Participants at a conference discuss measures to improve the quality of Việt Nam's legal documents on Thursday in Hà Nội. — VNA Photo

HÀ NỘI — Measures must be taken to improve the quality of Việt Nam’s legal documents, said policy researchers and businesses at a conference on Thursday in Hà Nội.
Participants urged policymakers to improve feasibility, logic and consistency to avoid half-baked regulations that unnecessarily complicated business operations or even contradicted existing laws.
A major sticking point in the process of policy-making had been a lack of transparency and feedback from parties that were affected by those policies, said legal experts. As a result, many legal documents were produced without a comprehensive evaluation of the potential socio-economic impacts they could have.
“The quality of legal documents has a significant impact in strengthening businesses’ ability to compete, along with consumer experience,” said Đậu Anh Tuấn, head of the legal department under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the conference’s organiser.
“Policymakers must aim to remove legal barriers on market integration, to ensure trade liberalisation and to fight the influence of interest groups,” Tuấn said. 
“Compiling documents which impact the entire society and business sector must not be fast-tracked, and must gather feedback from all affected parties.”
Mark Grillin, head of the Vietnam Business Forum’s tax and customs working group, said policymakers’ first priority in drafting a legal document was to identify its objectives. Contingencies and alternatives should be carefully studied to maximise effectiveness.
They must work together with affected parties to ensure a good understanding of how legal document would impact their activities. Close co-operation between policymakers and affected parties would help to produce policies that did not favour certain groups at the expense of everyone else.
The list of affected parties must also be expanded to include other stakeholders in supply chains and supporting industries, not just primary players.
The transparency of tax-related legal documents was a matter of utmost importance, said Nguyễn Tiến Vỵ, vice-president of the Vietnam Beer and Beverage Association.
Vỵ quoted a study conducted by the Central Institute of Economic Management that showed a change in the country’s tax law would affect not just the beverage industry but also its 21 supporting industries and millions of consumers.
Below-par legal documents were also a hurdle to overcome as the country pushes for further integration into the global economy with numerous international trade agreements. — VNS