VietNamNet Bridge - Overlapping duties in state management have been found in 18 fields.

Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung, explaining the amendments of the Public Debt Management Law in June, for example, tried to persuade NA deputies to put the public debt under the control of one ministry instead of three – MOF, MPI and SBV.

However, Dung’s efforts failed. In the decrees stipulating the functions, responsibilities, rights and organizational structure of MOF (Ministry of Finance), MPI (Ministry of Planning & Investment) and SBV (State Bank of Vietnam), released several months later, all three ministries have the task of managing ODA.

Currently, the food hygiene management is the task of three ministries – MOIT, MOH and MARD. It is difficult to place specific blame for problems in the field. Though many NA deputies have recognized the problem, it has yet to be settled.

Le Viet Thai from CIEM (Central Institute of Economic Management) noted that in many cases, it is difficult to differentiate the functions and responsibilities of the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Construction. 

Minister of Interior Affairs Le Vinh Tan admitted the problem in a document to the NA’s supervision delegation on the reform of the state administrative apparatus in 2011-2016.

Minister of Interior Affairs Le Vinh Tan admitted the problem in a document to the NA’s supervision delegation on the reform of the state administrative apparatus in 2011-2016.

The state management overlap can be found in many fields, such as food hygiene, tourism development, foreign trade management, public debt, urban transport, information security, rural development, advertising, and vocational education.

Under the 2015 Government Organization Law, ministries and ministerial-level agencies no longer hold the function of representing state capital in enterprises. However, ministries assume the responsibility because no specific agency in charge of representing the state’s capital in enterprises has been established.

A government report shows that by May 2017, the interference and overlapping in ministries’ functions still exists in 18 fields.

NA vice chair Uong Chu Luu, in the draft report on the supervision of implementation of the policies on administrative reform in 2011-2016, also commented that unreasonable  assignment of tasks to ministries still exist, and when many ministries assume management over the same issues, it is difficult to clarify their responsibilities. 

According to the Government Office Chief Secretariat Mai Tien Dung, chocolate alone needs 13 types of licenses for sale in the market, while yogurt has to undergo both a quarantine by MARD and examination by MOH. Sunflower seeds also have to be examined by two ministries.

According to CIEM, 100,000 product items have to undergo specialized examinations. Every year, enterprises have to spend 28.6 million working days and VND14.3 trillion on the examinations. In addition, they have to obey many requirements stipulated in the so-called ‘sublicenses’ and business conditions set in development programs.

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