TO: THE GOVERNMENT

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) is pleased to report on the implementation results of the tasks assigned in the Government's Resolution 35 / NQ-CP dated May 16, 2016 on supporting and developing enterprises till the year 2020 in fourth quarter 2019, specifically as follows:

I. THE RESULTS OF THE MINISTRIES, BRANCHES AND LOCALITIES’ AGGREGRATING AND RESOLVING RECOMMENDATIONS OF BUSINESSES

1. The results of aggregating and resolving recommendations of businesses in fourth quarter 2019

In fourth quarter 2019, VCCI directly gathered from information channels 275 new recommendations of businesses and business associations (a decline by 58 compared to the third quarter of 2019). The results of resolving recommendations as of December 31, 2019 were presented below:

Regarding ministries, branches and localities that received recommendations in the fourth quarter of 2019, the Ministry of Finance received the highest number of recommendations with 63 recommendations; followed by the Ministry of Planning and Investment with 62 recommendations. 21 recommendations were submitted to the Ministry of Construction; 26 recommendations were submitted to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security; 14 recommendations were submitted to the Ministry of Natural resources and Environment; 15 recommendations were submitted to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry; 5 recommendations were submitted to the Ministry of Health; 6 recommendations were submitted to the State Bank. These 8 Ministries, branches and localities received 212 recommendations, accounting for 77.1% of the total number of recommendations in fourth quarter 2019.  The Ministry of Finance together with the Ministry of Planning and Investment received the highest number of recommendations and much higher than other ministries, branches and localities (125 recommendations, accounting for 45.6%). A number of other ministries, branches and localities also received recommendations of businesses. [2]

The recommendations submitted by businesses and business associations were mainly about requests for guidance on the implementation of legal provisions. There are also a number of recommendations on legislation and some specific cases of businesses. The content of the recommendations covers these issues below:

- The Ministry of Finance received the highest number of recommendations from businesses in fourth quarter 2019. The content of these recommendations includes:

+ Suggestion or Guidance on resolving difficulties and obstacles in the field of tax and customs: allocating corporate income tax to each province, the status of business operation when requesting VAT refund, expenses that are included in the calculation of corporate  income tax, VAT declaration using the form 01 / GTGT; the compulsory use of electronic invoices from November 1, 2018, application procedures for termination or reinstatement of the tax code,   current tax on construction and installation,  guidance on interpreting the Asian - Hong Kong schedule of tariff, reducing VAT arrears and fines in construction investment, handling of VAT on imports, business activities and re-exports, VAT on pawn services; sanctioning administrative violations of enterprises that have issued dissolution decisions, clarifying the legal basis for the feature of blocking declaration on the website, a recommendation  on the inspection of illegal transmission, resolving issue regarding the missing of the customs declaration on the customs data processing system, guidance on applying customs and contractor tax, scope of determining taxable income for foreigners working in Vietnam ...

+ Proposal for guidance on implementation of the law on some specific issues: time for payment of the investor to the contractor in the duration of contract, the definition of micro enterprises prescribed in Circular No. 132/2018 / TT-BTC dated December 28, 2018; answering legal policies related to life insurance contracts; guidance on the application of legal documents in the settlement of investment projects on work constructions,  guidance on the equitization of non-business units, interpreting the term "non-business operation capacity" prescribed in the Government's Decree No. 16/2015 / ND-CP dated February 14, 2015 stipulating the mechanism for exercising the autonomy of public administrative units; sanctioning administrative violations with enterprises whose dissolution decisions were ratified,  determining the time of recording turnover in the service of introducing Vietnamese people to settle down abroad ...

A number of outstanding recommendations are listed below:

+Nikel Ban Phuc Mining Co., Ltd. had a document to give opinion on the Circular amending and supplementing Circular 44/2017 / TT-BTC on imposing the taxable price brackets for groups/types of natural resources with similar physical and chemical properties. The Company claimed that the taxable price brackets for nickel mineral prescribed in this draft amendment to Circular 44/2017 / TT-BTC (with the comments of the People's Committee of Cao Bang Province)is relatively high concerning the condition of ore mining. Therefore, the Company proposed anothertaxable price bracket for nickel ore to the Ministry of Finance.

+ Binh An Real Estate Investment Development Joint Stock Company, Nha Rong Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company and RC12 Investment Joint Stock Company recommended that Government reviewedArticle 8, Point 3 of Decree 20/2017 / ND-CP issued on February 24, 2017 stipulating principles for deducting reasonable expenses for associated transactions. As the Clause 3, Article 8 of Decree 20/2017 / ND-CP stipulates: “ Taxpayer’s total loan interest cost arising within a specified tax period qualified as a deduction from income subject to corporate income tax shall not exceed 20% of total net profit generated from business activities plus loan interest costs and amortization costs arising within that period”, the interest expenses of these companies were excluded. This resulted in an increase in virtual profit, leading to the higher corporate income tax and causing damage to companies.

+ Enterprises operating in the field ofproducing and trading phosphorus products in Vietnam [3]requested that the Ministry of Finance not propose an increase in phosphorus export tax from 5% to 10% in the current period.

+ Kingmo New Materials Vietnam Co., Ltd made a recommendation relating to the incident that the Bac Ninh Customs Branch issued a decision to impose tax on 61 declarations of exported products from imported raw materialssince September 1, 2016. The company claimed that the update of the change in tax policy prescribed in Circular 38/2015 / TT-BTC and Decree No. 134/2016 / ND-CP from September 1 has not been introduced by the customs authorities to declare customs and tax properly. Due to the lack of specific guidance from Bac Ninh Customs and updating of new policies of the company, Since September 1, 2016, when there was Decree 134/2016 / ND-CP, all clearance of imported raw materials and exported products of the company remained smooth, and the selling price of exported products of the company has absolutely excluded tax. Now the customs office has issued a decision to collect export tax arrears, putting the company in jeopardy.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment received a large number of recommendations from businesses on guiding the implementation of policies and laws, most of which are proposals to guide the law on bidding. The basic contents requested by the Ministry to guide the implementation of policies and laws include:       

+ Guiding the law on bidding with the following contents: Point d, Clause 6, Article 89 of the Law on Bidding "Participation by a tenderer in bidding for goods procurement, construction and installation in a bidding package for which such participant previously has provided consultancy services", applying selection of contractors in special cases, applying online bidding for consultancy bidding package valued at VND 10 billion or over, regulations on bidding documents; regulations on lump-sum contract; handling higher bid prices than anticipated, request for financial resources for the bidding package, updating the price of  bidding package, guiding the implementation of regulations on direct contracting, bidding procedures for construction and installation bidding packages at of  VND 5 billion or less, guiding the contractors' eligibility status; handling situations in the selection of contractors, the competence of the chief of the representative office to sign and stamp the bidding package, making a plan of tendering during investment preparation, procurement of supplies and equipment to be installed in a work of the winning bid package and handing over the contract performance, evaluation on contracts in bidding documents for design consultancy, participating in a construction supervision package; identifying "authorized persons" pursuant to the Law on Bidding, branches of auditing firms that was appointed to procure audit bidding package ... ...

+ Guiding  the implementation of the law in other areas such as: conditions for foreign-invested advertising service, conditions applied to foreign investors in health care services, defining preferential industries under the Law on Investment, handling  dossiers of capital contribution purchase of foreign investors, identifying cases of confusing business names pursuant to the  Point d, Clause 2, Article 42 of the Law on Enterprise Law, final cost of purchasing non-compulsory insurance for laborers and project investment costs, procedures of transferred  production and business projects using land, registration of wholesale and retail trades for products manufactured by the enterprise, formulation of investment projects without construction components for state-owned enterprises, proposing additional service lines for renting transport equipment, Amendment to Clause 2, Article 18 of the Law on Enterprises 2014 on request for criminal records, conditions for transforming schools and colleges into foreign-owned ones, presenting the code of the industry in the established company records; validity of an authorized person shall not continue to authorize another person; conditions, order and procedures for setting up a short-term training center ...

- All recommendation submitted to the Ministry of Construction requested for guiding the implementation of the law. The basic contents of the recommendations include: legislation on economic organizations participating in the auctions of land use rights of plots in residential areas, resettlement areas, and flood-prone population clusters with profitable conditions in the process of population arrangement, form of approval of construction drawing and cost estimation of construction works of economic-technical report on payment of fixed unit price-based contract, application of legal documents in the execution of work construction investment projects, agencies evaluating investment preparation pursuant to Decree No. 68/2019 / ND-CP, guiding the construction warranty period; procedures for approving the drawing design of the overall work architecture in industrial parks, whether individual contractors be allowed to receive construction contracts, Agencies evaluating investment preparation pursuant to the Decree No. 68/2019 / ND-CP, guiding the procedures of applications for capacity certificates, guiding the adjustment of contract prices for fixed unit price-based contract when adjusting the alignment positions compared with the approved construction drawing designs, payment and calculation of general item costs for package contracts; guiding the conveyance process regarding apartment houses…

- The Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs received recommendations from businesses requesting guidance on the implementation of the law on the following contents: instructions on arranging 45-minute breaks for night shift workers, subjects of application for a work permit, payment of unemployment benefit in cases where the time-limits for requesting dispute resolution expired, ways to determine the heavy and hazardous work in a carton packaging manufacturing company, proposing to increase the total overtime limit in the year, sending laborers to work abroad in the form of skill-improvement internships; executive compensation of a limited company when converting into shareholding company, handling unilateral termination of employment, perquisites for workers,responsibilities of employers to employees suffering from occupational accidents, guiding the policies towards redundant employees and managers due to the restructuring of state-owned single member limited companies, time of payment of salary of the untaken leave days, guidance on labor leasing enterprises operating in security services, proposal to raise the overtime hour cap from 200 hours to 400 hours per year, renewing employment contract, breeching annual leave, sick leave without medical certificates…

- The Ministry of Resources and Environment received recommendations on the following issues: guiding the application of criteria related to Circular No. 26/2015 / TT-BTNMT dated May 28, 2015, guiding the implementation of time limits for formulation of environmental protection schemes, guiding the procedures for conveyance of production and business projects using land, regulations of law on economic organizations receiving transfer, extension of term and transfer of land use rights, guiding the handling of hazardous waste, guiding projects eligible for exemption from registration for environmental protection plans, mortgage of land use rights of economic organizations that are allocated or leased land but partially exempted, applying the taxable price brackets of resources for granting water rights, provide guidance on preparation of environmental impact assessment (EIA) for projects using imported scrap as raw production materials; guiding a dossier of application  for surface water exploitation permit, licensing of transporting dangerous goods including toxic and infectious substances ...

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade  received recommendations from enterprises on requesting  guidance on the following contents: policies to incentivize power system from renewable energy, procedures for licensing investment projects on solar power, guidance on the relationship between e-commerce and advertising, procedures for grant of licenses for establishment of representative offices of foreign traders, registration procedures of distribution, wholesale and retail of liquor products for liquor producers, regulations on e-commerce activities performed by foreign traders, identifying products after processing as industrial products ...

- The State Bank of Vietnam received a number of recommendations from businesses on the following contents: Solutions to improve quality in drafting and issuing circulars of the State Bank of Vietnam, guidance on documents and order procedures for the parent company to borrow and transfer foreign currencies abroad; guidance on the regulations on foreign exchange control of foreign direct investment activities, answering a number of problems in the implementation of the Law on Credit Institutions…

- The Ministry of Health received a number of recommendations with the following contents: regulations on compulsory insurance for foreign nationals who are working in Vietnam in the form of internal mobility, problems in implementing mechanisms and policies on pharmaceutical management, regulations on environmental hygiene of clinics, problems when implementing Decree 155/2018 / ND-CP dated 12/11/2018 amending and supplementing a number of provisions related to business investment conditions under the state management scope of the Ministry of Health, proposals for adjustment of procedures for announcing the procurement of medical equipment.

- Enterprises / business associations submitted recommendations to other ministries, branches and localities, namely  Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education and Training,  the Ministry of Justice, the  Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the  Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; the Vietnam Social Security, the Voice of Vietnam, as follows on specific contents: guidance on the validity period of certificates of fire prevention and fighting competence, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of Circular No. 04/2015 / TT-BCA, recommendation on handing over the seals of the representative office of foreign trader, instructions for registering the record archive, guidance on the implementation of legal provisions on re-settlement of complaints, proposing to clarify the signs of violations of the Department of Civil Judgment Execution  in Phan Rang - Thap Cham, handling the licensing of the badges to provincial businesses operating in Hanoi, comment on the draft Decree replacing Decree 86/2014 / ND-CP dated September 10, 2014 of the Government on automobile transportation businesses, writing imported goods when changing the company's address, importing, producing and trading equipment whose energy efficiency levels fails to meet the minimum energy efficiency level in national standards, consideration of debt payment responsibilities of VTC Digital Television ..

- The enterprise also sent some recommendations to the People's Committees of Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Can Tho, Da Nang, Bac Giang, Ninh Binh, Hai Phong, Binh Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Quang Ninh, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Tien. Giang, Hai Duong and Ha Tinh among them, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the localities receiving the most recommendations. The main contents were proposals to solve specific difficulties encountered by businesses in production and business activities, such as: suggesting the handling of project delay and payment of advance of the XL0- 02: design, construction and operation of Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe wastewater treatment plant; request of setting up a pre-feasibility study of Thu Thiem pedestrian bridge project; guiding the granting of land use rights for investment in the construction of social houses and smart urban areas, proposing to handle Hanoi traffic signs that do not comply with QCVN 41: 2016 / BGTVT; procedures for transport business licenses for businesses in Hanoi; guiding procedures for investment cooperation with foreign countries in the field of education and training, guiding the handling of administrative violations of 140 kiosks at the fruit wholesale market in Hai Phong; recommendations on the long and contradictory working process of the HCMC business registration office in Hai Phong, guiding procedures for renting surface water for making tourist wharves in Ba Ria - Vung Tau; petitioning the provincial People's Committee to approve the investment policy of clean water plant project in Thanh Hoa; proposing to support enterprises that are leased land to implement pineapple and vegetable farming farm project in the direction of eco-technology in Tien Giang, proposing to consider re-granting low-voltage electricity lines to the electricity project of Huong Son commune, Bac Giang Province, reflecting the slow processing of licensing documents by the Department of Education and Training of Hai Phong ...

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

In the fourth quarter of 2019, VCCI received 202 document in response  to business proposals from 17 ministries, sectors and localities, an increase of 16.1% compared to the third quarter of 2019 (the third quarter of 2019 received 174 documents). These documents have been fully published on VCCI's website.

Through monitoring by the VCCI, from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, 223 recommendations of businesses and business associations remained unanswered by ministries, branches and localities.. Ministries and branches had many unanswered recommendations, including: the Ministry of Finance: 29 recommendations, the Ministry of Planning and Investment: 25 recommendations; the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment: 29 recommendations; the Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs: 19 recommendations, the Ministry of Industry and Trade: 21 recommendations, The Ministry of Construction: 17 recommendations, the Ministry of Public Security: 9 recommendations, the Ministry of Health: 7 recommendations, the Ministry of Information and Communications: 6 recommendations, the Ministry of Science and Technology: 7 recommendations, the Ministry of Justice: 6 recommendations, the Ministry of Education and Training: 5 recommendations… For localities, 11 provinces and cities directly under the central government did not responded to recommendations of businesses. 3 cities and provinces that had the most unresolved recommendations were Ho Chi Minh City (8 recommendations), Hanoi (5 recommendations), and Quang Ninh (3 recommendations).

Details of unanswered recommendations and handling responsibilities of ministries, sectors and localities are presented in 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 proposals of enterprises. of businesses.

Through monitoring the quality of resolving recommendations of ministries, branches and localites, VCCI found that: Ministry of Planning and Investment resolved the recommendations very promptly with few proposals left unanswered. Despite a large number of monthly recommendations submitted to the Ministry of Finance, its responses were quite timely. The number of outstanding recommendations was high, there were no existing ones from the beginning of the year and many recommendations related to tax refund, tax arrears needed a lot of time to be resolved. A number of ministries and branches responded promptly to recommendations, namely as follows: the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, etc. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs, The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the People's Committees of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are ministries, branches and localities that failed to overcome the problem and left unsettled proposals.

3. Feedbacks from enterprises community:

The enterprises community gave positive feedbacks on the high economic growth in 2019 despite the challenges and difficulties that businesses and the economy had to deal with. [4] In 2020, it is expected that the Government, ministries, branches and localities will continue improving the business investment environment, cut down unnecessary administrative procedures as well as business conditions hindering production and business activities. As a result, enterprises community will benefit from increasingly favorable business environment.

Regarding the quality of state agencies' resolving recommendations, In 2019, VCCI conducted two quick surveys to evaluate the quality of answering the recommendations of ministries and localities of 1,000 businesses and business associations that have recommendations submitted to the ministries, branches and localities in 2018 and 2019. The survey results showed that:

-  Regarding the quality of answering recommendations of branches and localities, there were: 37.9% of businesses answered that they were satisfied, 17.7% of businesses answered that they were highly satisfied, 40.7% of businesses answered that they were not satisfied and 3.7% did not give evaluation.

-  Regarding the recommendations resolution of the People's Committees of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government: 27.7% of businesses responded that they were satisfied, 9.6% of businesses responded that they were highly satisfied, 31.6% of businesses responded that they were not satisfied and 31.1% of businesses did not give evaluation.

- Regarding the reasons of dissatisfaction: 41.1% of businesses responded that the answers were too general, heavy on explanation without giving a solution to business recommendations; 14.7% of businesses responded that the need of amending the provisions of the law is a must to address the issues, however, the amendments were slowly processed. 11% of businesses reflected that authorities only record recommendations but did not resolve them. 8.9% of businesses reflected that the answers given by the authorities were irrelevant to the recommendations. More than 30% of business chose other reasons…

 Thus, the survey results showed that: There was an upward trend in the dissatisfaction of enterprises / business associations towards the quality of ministries, branches, and localities’answering the recommendations. A significant number of businesses responded that the answerswere too general, heavy on explaining without giving specific solutions. (48.5% of the last 6 months of 2019 compared to 34.29% of the first 6 months of 2019). The rate of businesses/ business associations refleced that the authorities did not respond to recommendations were also increasing (12.1% in the last 6 months of 2019 compared to 5.71% in the first 6 months of 2019).  This situation showed that the task of resolving recommendations of ministries, branches and localities needs to continue improving in quality in order to promptly solve difficulties and problems of businesses in order to create  more and more favorable business environment as the Government set out.

II. RESULTS OF VCCI’S IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTION 35/NQ-CP

In fourth quarter 2019, VCCI deployed the assigned tasks as follows:

1. Implementing activities to contribute to administrative reform,  facilitating businesses, creating a favorable environment to support start-up businesses and innovative businesses, ensuring business rights, equal rights to access business resources and business opportunities, reducing business costs for businesses and protect legitimate rights and interests of businesses:

- Chairing and coordinating to organize many important forums, conferences, seminars and dialogues to discuss, propose and review policies and laws with the Party and State related to socio-economic development, improving the investment business environment, improving the provincial competitiveness index, reforming administrative procedures and supporting the development of business community, contributing positively to the process of improving the quality of the institutional system and creating an enabling environment for the growth of business community. Some outstanding activities included:

+ Under the direction of the Government, VCCI collaborated with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and other relevant agencies to organize the Prime Minister’s conference with representatives of the community with the theme "Strong development of enterprises -Integration, efficiency, sustainability”. The Government’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the conferences. Many delegates of the Government participated in this event, namely as follows: the Government’s Deputy Prime Ministers Truong Hoa Binh, Vuong Dinh Hue and Vu Duc Dam; Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of Justice of the Supreme People's Court; representatives of ministries, branches and central agencies, and numerous businesses, business associations, international organizations ...Speaking at the Conference, VCCI’s Chairman Vu Tien Loc made 3 recommendations on business environment including: (i) Proposing that the Government and the National Assembly Standing Committee consider and remove 20 major overlapping points of the law on investment, land, construction, environment and bidding to make way for development investment, and at the same time, proposing to use a law to edit many laws, use one decree to amend many decrees, immediately removing these overlapping points; (ii) Proposing to formalize business households and making them subject to the adjustment of the Enterprise Law as a single-owner enterprise according to international practices, this is also the goal of promoting development. small and micro businesses; (iii) Proposing the early completion of the public-private partnership (PPP) legal framework, the completion of the PPP legal framework ensures transparency, safety, and the mobilization of social resources to not only infrastructure projects, but also production and business projects.

+ Organizing the 4th National Startup Forum in 2019 with the theme "Completing policies to support startups". The forum focused on discussing policies to support start-up businesses, access to international support capital, barriers to start-up operations ... Through forums, proposals and recommendations on addressing difficulties and obstacles for start-up businesses were sent to the ministries, departments, functional sectors ... to provide information and consultation  in the process of developing the law on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises together with guiding documents, exemption and reduction of taxes, fees, land fees, planning for supporting start-up businesses and detailed planning on establishing investment funds for creative start-ups ...

+ Organizing the Economic Forum 2020 with the theme "Dynamic accumulation for a new growth cycle" and in collaboration with the Press-Publishing Department, the Propaganda Department awarded the journalism about entrepreneur - enterprise. and the seventh business environment. The forum analyzed and forecasted economic trends in 2020, at the same time, made recommendations and addressed difficulties and problems arising, helping businesses to plan policies and strategies in business in 2020. and the following years. Within the framework of the Economic Forum 2020, VCCI held an award for the annual program of voting for journalists writing about entrepreneurship and business environment in 2019.

+ Organizing a workshop to publish the Evaluation Report on the implementation of Resolution 02 and Resolution 35 of the Government - From an enterprise perspective. The report went into depth analysis of business environment issues such as taxes, customs, infrastructure quality, credit, business registration, sub-licenses, specialized inspection, administrative procedures, and inspection. investigating businesses, resolving disputes, managing land, building permits, organizing government-business dialogues, service attitude of agencies, fighting against corruption, e-government, supporting start-up besides reflecting on practical experiences of businesses, the report also pointed out the causes and recommends some solutions for improvement in the coming time.

+ Organizinga workshop to announce the Report on "Business Law Flow 2019". According to the Report, 2019 is considered to be the year with fewer legal documents issued comparing to previous years. However, businesses that not because of such reasonsto resolve issues softer or more simple. The report continued proposing to abolish 12 industries, amended 19 industries, supplemented 6 industries and completely ban the debt collection service business. In addition, the report also recommended that ministries and agencies continued reviewing the overall business legal system to identify the overlapping points and to amend and supplement them.

+ Organizinga workshop to announce the results of the Assessment of Business Satisfaction Assessment of Tax Administrative Procedures in 2019. The assessment report by the VCCI showed that about 90% of businesses assessedthat tax administrative information currently is is easy to find and fill, 76% of tax rate information is easy to understand; 80% businesses  assessed the implementation of tax administrative procedures easy/relatively easy to implement. It is worth noting that FDI enterprises and small-scale private enterprises are those groups that feel more favorable when fulfilling their lower tax obligations than other groups of businesses. The two most difficult tax administrative procedures are the proposed tax exemption, reduction (62%), and tax refund (56%). New businesses that have been operating in the past two years report more difficulties with tax procedures than those with long-standing operations. Electronic tax declaration and payment were high (98.4% and 92%). The deployment of electronic invoices were still difficult due to the fact that the businesseswere not ready, there was no synchronization between state management agencies, technology infrastructure ...

+ Collaborated with the Ministry of Finance to hold a conference on 2019 tax and customs administrative policies and procedures in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with the participation of more than 600 businesses. The Dialogue with businesses on tax and customs is an annual joint activity between the VCCI and the Ministry of Finance to introduce and update new tax and customs policies. At the same time, the Conference spent a lot of time for representatives of the General Department of Taxation, the General Department of Customs and businesses to dialogue and answer tax and customs problems of businesses in the process of production and business.

Organized a workshop to announce the results of the Enterprise Assessment Report on tax administrative procedure reform in 2019. The assessment report issued by the VCCI showed that about 90% businesses rated current tax administrative informationwaseasy to find and fill out, 76% businesses assessed that tax rate information was easy to understand; 80%businesses  assessed that the implementation of tax administrative procedureswas easy / relatively easy to implement. It is worth noting that FDI enterprises and small-scale private enterprises belong to those groups that felt more favorable when fulfilling their lower tax obligations than other groups of businesses. The two most difficult tax administrative procedures were proposed tax exemption, reduction (62%), and tax refund (56%). New businesses that have been operating in the past two years report more difficulties with tax procedures than those with long-standing operations. Electronic tax declaration and payment were high (98.4% and 92%). The deployment of electronic invoices was still difficult due to the fact that the businesseswere not ready, there was no synchronization between state management agencies, technology infrastructure ...

+ Collaborating with the Ministry of Finance to hold a conference on 2019 tax and customs administrative policies and procedures in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with the participation of more than 600 businesses. The Dialogue with businesses on tax and customs is an annual joint activity between the VCCI and the Ministry of Finance to introduce and update new tax and customs policies. At the same time, the Conference spent a lot of time for representatives of the General Department of Taxation, the General Department of Customs and businesses to dialogue and answer tax and customs problems of businesses in the process of production and business.

+ Organizinga Ceremony to announce 100 Sustainable businesses in Vietnam in 2019 with the participation of the Government’s Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Chairman of the National Council on Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Enhancement, representative representation leaders of ministries and central agencies and more than 400 businesses and business associations. Assessment program, ranking sustainable businesses in Vietnam. The assessment and ranking is based on the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI). In 2019, the CSI Index is streamlined from 131 targets to 98 targets in 3 areas: Economy, Society and Environment; in which, 90% are the norm of compliance with laws. At present, the Index Ministry is well received by the business community and applied in business management and construction systems. At the event, the VCCI in collaboration with the Central Propaganda Department praised nine excellent press works from 100 entries on sustainable development businesses.

+ Organized a Forum on "The role of businesses in economic development in the North Central region" in Hanoi. The forum was attended by leaders of ministries, central and local agencies, organizations, associations, businesses, domestic and foreign experts, representatives of the Planning and Investment Departments, and the First Promotion Centerfrom provinces and cities in the North Central Coast economic region. At the forum, economic experts analyzed and identified bottlenecks, policy implications, proposed solutions to enhance investment resources from businesses, and increased motivation to promote regional economic development in the North Central.

+ Coordinated the implementation of the Green Enrollment Program 2019. With the message "Every business initiative for the community will be a small swallow to bring hope and positive change for society", the program is held periodically. Every 2 years, in order to find and honor business initiatives for the community. The Green Enables Program 2019 is implemented nationwide, attracting 160 business initiatives that are contributing to community change. Gala Honoring Business Initiatives for Sustainable Development - The Green Enforcement Award 2019 was held in Hanoi, honoring the best initiatives, making a positive contribution to the environment and responding to variables of climate change, supporting the development of green agriculture, business for the community ...

+ Organizing a symposium "Vietnamese law is ready for integration?" In Hanoi. The seminar attracted more than 100 delegates who are experts from state agencies, industry associations, businesses, international organizations and numerous press agencies ... to discuss the issues: challenges in the process of perfecting the legal system of business to meet the requirements of the integration process; The pre-promulgated policy impact assessment. With practical comments from businesses and experts in the Workshop, they gave an honest and comprehensive view of business law, contributing to the completion of Vietnamese laws and regulations for integration.

+ Organizing seminars to contribute ideas to the draft Law on Mediation, dialogue in court. More than 100 representatives from state agencies, business associations, arbitration centers, mediations, insurance companies, finance, banks, law offices attended and discussed in seminor.

+ Continuing implementation of activities related to contributing ideas, adjusting and completing the Draft Labor Code (amended):

Organizing the Nationwide Employer Conference 2019 to contribute comments to the Draft Labor Code (amended) with the participation of leaders of ministries, branches and a number of Committees of the National Assembly, related organizations and agencies, representatives of Business Associations. The conference focused on discussing the major issues with different opinions of the draft Labor Code (amended) and proposed recommendations to complete the Draft Code, ensuring the objective of building labor relations, harmonious, stable and progressive.

Continuing reviewing, revising and finalizing the draft of the Labor Code (amended) before submitting it to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.

- Completing comments on nearly 30 draft legal documents, notably there are a number of legal documents, including: Decree stipulating the concentration and accumulation of land for agricultural production; Decree on establishment, organization and operation of the Cooperative Development Assistance Fund; The Decree stipulates non-cash payments; Decree amending Decree 20/2017 / ND-CP stipulating the management of transfer prices of associated transactions, combat of transfer pricing, and loss of state budget revenues; Decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 89/2013 / ND-CP on appraisal of prices; The Decree prescribes the sanctioning of administrative violations and the enforcement of administrative decisions in the field of customs; Decree on establishment, organization and operation of the Cooperative Development Assistance Fund; Decree on the roadmap and modes of participation in global greenhouse gas emission reduction activities; Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 139/2016 / ND-CP stipulating license fees; Decree on Anti-spam, spam emails, spam calls and regulations on advertising by sending messages, emails and phone calls; Circular Abolishing legal documents; The Circular prescribes the system of criteria of the Vietnam National Brand Program and many other legal normative documents. Detailed content of comments is updated at: http://vibonline.com.vn/tim-kiem-y-kien-vcci.

- Continuingimplementation the Provincial Competitiveness Enhancement Project (PCI), promoting the sharing of good practical experience in operating the provincial economy. Continuing consulting, supporting and guiding the promotion of sharing good practices in provincial economic administration, supporting provinces and localities in order to implement activities to improve competitiveness. Improving the provincial business environment in localities such as attending conferences and seminars and analyzing and evaluating PCI of localities.

- Continuing implementing the Business Integrity Action Program and activities to support businesses for sustainable development such as: VCCI leaders attended and welcome speech at the Business Forum on "Regulation Implementation" fight against corruption in enterprises and organizations in the non-state sector ”organized by the Government Inspectorate; attended and spoke at the Launching of General Commenting Guidelines No. 16 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child ”within the framework of the UNICEF Project…

+ Collaborating with the United Nations Development Program in Vietnam (UNDP) and the British Embassy in Hanoi to organize a seminar on "Enhancing business participation through promoting integrity in business commitments". The workshop is one of the key activities of the "Business Integrity Initiative between the Government and the Government" (GBII) implemented by VCCI within the framework of the UNDP's Regional Project "Promoting fair business environment in ASEAN". . The project aimed to support the development of transparent mechanisms in both the public and private sectors, strengthen the rule of law state, fight against corruption, and develop examples of responsible businesses. At the workshop, 11 business associations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City signed the "Commitment to Integrity Business", aiming to uphold the core values ​​of integrity, responsibility and ethical behavior. of businesses, work towards acting together to build a business culture of integrity.

- Continue mobilizing enterprises to apply the Sustainable Development Entrepreneur Index (CSI): work with IDH on upgrading the CSI Index in the footwear industry, building software and training for businesses in the period. 12/2019 - 3/2020, working with WCS to include wildlife protection content in CSI Index 2020 ...

- Continuing implementation activities within the framework of the circulating economy program:

+ Collaborating with the Embassy of Finland in Vietnam to organize the Program on "Meeting and Dialogue on Recirculating Economy: From an international perspective to the potential for deployment in Vietnam".

+ Continuing conducting research activities to build a secondary market of materials in the paper and plastic industry; conducting a business situation survey after three years of applying the CSI Index; organizing a jury meeting to review businesses participating in the 2019 Sustainable Business Ranking; preparing to hold a Ceremony to announce 100 Sustainable Enterprises in 2019; coordinating with UNICEF in implementing activities under the Project on the promotion of the children's rights in business (CRBP); working with the Business Forum Press on Journalism Writing on Sustainable Development; organizing online meeting with CSR Asean Network Steering Committee ...

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

- Leaders of VCCI participated in trade and investment promotion activities and promoted international integration at the national level; coordinating to organize many trade and investment promotion activities at home and abroad, trained businesses with many outstanding activities such as:

+ VCCI President accompanied the Government’s Prime Minister to attend the 35th ASEAN Summit and related high-level conferences in Bangkok, Thailand; accompanying the Government’s Prime Minister to attend the 30th Anniversary Summit of the ASEAN-Korea Dialogue Relations, the First Mekong-Korea Summit and the Official Visit to Korea.

+ Organizing Vietnam Business Summit 2019 (VBS 2019) with the theme "Vietnam - Trusted Business Partners in a digital age". The meeting was attended by and directed by Government’s Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and about 600 delegates, including many CEOs of international businesses and corporations. The conference focused on discussing: science and technology innovation, policies to help promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in Vietnam; world technology development trends and adaptive capacity of Vietnam; the successes of Vietnamese innovation enterprises and Vietnamese startups in the global value chain; human resource transfered in the digital era, orientation of Vietnam's labor market in the coming time, labor demand in the industrial revolution 4.0 period and government solutions to improve the quality of the labor work force. The conference is also an opportunity for domestic businesses to meet face-to-face, connect and share information about potential business cooperation projects with 200 reputable businesses as representatives of the Summit. Asia (ABS) and Japanese business delegation.

+ Organizing the 10th Asia Business Summit (ABS). The conference took place in Hanoi with the participation of senior leaders from 12 key Asian economic organizations including: Japan , South Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Taiwan (China), Philippines and Vietnam. This ABS Conference adopted the Joint Statement expressing the commitment and efforts of the Asian business community to realize inclusive, sustainable and prosperous development goals. The joint statement was titled: "Asia is hyperlinked for sustainable development", in which, agreed on two contents: "Digital Asia" refers to the growth strategy to promote the development. developed and innovated, build a smart society about agriculture, health care, urbanization and the environment to ensure sustainable development; the "Global Asia" refered to global value chains and free trade to promote economic inclusiveness and the development of infrastructure and human resources through enhanced cooperation in the region.

+ Collaborating with Quang Nam People's Committee to organize the "Vietnam - Korea Business Summit". Attending and directing the conference were Government’s Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, the VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc, the Quang Nam Provincial Party Committee Secretary Phan Viet Cuong, leaders of central and local ministries, departments and agencies together with more than 600 businesses of two countries, including 250 Korean businesses. With the new Southbound Policy, through the Conference, Vietnam wishes to continue to be an investment destination for Korean businesses. At the conference, VCCI signed a start-up cooperation agreement with the Korea Investment Trade Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Korea Business Development and Development Institute (KISED).

+ Coordinating to organize the Vietnam-Russia Business Dialogue among the "Vietnam-Russia Cross Year" (Vietnam Year in Russia and Russia Year in Vietnam) in the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Basic principles of the friendship between Vietnam and Russia with the participation of the Government’s Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam Trinh Dinh Dung and the Government’s Deputy Prime Minister of Russia M. Akimov, the VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc and numerous businesses of the two country. The Dialogue focused on discussing specific and practical issues related to investment and business opportunities, taking the advantages that businesses and economies of the two countries can complement each other. Building business strategy to achieve the most effective for your business. With the goal of reaching 10 billion USD by 2020, the Government of Vietnam and the Russian Federation have been removing many tariff barriers, offering many preferential policies, trade promotion, investment and attraction activities. the attention of businesses of two countries.

+ Organizing Mekong-Japan Business Cooperation Forum 2019 in Can Tho, with the participation of leaders of provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta (Mekong Delta), Japanese Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City. Representatives of Japanese organizations and partners in Vietnam and 250 Japanese businessmen. This forum attracted the largest number of Japanese businessmen participating in the Mekong Delta so far. The forum aimed to introduce Japanese businesses about the development potential of the region and the efforts of the leaders of the provinces and cities in the region towards focusing investment capital, promoting cooperation and business from investors. Japanese investment in the Mekong Delta.

+ Collaborating with the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Organization for Economic Development Cooperation (OECD) and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) organized a Forum on "Responsible Business in Vietnam". ”(Vietnam Responsible Business Forum). At the Forum, policy makers, businesses, labor representative organizations, social organizations and training institutions discussed and shared experiences on the issues related to use and practice responsible business in Vietnam.

+ Collaborating with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to hold a Dialogue Workshop "Promoting occupational skills at the workplace - Training model of businesses and cooperation between parties". The seminar is a forum for the state management agencies, business associations, businesses, schools and vocational education institutions to exchange and share experiences connecting businesses and schools in the country. Updating the contents of the Labor Code (amended) relating to vocational education (TVET) with enterprises, strengthen the connection between businesses and TVET institutions in training and recruitment.of skilled labor, helppingbusinesses to improve the quality of human resources, improved productivity and enhance competitiveness.

+ The VCCI also actively cooperated with partners to organize many other investment and trade promotion activities such as: A Forum on "Enhancing competitiveness for businesses in digital and sharing economy" in Quang Ninh; the Vietnam Food and Beverage Forum 2019 in Hanoi; the Workshop on "Promote communication on science and technology application in agriculture" in Gia Lai; "Strengthening the Vietnamese education system to support graduates' ability to find jobs and start-up skills" in Ho Chi Minh City; A Workshop on career guidance and recruitment policy in Vinh Phuc; A Conference on "Developing high-quality human resources for aquaculture" in Can Tho; Vietnam - China Trade Investment Promotion Forum in Hanoi; a Workshop on "Business Opportunities with Jiangsu Province (China)" in Ho Chi Minh City; Vietnam - Czech Business Forum in Hanoi; organizing a business delegation to attend the 4th Guangxi Electric, Motorcycle and Electric Bicycle Exhibition in Nanning (Guangxi, China; Vietnam - Cambodia Business Cooperation Forum; Trade Promotion Conference Vietnam - Korea; Vietnam-Russia Trade Connection Forum; organized business delegations to attend the Expo “Hardware & Hand tools Expo 2019; Thailand - Vietnam International Trade Promotion Conference in Udon Thani (Thailand); organizing a Meeting between Vietnamese - Russian businesses; Meeting between Vietnamese - Korean businesses; Vietnam - UAE Trade Forum; organized women's business delegations to attend the All-Women's Trade Conference Bridge 2019 (Global Women Trade Summit) in Busan, South Korea ...

- On the occasion of the Vietnamese Entrepreneurs Day 13/10, in addition to guiding and supporting localities to organize practical and effective activities, the VCCI organized a number of typical activities:

+ Successfully organized the 15th Anniversary of Vietnam Entrepreneurs' Day (October 13, 2004 - October 13, 2019), 74 years of Uncle Ho's letter to the industry and commerce (October 13, 1945 - October 13)/2019), honoring businesses and entrepreneurs with outstanding achievements in 2019. The Government’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended, gave speeches to encourage, direct and guide the development of the business community. At the ceremony, 100 entrepreneurs were awarded the title of typical Vietnamese Entrepreneur - Thanh Giong Cup in 2019.

+ Successfully organized Vietnam Entrepreneurs Forum 2019 with the theme: "Vietnam 2045 - Strong aspiration and entrepreneurship: The homeland calls its name". The forum was attended by the Government’s Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and more than 1,000 businessmen nationwide. The forum focused on exchanging opportunities and challenges in the digital age and the integration between generations of Vietnamese businessmen in order to revive the national spirit, Vietnamese identitied the business community and each entrepreneur. Vietnam, focused on intellect, constitutional knowledge to move the country towards the goal of becoming an industrialized country by 2045, when the country celebrates 100 years of independence.

+ The organization honored "Entrepreneurs, Enterprises for the Mekong Delta community" and awarded the Golden Crane Award to 27 typical businesses, with many contributions to the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta in 2019.

- Organizing 157 training courses for 6,395 businesses on brand-related topics in business development strategies, policy advocacy skills, association management skills, and managerial skills. management and leadership for middle managers, online digital marketing skills, communication and business negotiation skills, training experts on non-tariff barriers skills ...

Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry respectfully reports to the Government.