-
 Businesses
in Hanoi and Vinh Phuc are recommending that the government
regularly review and further simplify the existing business
entry regulations and procedures so that more businesses are
encouraged to register their operations. The government should
authorize the Business Registry, which is under the Department
of Planning and Investment, to act as the ”single-door” for
processing business registration and to coordinate registration
requirements from the provincial level Departments of Public
Security and Taxation. In the long run, it is recommended that
the business registration number be integrated with the tax code
so that the Government's source of revenue from business
enterprises is predictable and efficiently managed The national
business information database should also be upgraded to
facilitate the name-checking process nationwide.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Managing Partner,
Bizconsult
-
Under Decision No. 233/2004/QÐ-UB of the Lao Cai People's
Committee, the Business Registry of Lao Cai DPI has been
authorized as the single door to receive and process business
establishment applications. According to this Decision, the
Business Registry is also responsible for helping businesses
register their seals at the Public Security Department and get
tax codes at the Tax Department. The greatest benefit of this
model is that it reduces the time to start up a business. It now
takes only seven to eight days for businesses to get all the
necessary documents (one day for the business registration
certificate, five days for the company seal and seven days for
the tax code) as some steps can be undertaken simultaneously.
The second benefit is that businesspeople do not have to
repeatedly visit many places. The third benefit is that thanks
to regular communication among public agencies, especially
between DPI and the Tax Department, it is easy for both agencies
to track businesses. This is a good starting point for putting
into place an efficient post-registration monitoring system.
Mr. Vu Kim Quy, Head of Business Registry,
Department of Planning and Investment, Lao Cai province
-
We need to distinguish between simplifying administrative
procedures and reforming public administration. In my opinion,
simplifying administrative procedures means abolishing
overlapping steps required by different administrative agencies;
citizens and businesses should not need to provide the same
information repeatedly to different agencies. Rather, public
agencies should communicate and share such information. In
public administration reform, it is critical to review the
functions and responsibilities of each agency so that overlaps
and bureaucracy in the whole administrative mechanism can be
eliminated.
In the short term, it is advisable to combine the three
administrative steps (business registration certificate,
seal-making and tax code registration) to further simplify
business establishment procedures but not take major steps like
combining the business registration number and the tax code. It
is too early to do this as it would affect the operations of
each agency, which are difficult to adjust in the short term.
One of the strengths of our business information database is its
nationwide coverage, which enables better tracking and
controlling of businesses. In the long run, our database is
ready for linkage with the business registration database, so
that businesses face reduced bureaucracy and public agencies
operate more efficiently.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuan, Deputy Director,
Center for Information Technology and Statistics, General
Department of Tax
-
 Under
Decision No.1551/2006 of the Hai Phong People's Committee, the
Department of Planning and Investment (DPI) has been
coordinating with the Tax Department and Public Security
Department to plan and implement a streamlined “one-stop shop” (một
cửa liên thông) for business establishment procedures. This
one-stop shop will reside within DPI, and its coordination is
based on a number of fundamental principles. First, businesses
only have to visit a single place for advice on, to apply for,
and to obtain their business registration certificates, register
their company seals, and get their tax codes. Second, there
should not be any conflict between the existing functions and
responsibilities of the three agencies. Third, the staff
appointed to work at this streamlined one-stop shop should be
professional and have sufficient capacity and expertise to
advise businesses on the whole process of business
establishment.
However, in order to effectively implement this streamlined
one-stop shop, four major issues must be taken into account.
First, some questions related to its structure must be resolved
such as: which agency should be authorized to manage this single
door; and what kind of communication should there be between
this door and the back office functions of relevant agencies?
Second, what is the best and most efficient way of allocating
human resources to this one-stop shop? In this case, how should
the Tax and Public Security Departments assign their staff to be
on duty at DPI? A police official normally spends only 25% of
his time working on seal registration; is it efficient if he has
to stay at the one-stop shop for 8 hours a day, as staff of the
Business Registry usually do? Third, a national legal framework
governing this coordination will definitely enable more
effective implementation at the local level. Fourth, the success
of this model depends on the customer-oriented attitude of
public servants and on their willingness to cooperate with staff
across public agencies.
Finally, this linked one-stop shop is just a short-term
solution. In the long run, public agencies must use information
technology (email, LAN, intranet, etc.) to communicate with each
other so that public services, especially those for businesses,
are handled in the fastest and most cost-efficient way.
Mr. Dang Van Hai, Head of Business Registry,
Department of Planning and Investment, Hai Duong City
-
It should be noted that in order to simplify administrative
procedures for businesses, we should simplify not only market
entry procedures, but also those procedures that encompass the
overall life cycle of businesses, such as licensing for
conditional businesses (“baby licenses”), resolution of internal
conflicts of interest, registration of any change in the
business registration dossiers, dissolution, and bankruptcy.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Duong, Deputy Director,
Department of Planning and Investment, Hanoi
-
In modern public administration, the government should treat
citizens, businesses and investors as real customers. When
entrepreneurs need any service from the state, such as a
business registration certificate, a construction permit or an
environmental license, it would be ideal if they only had to
visit a single place where all procedures are simple and
transparent. In conjunction with the effort to computerize
business registration services in some provinces, the model of a
streamlined “one-stop shop,” where businesses can deal directly
and at once with the authorized public servants from the DPI,
Tax and Public Security agencies for the first three steps of
business establishment procedures, is a good initiative and
should be implemented to further simplify provincial-level
market entry. In addition to having a single access point for
these three services, it is necessary to review and streamline
each administrative agency's back office procedures so that
businesses can be established within ten days.
If leaders of a province are truly determined to reform business
registration procedures and consider such change as a
breakthrough step in the local public administrative reform
agenda, this may help speed up reforms in other administrative
areas, improve the province's image and enhance its
competitiveness.
Mr. Vu Quang Thinh, Partner,
Management Consulting Group (MCG),
Consultant to IFC-MPDF Provincial Simplification Project
>> More...
|
