Standing Deputy Prime Minister works with Ministry of Industry and Trade on cutting and simplifying administrative procedures

Significant reduction in procedures and business conditions expected

On the afternoon of April 17, Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc held a working session with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to discuss the implementation of plans to cut and simplify administrative procedures and business conditions, in line with conclusions and directives issued by the Party Central Committee and the Government in April 2026.

Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc is working with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the implementation of cuts and simplification of administrative procedures and business conditions.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan reported that the Ministry currently manages a total of 234 administrative procedures, while an additional 277 procedures are handled at the local level. In the coming period, the Ministry proposes to decentralize approximately 70 procedures to local authorities to enhance proactiveness and shorten processing timelines.

At the same time, the Ministry plans to cut and simplify 317 procedures across its areas of management. The targets include reducing compliance costs for businesses by nearly 20% and cutting processing time by around 72%.

Regarding conditional business sectors, the Ministry proposes eliminating six out of the current 19 sectors. The number of business conditions is also expected to be significantly reduced, from 565 to 363.

Administrative reform is being implemented in tandem with digital transformation. According to the report, the rate of digitization of application dossiers and processing results has reached 89.3%; the issuance rate of electronic copies stands at 99%; and the reuse of digitized data within internal systems has reached 12.5%.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan is reporting at the working session. Photo: VGP

The Ministry also recommended that the Government and the Prime Minister promptly finalize or promulgate necessary legal documents to implement approved reduction plans. It further called for ensuring adequate resources for local authorities in the decentralization process; accelerating comprehensive digitization of administrative procedures and public services; and developing standards and technical regulations to gradually shift from pre-inspection to post-inspection.

In addition, the Ministry proposed the unified implementation of traceability systems for goods, products, and services, while strengthening the role of specialized inspection agencies to improve the effectiveness of post-clearance supervision.

Moving toward risk-based management and stronger post-inspection

At the meeting, representatives from various ministries, agencies, and organizations focused their discussions on reforming management approaches, particularly shifting from pre-inspection to post-inspection based on the risk level of each sector.

A representative from the Ministry of Finance proposed classifying sectors into three risk categories high, medium, and low to apply appropriate regulatory tools.

Several opinions suggested replacing business conditions with systems of technical standards and regulations in areas such as food safety, rice exports, e-commerce, and multi-level marketing. At the same time, further decentralization of administrative procedures to local authorities was recommended in sectors including industrial explosives, occupational safety, supporting industries, and mining.

The working session is attended by representatives of various ministries, agencies and organizations. Photo: VGP.

There were also calls to increase the reduction rate for procedures with high processing frequency and to further promote the exploitation of digitized data.

Concluding the meeting, Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc acknowledged the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s efforts in reviewing and simplifying administrative procedures and business conditions, particularly in the context of accelerating decentralization and delegation of authority to local governments.

He emphasized that cutting procedures does not equate to loosening management, but must go hand in hand with strengthened inspection, supervision, and post-audit mechanisms. Unnecessary provisions should be eliminated, while remaining regulations must ensure effectiveness and transparency.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade was tasked with incorporating feedback from the meeting and finalizing its plan to cut and simplify administrative procedures and business conditions for submission to the Government’s Standing Committee in accordance with the set timeline.