In a move marking the beginning of a far-reaching reform drive to improve the investment and business climate, the government has issued eight resolutions aimed at reducing, decentralising and simplifying administrative procedures and business conditions.
Shifting from pre-inspection to post-inspection
Speaking at the government’s April press conference, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tinh said that through the eight resolutions, ministries and agencies had eliminated more than 1,730 unnecessary business conditions, abolished 680 administrative procedures, and simplified an additional 521 procedures.
The eight resolutions are expected to cut an additional 18,097 days from administrative processing times, bringing the total reduction to 51,419 days out of the 97,020 days originally required.
The reform effort will not stop there. In May, the government will continue issuing supporting regulations to advance plans for reducing and simplifying procedures and business conditions in areas such as industrial park management, environmental impact assessment, fire prevention, and construction licensing, thereby reducing compliance costs by an estimated 23 trillion VND (874 million USD) per year.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Tinh noted that the shift from a pre-inspection to a post-inspection mindset in this latest reform aligns with the conclusion adopted at the second plenum of the 14th Party Central Committee.
Alongside the removal of a wide range of business conditions, ministries and agencies will be required to establish specific standards and technical regulations governing investment and business activities.
This will allow individuals and enterprises to fulfil the necessary requirements on their own and proceed with investment and business decisions without having to undergo licensing procedures, with only a notification to the relevant state management authority required.
On the basis of such notifications, authorities will conduct post-inspection checks during enterprises’ operations.
Tran Duc Nghia, Chairman of the Ha Noi Logistics Association, said the business community has clearly felt the genuine, positive momentum of the ongoing business environment reforms.
In practice, the effectiveness of business environment reform is reflected not only in measurable indicators, such as fewer administrative procedures, lower compliance costs, and reduced processing times, but also in a fundamental change in governance thinking.
The state is no longer conducting inspections and licensing from the outset; instead, it is shifting towards a post-inspection mechanism grounded in the principle of placing businesses and citizens at the centre.
Viet Nam’s encouraging achievements in the reform process have also been an important factor behind the recent decision by credit rating agency Moody’s to upgrade the country’s outlook from stable to positive, while maintaining its sovereign credit rating at Ba2.
During its assessment, Moody’s paid particular attention to newly introduced legal and institutional reforms in Viet Nam, viewing them as an important foundation for strengthening the economy’s competitiveness.
According to the credit rating agency, the quality of Viet Nam’s institutions and governance has improved markedly through reforms to administrative procedures, legislation and the public sector that have been under way since late 2024.
Improving the business environment has been a continuous task of successive governments, but strong direction from top leadership has always been the decisive factor.
Dr Nguyen Dinh Cung
Former Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management
Dr Nguyen Dinh Cung, former Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, stated that improving the business environment has been a continuous task of successive governments, but strong direction from top leadership has always been the decisive factor.
Under the new government, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung is carrying forward the reform drive with greater determination and clearer quantitative targets, requiring ministries and agencies to meet specific reduction benchmarks and timeframes for cutting business conditions, and treating business environment reform as a key driver of investment and growth.
These decisive actions have raised hopes that this could mark the beginning of a truly comprehensive reform of conditional business sectors.
Preventing the emergence of new business conditions
Dr Nguyen Minh Thao of the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Finance and Economics under the Ministry of Finance said that the second plenum’s conclusion has laid out requirements for reforming governance and implementation mechanisms in pursuit of double-digit economic growth.
One of the key tasks is to review and improve the legal system, including laws governing investment and business, in order to thoroughly address bottlenecks and mobilise resources. The goal is to place Viet Nam’s business environment among the top three in ASEAN and among the world’s top 30 by 2028.
In this spirit, the government sees the reduction of conditional business lines, business requirements and administrative procedures as the quickest and most direct way to establish a transparent, open and low-cost business environment, thereby strengthening confidence and encouraging entrepreneurial activity among citizens and enterprises.
From the very first days of the new term, the Prime Minister’s firm direction for reforming the business environment, with a focus on reducing and simplifying business conditions and administrative procedures, has addressed the core bottlenecks hampering investment and business momentum.
Drawing on years of practical experience reviewing and simplifying administrative procedures and business conditions since 2014, Dr Nguyen Minh Thao noted that, in order to assess the quality of this latest wide-ranging reform drive, the review and evaluation process must be conducted independently and objectively.
Importantly, it must reflect the perspectives and assessments of those directly affected, clarifying which business conditions have been removed or simplified and how these changes have affected investors and businesses.
At the same time, it is necessary to assess whether the reduction of business conditions is substantive; whether the shift from pre-inspection to post-inspection genuinely eliminates and simplifies business conditions, or simply recasts them as technical standards and regulations.
In addition, the detailed implementation of regulations through guiding documents and the manner of enforcement are crucial factors affecting reform outcomes, ensuring that no new business conditions emerge.
Dr Nguyen Dinh Cung argued that a methodology should be developed for classifying business sectors, so that licensing conditions are applied only where genuinely necessary.
Once clear criteria for business conditions are in place, the state can abandon the mindset that anything which cannot be controlled must be banned, and instead move towards standards-based, post-inspection management.
This process is not merely about changing a few regulations or procedures, but is fundamentally about transforming the entire system, from governance methods and management tools through to the implementation capacity of the state apparatus.
