COMMERCIAL - Business laws need fine-tuning

Vietnam's business climate should improve after authorities remove major
conflicts and differences found in legal documents relating to the
Investment Law.

"The Investment Law only distinguishes domestic or foreign investors but
Land Law separates Vietnamese individuals, households, institutions,
overseas Vietnamese, foreign individuals and institutional investors,
creating too much red tape," Nguyen Dinh Cong, a taskforce official told
a workshop for local investment agencies in Hanoi recently.

Cung added that regulations on land use rights for enterprise's
investment capital contributions was also unsuitable to the Enterprise
Law.

"Will enterprise ownership immediately end if leases end?" questioned
Cuong.

Cung said the Environment Law was packed with regulations, unlike the
Investment Law. It requires investors to complete environment impact and
feasibility study reports before investment registration while the
Investment Law does not.

"It is completely unnecessary as most feasibility studies are not linked
to environment protection and environment impact reports are not needed
during the early investment registration process," Cung said.

If investors follow the Investment Law, they violate the Environment Law
and vice versa, he said.

The Law on Construction also has different rules from the investment
law. "Construction Law classifies project owners instead of project
investors while not classifying domestic or foreign investors," he said.

Experts said that the conflicts and differences between Investment Law
and other investment related legal documents were massive as Vietnam's
current legal system is too complicated to interpret. Vietnam now has
around 200 laws and 1,000 sub-laws.

"The government has finally realised this and is working to solve it,"
said Dinh Van An, the taskforce deputy head, adding that the
decentralisation on investment registration and management would be
carried at faster pace.

In a related development, a taskforce was established in late 2006 to
help the government find out what hindrances there are for both domestic
and foreign investors. The taskforce detected 320 kinds of business
licences but two-thirds of them were illegal.[VIR]



	COMMERCIAL - Business laws need fine-tuning

	Vietnam's business climate should improve after authorities remove major conflicts and differences found in legal documents relating to the Investment Law. "The Investment Law only distinguishes domestic or foreign investors but Land Law separates Vietnamese individuals, households, institutions, overseas Vietnamese, foreign individuals and institutional investors, creating too much red tape," Nguyen Dinh Cong, a taskforce official told a workshop for local investment agencies in Hanoi recently. Cung added that regulations on land use rights for enterprise's investment capital contributions was also unsuitable to the Enterprise Law. "Will enterprise ownership immediately end if leases end?" questioned Cuong. Cung said the Environment Law was packed with regulations, unlike the Investment Law. It requires investors to complete environment impact and feasibility study reports before investment registration while the Investment Law does not. "It is completely unnecessary as most feasibility studies are not linked to environment protection and environment impact reports are not needed during the early investment registration process," Cung said. If investors follow the Investment Law, they violate the Environment Law and vice versa, he said. The Law on Construction also has different rules from the investment law. "Construction Law classifies project owners instead of project investors while not classifying domestic or foreign investors," he said. Experts said that the conflicts and differences between Investment Law and other investment related legal documents were massive as Vietnam's current legal system is too complicated to interpret. Vietnam now has around 200 laws and 1,000 sub-laws. "The government has finally realised this and is working to solve it," said Dinh Van An, the taskforce deputy head, adding that the decentralisation on investment registration and management would be carried at faster pace. In a related development, a taskforce was established in late 2006 to help the government find out what hindrances there are for both domestic and foreign investors. The taskforce detected 320 kinds of business licences but two-thirds of them were illegal.[VIR]

	Oliver Massmann International Attorney at Law

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