-
 Conducting
reforms to facilitate market entry for enterprises is not a new
idea. In July 2006, Hai Phong was the first municipality in the
country to pioneer an inter-departmental “one-stop shop” (OSS)
for the company, stamp, and tax registration. After four months
of operation, the business community remains highly supportive
of and appreciates having to visit only one location to complete
all three procedures. As the setup is still in pilot phase, Hai
Phong may have to do some fine-tuning to make the OSS live up to
the business community's expectations. Some lessons from Hai
Phong as a forerunner in simplifying business startup
procedures, as well as good practices from some southern
provinces, should help refine the OSS model.
The inter-departmental OSS should be a true single access point
for enterprises. The OSS mechanism requires the three
departments to improve coordination and build the capacity of
front office staff so that they have adequate knowledge and
skills to serve enterprises and customers. Moreover, each of the
three departments should streamline its back office procedures
so that they are more compatible with the inter-departmental OSS.
Enterprises should receive their application results at the
inter-departmental OSS. It would be highly beneficial for
entrepreneurs if they were able to submit the stamp carving and
tax registration applications simultaneously so that they can
receive the stamp together with the tax code. On behalf of
entrepreneurs, Department of Public Security officials should
work with and submit the stamp carving permit to stamp carvers;
this would reduce enterprises' waiting time for the stamp to the
number of stipulated days, or even less than that.
Also, the inter-departmental OSS should be a place where the
government clearly and transparently discloses all relevant
procedures to entrepreneurs. In several provinces where we have
worked, before they undertook business registration reform, many
enterprises said they were hesitant to contact administrative
departments for information and to submit applications. Instead,
they preferred to interact with the government through
intermediary service providers. However, now many newly
established enterprises no longer feel that they are “begging”
the authorities for information and to process their
applications. Entrepreneurs say that when procedures are
transparent and convenient, they are able to better understand
their rights and obligations, and consequently are not as afraid
to interact with public agencies.
The simplification of business startup procedures is regarded as
a breakthrough in recent efforts to achieve administrative
reform. The presence of an inter-departmental OSS for business
startup procedures in a few provinces attests to the initiatives
of sub-national governments. If these governments make further
improvements based on the draft Circular and their own political
commitment to reform, the success of such efforts will help to
improve the image and competitiveness of their localities.
Ms Pham Ngoc Linh, Deputy Director,
MCG Management Consulting & Consultant to IFC-MPDF's Business
Registration Simplification Project
-
 Since
August, Hai Phong has been experimenting with a “one-door”
facility for business registration with officials from the
Department of Planning and Investment, the Security Department
and the tax office brought together into one room. This has some
benefits in that the customer has only to go to the one office,
but it is still likely that he or she will have to make several
visits. Both Hai Phong and Da Nang are now considering a
'one-window' approach, where the customer deals with a single
person and documentation is passed directly from the one-stop
shop to relevant departments.
This approach is in keeping with the latest draft of a joint
circular from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the
Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Security.
Unfortunately, the current draft of the circular still implies a
requirement for the customer to deal separately with the
stamp-maker and the Security Department (for registration of the
seal), but there is scope for provincial authorities to overcome
these shortcomings and implement a true 'single window' one-stop
shop which will meet the needs of their customers.
Several people have asked me whether there is a single 'best
practice' model of a one-stop shop used for business
registration in another country which could be adopted in
Vietnam. I do not believe that there is. In any case, a one-stop
shop alone will not result in the dramatic improvements expected
if not accompanied by other reforms and these will need to take
account of the particular circumstances of the country. In the
case of Vietnam this will include the provincial structure, the
level of awareness and use of electronic services and the law
regarding corporate seals.
Few, if any, countries have the requirements for both prior
approval and subsequent registration of seals as part of the
business start-up process. In many countries the use of seals is
optional, with contracts and other documents being authenticated
by the signatures of company officers. Even where a seal is
mandatory, a seal-maker rarely requires any documentation other
than a business registration certificate as authority to make
the seal.
Current best practice requires, first, that internal procedures
be simplified and, second, that there is integration across
departments. It should be a specific aim to reduce the number of
contacts with the customer to a minimum. Ideally, in a
paper-based system such as is currently operating in most of
Vietnam, there should be one visit to deliver simplified
application documents and a second to collect the registration
certificate, tax code and seal. The next stage of development is
a 'single portal', allowing the customer to complete the process
without visiting the office at all.
In improving procedures, the aim should be to provide i) easy
access to a names index via a web site; ii) simple and
standardized documentation, with structured forms rather than
wordy legal deeds, and including on-line forms; iii) sharing of
information between government bodies, so avoiding the need to
register in more than one place; iv) procedures for ensuring
that information held regarding companies is up-to-date and
readily accessible to anyone who needs it; and v) publication of
both service standards and performance against those standards.
A one-stop shop service which meets these standards should
simplify and encourage the formation of new businesses and also
provide those businesses with the range of services to which
they are entitled under the law.
Mr David Walke, International Adviser
on One-Stop Shops for Business Registration,
EU - Vietnam Private Sector Support Program
>> More...
|
