The enforcement of the Law on Enterprises 2014 is inconsistent from locality to locality, said attendants at the Workshop on “Law on Enterprise Enforcement and Basic Content of Social Enterprises.”
The workshop was held in Hai Duong province by the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) in coordination with the Department of Planning and Investment of Hai Duong (Hai Duong DPI) in the framework of the Restructuring for a More Competitive Vietnam (RCV) Project (RCV) and the British Council.
Attended by over 100 delegates, including members of the Secretariat of the Working Group for enforcement of the Law on Enterprises and the Investment Law; the Departments of Planning and Investment of northern provinces and cities and social enterprises in provinces and cities, the seminar aimed to help local enforcement agencies to execute correctly and effectively according to the law, particularly contents relating to social enterprises, and instruct social enterprises to carry out related procedures, thus facilitating and developing this type of business.
In recent years, social enterprises are supported for development in Vietnam, especially when the concept, rights and obligations of social enterprises are specified in the Law on Enterprises 2014 and legal documents like Decree No. 78/ND-CP (September 14, 2015) on business registration; Decree No. 96/2015/ND-CP (November 19, 2015) on instructions for execution of a number of articles of the Law on Enterprises; and Circular 04/2016/TT-BKHDT dated May 17, 2016 on forms used in social enterprise registration under Decree 96/2015/ND-CP.
According to the Law on Enterprise of 2014, a social enterprise must meet the following criteria: An enterprise registered for establishment under the Law on Enterprise with the operating purpose of solving social and environmental issues for the sake of community, use at least 51 per cent of total annual profits for reinvestment for achievement of social and environmental objectives registered.
Dr Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said, social enterprises generate not only economic values but also social values. Specially, they bring benefits for disadvantaged groups. The recognition of social enterprises in the amended Law on Enterprise of 2014 is an important milestone to promote the development of social enterprises in Vietnam and solve social issues.
“Social enterprise is a new business model and many companies are successful with this model. Importantly, they operate with the main goal of solving social matters. They bring development opportunities for community-based creativity,” Ms Cherry Gough, Director of British Council Vietnam, said.
Thi is a continuation of social enterprise research cooperation project jointly carried out by the British Council and the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) in 2012-2016. The project was carried out in 63 provinces and cities in order to assess the status quo of social enterprise development, define difficulties and obstacles to social enterprises, raise awareness about social enterprise, strengthen enforcement capacity for local civil servants, ensure the strict enforcement of the Law on Enterprise, and consider new policy changes for social enterprise development.
Quynh Chi
Vietnamese
