." policy ”in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. cooperated with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to organize a workshop on "Protection of industrial designs and trademarks for Vietnamese enterprises" in Hanoi ...

- Organized training for businesses on topics: Performance planning and evaluation, contract drafting skills and dispute resolution, financial management to improve management capacity and ability access to financial resources for businesses; training for employers and employees' representatives on labor statistics and employment indicators in Vietnam's sustainable development index; guide compliance with regulations in associated transactions, risk prevention in inspection, tax inspection related to associated transactions ...

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry is pleased to report to the Government 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)