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Current regulations hinder business associations
Some regulations on organization, operation and management issues create big difficulties for business associations.
At the conference held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) held recently in HCM City, representatives from associations cited a lot of current regulations which they believe create big difficulties for their member companies’ operation.
According to Huynh Van Hanh, Deputy Chair of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City Hawa, despite being an association located in HCM City, it has been organizing useful activities and Therefore, it has admitted members from 25 provinces and cities nationwide.
“The regulations in the Decree 88 are hindering the activities of the association. The problem is that under the decree, the association cannot admit overseas members. Therefore, we have to admit them as associated members and give them the full membership rights,” Hanh said.
Sharing the same view, representative from the Vietnam Freight and Forwarding Association, said that the joint ventures between Vietnamese companies and foreign partners are still not recognized as the official members. They can be associated members only.
“In the logistics sector, foreign invested enterprises have been playing a very important role. In international transport, for example, foreign companies undertake 70 percent of the transport volume. However, they still cannot become the official members of our association,” he said, adding that foreign invested enterprises believe that the current regulations are unreasonable.
The representative said that the association is now expecting new changes as the new Government’s decree is implemented, replacing the current decree No. 88. The new decree was promulgated on April 21, 2010.
However, analysts have warned that the new decree sets even stricter regulations than the Decree No. 88. The article 2 of the new decree stipulates that associations must be understood as the voluntary organizations of Vietnamese citizens and institutions which operate in the same fields and have the same interests. This implies that associations are organizations of “Vietnamese institutions”, and that foreign enterprises or joint ventures cannot be admitted.
Vu Thi Minh Hang, Chief Secretariat of the HCM City Young Businessmen’ Association YBA, said that in order to ease difficulties for associations, VCCI should play a more active role in lobbying. She said that the lobbying has not been effective in the past, partially because VCCI could not measure the possible consequences of the policies on associations.
For example, the HCM City Taxi Association complained that its member companies are subject to high tax. However, there is still no detailed report about the consequences of the high tax (How many workers would become redundant because of the high tax and how big would the losses be…).
“As we still cannot prove the impact of the policies on associations and possible social problems, it is very difficult to persuade policy makers to change the policies,” Hang said.
Also according to Hang, there is no school in Vietnam which trains officers for associations. Meanwhile, officers of associations need specific knowledge and skills. Hang has called on VCCI to help train officers for associations in order to improve their efficiency.
Joining business associations is a necessity for enterprises nowadays. Businesses believe that they need to cooperate for the common development.
vietnamnet
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