To: THE GOVERNMENT’S PRIME MINISTER NGUYEN XUAN PHUC

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vietnam (VCCI) is pleased to report on the implementation of the tasks assigned in the Resolution 35 / NQ-CP dated 16 May 2016 by the Government on supporting and developing enterprises to 2020 for November 2018, particularly is as follows:

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

Recommendations assemblage of businesses in November 2018

In November 2018, the VCCI made statistic and there were 97 new recommendations of businesses and business associations sent to 17 ministries, branches and localities (up 26 recommendations compared to October 2018), in which there were 16 comments responded and 81 recommendations were not yet responded (as of November 30, 2018).

In total 81 recommendations that were not responded, there were 68 recommendations still in a deadline for response, 13 recommendations were expired for response. The number of recommendations in November was higher than the previous months partly because the recommendations focused on the end of the month, so they were not yet responded by the ministries, branches and localities.

Details of the data and contents of the new recommendations was presented in Appendix 1, Appendix 2 attached to the report. The deadline for resolution of recommendation shall be calculated by the VCCI according to the deadline set by the Government Office in the official letters to the ministries, branches and localitie

The main contents in the recommendations of businesses and business associations mostly proposed guiding the provisions of law to implement. In addition, there were a number of recommendations on law development and some specific cases of businesses. Some main contents includeed as follows:

- The Ministry of Finance continued to be the Ministry receiving most recommendations from businesses (22 recommendations). The contents of recommendations focused on the issues: corporate income tax incentives for investment projects, expansion and preferential policies when equitizing businesses; capitalize interest expenses when renting land to build factories and purchase machinery and equipment; procedures for dissolution of the company; exemption of land rent; VAT refund; E-tax declaration and electronic invoices ... In the month there were many recommendations on customs procedures and tax policies such as:

+ The Korean Trade and Industry Association proposed the Ministry of Finance - General Department of Customs considered clearly the tax exemption basis for on-spot export in the Decree No. 08/2015 / ND-CP and the Circular No. 38/2015 / TT-BTC as well as reviewed the legal explanation with instructions for retrospective collection of tax from September 1, 2016.

+ The Ban Phuc Nikel Mining Company continued complaining and protesting against the Decision No. 1782 / QD-HQHN dated November 26, 2018 on the determination of tax on export and import goods of the company. This was a case that had lasted for 2 years and the company repeatedly recommended, complained and responded by the General Department of Customs and Hanoi Customs Department. However, with the latest settlement results from the Hanoi Department of Customs, the Decision of fixed collection No. 1782 / QD-HQHN dated November 26, 2018, the company still complained and sent a recommendations to get helps from many people, departments and agencies.

+ There were two businesses that also proposed about the Customs not yet be resolved customs clearance for dried fish imported and aluminum scrap imported after goods arriving  port for long time.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment received 20 recommendations, in which 10 of them proposed to have guidances on bidding law. This was the content that the Ministry of Planning and Investment received proposals to explain and guide the regulations of the law most every month. It also showed that bidding law was not really convenient for organizations and individuals to apply. In addition, there were some contents such as: preferential policies for businesses investing in industrial park infrastructure connection before 2009; exemption of land rent for implementing agricultural projects; guided legal regulations for foreign investors to buy back 100% of their contributed capital; activities of private businesses after the owner of the business died ...

- The Ministry of Science and Technology received 6 recommendations, including recommendations for proposing an education policy in the 4.0 period; grant of standard and conformity certificates for technical regulations when participating in the interest rate support loan program ... However, there were two outstanding contents proposed by businesses, but the resolution of the Ministry was not yet received consensus of businesses.

+ Nghe An Fisheries Joint Stock Company proposed that the National Office of Intellectual Property - Ministry of Science and Technology did not issued a decision to cancel the Certificate of Land Use Rights No. 12844 as the Official Letter No. 3273 / BKHCN-SHTT dated October 23, 2018 signed by the Deputy Minister Pham Cong Tac a reply to Nghe An Seafood Joint Stock Company. This was a case that had lasted for many years to have settlement results as stated in Official Letter No. 3273 / BKHCN-SHTT. However, although the business contacted the National Office of Intellectual Property, but they did not receive yet the settlement results.

+ The recommendation for amendments to the Circular 12/2017 in the direction of keeping the item 2d of Article 9 of Circular 26/2012 / TT-BKHCN with the content "in case of disagreement with sample test results, within 02 working days from the date of receiving the notice that the sample test results did not meet the quality requirements, the seller may request in writing the re-testing agency for the specimen stored at a testing organization only. Other, this test result was a basis for the inspection agency to handle the final conclusion. This sample testing cost was paid by the seller. ”and in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Product Quality and the Decree 15/2018 / ND-CP of the Government. This content was proposed by 7 Business Associations on food processing and many businesses. Although the General Department of Standardization, Metrology and Quality answered and explained the new regulations in the Circular 12 many times, but the associations and businesses did not accept and continue proposing to keep the same regulations as the Circular 16.

- Businesses recommended some problems in production and business activities such as:

+ The field of labor continued having many recommendations on guidance of the law (8 recommendations) to implement such as: solving policies with redundant workers; plans and policies to ensure workers' rights when equitizing businesses; heavy and hazardous work list; salary regimes of preschool teachers; pay severance allowances ...

+ 11 construction sectors proposed to apply the law to implement with the following contents: construction norms; problems when signing and implementing construction contracts, designing surveys; guiding the assignment of investors to implement Group C projects; appraising and approving the investment policy of investment and construction projects ....

+ There were 7 businesses guiding the regulations of law in the field of trade and industry such as clarifying commercial brokerage services of goods in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law; performed promotions at private clinics; the implementation of chemical safety training; problems of electricity generation licenses and electricity prices ....

2. Responding recommendations of ministries, branches and localities

In November 2018, the VCCI received 37 documents responding to businesses’ recommendations of 12 ministries, branches and localities (57 documents were received in October 2018). These documents were fully posted by the VCCI on the VCCI’s Website as stipulated in the Resolution 35. (Detailed in Appendix 3 attached to the report)

Through monitoring of  the VCCI, from January 2018 to the end of November 31, 2018, there were 155 recommendations of businesses and business associations that were not responded by ministries, branches and localities. Many recommendations had been transferred from the Government’s Office and the VCCI since the beginning of 2018 but they were not resolved. Ministries and agencies had many unresponded recommendation including: the Ministry of Finance with 27 recommendations; the Ministry of Planning and Investment with 20 recommendations; the Ministry of Construction with 5 recommendations; the Ministry of Industry and Trade with 13 recommendations; the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs with 12 recommendations; the Ministry of Health 10 recommendations ... 7 other ministries and branches have 19 recommendations. For localities with 16 provinces and cities directly under the central government that were not yet responded to recommendations of businesses, most of them in Ho Chi Minh City with 7 recommendations, Danang City with 4 recommendations ...

Details of unresponded recommendations and responsibilities of ministries, sectors and localities were presented in Appendix 4 attached to the report.

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

1. In November 2018, VCCI deployed the assigned tasks as follows:

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

- VCCI hold a consultation workshop on some contents in the draft revised Labor Code; organized a seminar to get comments on the draft amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the Decree No. 134/2016 / ND-CP dated September 1, 2016 of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures of executing Law on export and import tax. In addition, the VCCI contributed ideas for some documents such as: Amended the Securities Law; the Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Decree No. 108/2015 / ND-CP on special consumption tax; the Decree on investment and golf course business; the Decree regulated karaoke service business and discotheque service; the Decree stipulated penalties for administrative violations in the field of health; the Circular amended and supplemented the Circular 12/2015 / TT-BTC on customs agents; the Circular regulated state inspection on food safety for foods of vegetable origin for export ...

- Coordinated with the Ministry of Finance to hold a dialogue conference with businesses on tax and customs in 2018 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The conferences received the attention and participation of nearly 1,000 businesses in the country. The conference on dialogues with businesses on taxes and customs was an annual coordination activity between the VCCI and the Ministry of Finance to inform and propagate new policies and administrative procedures in the fields of tax, customs and prizes resolving difficulties and obstacles, creating a favorable environment for the operation of businesses and strengthening cooperation between businesses and tax and customs agencies. In addition to introduce and update new policies of the Taxation and Customs, the Conference spent a lot of time to represent leaders of the General Department of Taxation, the General Department of Customs and business dialogue to answer questions about taxes and customs of businesses in the process of production and business. The main problems related to issues such as issuing invoices for donated goods, tax incentives for investment projects, service and tax incentives; income taxes; impose import tax under C / O; VAT refund; reservation and provision of reserves, agencies for businesses to submit settlement reports ....

- VCCI organized a workshop to publish the report on implementation of the Resolution 19 and the resolution 35 on business environment and business development – according to views from businesses, The report was developed from the perspective of businesses, as a beneficiary, reflecting on the effectiveness that ministries and localities performed the tasks assigned by the Government. Information from the report was intended to contribute to the final review of the Government's Resolution 19 and the resolution 35, as well as providing information for the drafting of new Government’s resolutions in the coming time. The report commented on a number of areas that recognized a significant level of reform received by businesses such as access to electricity, starting a business, cutting down on business investment conditions, electronizing tax procedures ... other areas mostly had certain reforms and changes, but the report maintained that the reform space was still a lot and needs more efforts from ministries and localities. The report also mentioned many specific recommendations from businesses with the aim of promoting the process of improving the business environment and supporting businesses of ministries, departments, central and local levels.

- Continued implementing the Action Program to promote the implementation of business integrity: carried out the evaluation study on the "situation of implementation of internal control and application of business rules and main recommendations for Vietnam ”; organized seminar on "creating competitive advantages in sustainable industry through responsible business culture" in Hanoi; updated website information www.kdlc.vn.

- Implemented the survey of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in 2018 and post-announcement activities of the PCI Report 2017: Coordinated with the Center for Training of Delegates, Delegates work board, The Standing Committee of the National Assembly hold a Conference on "sharing experiences on using the PCI index in the activities of the People's Council" for delegates of the People's Council in the South; organized a conference on "sharing experiences on using PCI in activities of People's Council" for delegates of the People's Council in the North; organizded training courses for business associations on PCI data use and exploitation in Can Tho Province; organized PCI training courses for branches and representative offices of the VCCI on improvement of business environment, integration, law development, application in legal support and design of businesses support activities.

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

Regarding trade promotion and investment:

- Within the framework of the Government’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's trip from November 16-18, to attend the 26th APEC Conference in Papua New Guinea, Vietnam ABAC President Vu Tien Loc attended the Government’s Prime Minister in the Dialogue Session. of APEC leaders with ABAC members. At the Conference, the Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam ratified CPTPP with the absolute support rate affirming its determination to continue to innovate comprehensively, proactively and actively integrate into the world and soon build an action and pushed quickly process of revising legal documents and propaganda and dissemination to effectively implement CPTPP, making the most of opportunities for national and business development.

On this occasion, the VCCI cooperated with US Business Union and related ministries and agencies to arrange a meeting between the Government’s  Prime Minister and the delegation of 17 leaders of large US corporations. At the audience, US businesses highly appreciated the progress of Vietnam in integration and created a favorable environment for investment cooperation, the quality of Vietnam's products was increasingly improved and at the same time reported. with the Government’s Prime Minister on the plan to expand operations in Vietnam in the near future, committed to supporting relevant government agencies in the research and development of legal framework and regulations according to international standards. , especially in the fields of health, food hygiene and safety, animal feed ...

In the framework of APEC activities, the VCCI President Vu Tien Loc as co-chair of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and ABAC Vietnam President co-chaired the ABAC 4 session from November 13-15, 2018 in Port Morseby, Papua New Guinea. The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) urged APEC leaders to continue supporting the integration process through the multilateral trading system, and to make concrete commitments and actions to realize the Free Asia-Pacific trade (FTAAP) Region and enhance the participation of people and businesses in the dissemination of benefits of free trade. The ABAC conference also discussed through the theme and priorities for 2019, "Inclusive growth and cooperation for a digital age" with two key objectives: (i) trade policy had inclusiveness to promote growth in a digital age and (ii) promote regional economic integration. These two priority objectives would be implemented through the program and operational orientation of the ABAC working groups. At the meeting, the Chairman of ABAC Vietnam was unanimously appointed by the members of the Council to serve as co-chair of the Specialized Group on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development (MSMEs) and start-up of ABAC. In addition, ABAC Vietnam delegation attended the APEC Business Summit 2018 (November 16-17, 2018), capturing the development trends in APEC, calling for the support of large corporations to attracting FDI into Vietnam.

- On November 2, 2018, VCCI hold a ceremony to announce the sustainable business in Vietnam in 2018, with the participation and direction of the Government’s Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, the President of the VCCI and many representatives of many ministries, central, local and large businesses. The program of assessing and ranking sustainable businesses in Vietnam was an annual program to honor pioneering businesses and achieve certain achievements in the field of sustainable development, while having cooperation encouraging businesses in Vietnam to focus more on sustainable development. The assessment and ranking were based on Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI) with 131 strict screening criteria. The set of indicators was developed by the VCCI based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Index, integrating international standards and practices with the current regulations of Vietnamese law to help businesses developed the effective and stabilized management foundation. Currently, the Index was accepted and applied by the business community in the management system and business system building. The program honored 100 sustainable businesses in 2018 selected from the records of 500 participating businesses.

- The VCCI organized the Vietnam - India Business Forum on the official visit of the President of India, with the participation and co-chairing of Government’s Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, the Indian Vice President and close 200 businesses of two countries. Vietnam and India established strategic partnerships in 2007 and upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016. Trade cooperation and investment have been more and more substantial and efficient. India is one of 10 biggest trading partners of Vietnam, two-way trade turnover has increased over the years. As of September 2018, two-way trade turnover reached 8.3 billion USD, up 47.1% over the same period last year. Vietnam - India is aiming to bring bilateral trade turnover to US $ 15 billion by 2020. Also within the framework of the visit of the President of India, VCCI signed a cooperation agreement with the Indian Industry Federation. India was witnessed by General Secretary, State President Nguyen Phu Trong and Indian President Ram Nath Kovind.

- On November 20, 2018, VCCI cooperated to organize the Launching Ceremony of "Vietnamese goods conquering Vietnamese people" movement. On this occasion, Vingroup introduced and launched VinFast brand car. The event was honored by the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and many leaders of the central and local ministries. Speaking at the ceremony, The Government’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed his wish that both State and private businesses, cooperatives and individual households to invest in science and technology, market research to conquer nearly 100 million people with good products, to serve domestic consumption and export. The campaign on "Vietnamese people prioritizing using Vietnamese goods" deployed under the policy of the Politburo was one of the important solutions to contribute to promoting the development of many products and services and brand goods in Vietnam in the past time. In order to continue nurture this movement, the responsibility of businesses was to continue to produce many Vietnamese goods of high quality, high competitiveness, low prices, attentive after-sales service to meet domestic consumption demand and export.

- The VCCI conducted a number of other investment promotion activities to assist Vietnamese businesses in understanding, accessing new markets and promoting cooperation and business with traditional markets such as: Coordinated with leaders of Cao Bang Province organized Cao Bang Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Conference; Coordinated with the Japan Trade Promotion Organization (JETRO) and partners to organize the Japan - Mekong Business Cooperation Forum; Coordinated with the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) to organize the Vietnam Export Forum 2018 with the theme "Strengthening Vietnam's linkage into the global value chain"; Organized the Vietnam - Spain Business Forum, organized a workshop to meet and talk between Vietnamese - Korean businesses, the meeting to meet Vietnamese businesses - Russian Federation; organized a seminar on exchanges between Vietnam and Japan businesses in the water sector; organized a discussion on exchanges between Vietnamese and Ho Nam businesses (China) ...; organized a business delegation to attend the 3rd bicycle and electric motorbike exhibition in Nanning, China; signed a cooperation agreement between the VCCI and the Northern Australian Chamber of Commerce ……

Regarding the training and development of businesses, developing labor relationsand supporting enterprises in international economic integration

- Organized 79 training courses for 4,066 businesses on topics related to corporate governance, import and export, tax, customs and update legal documents related to businesses in the fields on.

- Organized the Conference of Employers in 2018 with the theme of "business and State cooperation in training and recruitment". At the Conference, the speakers affirmed their consensus with the view that the source of high-quality labor was the trained employees associated with the production activities of the businesses, thereby improving labor productivity for the business career. This was also the training trend of advanced countries in the world. The reality of connection between training institutions, schools and businesses in Vietnam was still quite formal, leading to the quality of trained labor resources that did not meet the needs of businesses.

- Coordinated to organize the Ceremony to announce the Sustainable Trade Index 2018 in Hanoi. The index was developed by Hinrich Foundatione, a prestigious trade policy research and development organization in Asia, that implemented and published many in-depth economic studies with a high reference value for macroeconomic. The Sustainable Trade Index assesses the availability of 19 Asian and American economies when participating in sustainable trade such as: Participated in international trade activities, encouraged foreign investment, collected attracting support from international cooperation agencies in a sustainable way. The index table was published every two years from 2016 based on 28 indicators on three pillars: economic, social and environmental. In 2018, Vietnam was ranked 9th on the ranking table, up 2 points compared to 2016 and increased by 6 points to the national income level and reached a high level of market opening. However, on the environment, Vietnam ranked 16th, down 5 grades compared to 2016 due to the high deforestation rate. Socially, Vietnam raised to the 8th recommendations (higher than China, Thailand, Malaysia ...), demonstrating remarkable achievements in limiting inequality and improving labor standards.

- Organized the ceremony of enrolling 53 businesses and business associations into new members of the VCCI. Businesses including domestic and foreign businesses operated in many fields such as minerals, technology, construction materials, trade, real estate, shipping services, legal consultancy, education, textile… In addition, there were associations and business associations such as: Vietnam Association of Certified Public Accountants, Hung Yen Veterans Enterprise Association ...

- The VCCI organized and co-organized a number of conferences and seminars on "Legal regulations related to chemicals for goods imported into the EU and procedures to comply with standards REACH "; a workshop on "Legal risk control in business"; a workshop on "Enhancing the capacity of capital mobilization through transparency of financial operations of Vietnamese businesses"; a Forum on "supporting Vietnamese exporters"; a workshop on "starting a business to innovating business models"; a scientific workshop on "competitiveness of the economy: reality, potential and challenges"; a scientific workshop on "competitiveness of the economy: evaluation criteria and implementation solutions"; a workshop on "enhancing the capacity of association leadership and social responsibility"; a workshop on "legal risk control in business"; a workshop on "solutions to finance access and dispute settlement"; a seminar on “mechanism of self-certification of goods origin under GSP regime of EU, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey applied from January 1, 2019”; a seminar on contract and dispute settlement outside the court; a seminar on "justice index framework - external assessment on local justice"; a workshop to connect the supply and demand of clean and safe agricultural products for the second time in 2018; a seminar on "investment potential and prospects for developing Vietnam's agricultural and rural goods market in the context of international integration" ...

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