The MEI 2014 assesses law development and implementation efficiency of 13 ministries and the State Bank of Vietnam, whose functions and duties are closely linked to enterprises and business activities.
The index was compiled based on responses from 228 business associations that represent 409,591 enterprises, organisations and individual entrepreneurs.
It consists of five indexes, namely drafting legal normative documents (LND); the quality of LND; making information available to the public and law dissemination; law implementation; and reviewing, inspecting, and summarising law implementation.
In the rankings, the agriculture ministry scored 66.06/100 points, followed by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (64.79 points) and the Ministry of Transport (64.59 points) – which made the largest improvement from its performance in the latest MEI 2012.
The Ministry of Health placed in last position with 55.18 points.
The MEI 2014 report indicates that four out of the five indexes scored higher than the MEI 2012 with an average increase of 10.07%.
Although all the indexes were below average levels (in the range of 52-56/100 points) in the MEI 2012, three of the five indexes in the MEI 2014 scored in the medium-high mark and the index on law implementation scored well with 70.46/100 points.
Only the index on efficiency of LND drafting has an average score below that scored in the MEI 2012, decreasing by 4.16%.
VCCI Director Vu Tien Loc held the MEI 2014 outcomes as considerable encouragements to ministries in continuing their reforms, adding that the rankings also urge them to improve the drafting of LND.
The set of MEI indexes is an effective tool that helps build policies and create a more favourable law environment for the business community and enhances law efficiency and State management, he added.
Pham Chi Lan, a member of the VCCI research team, said the MEI shows the increasingly important role of associations and enterprises in the business-related law making process, noting that the assessment of ministries and sectors via the MEI will help improve the business climate in Vietnam during the country’s deep international integration.
