NA Standing Committee debates draft law on SMEs support

Agricultural products being processed at Nam Huy Dong Thap Company in southern Dong Thap Province. A law on extending support to SMEs company is being drafted. (Photo: vietnamnews.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – The National Assembly Standing Committee gave feedback on the draft Law on Support for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) during their fourth working session in Hanoi on October 6. 

With six chapters and 47 articles, the bill aims to enhance the efficiency of support for SMEs in line with market principles while ensuring that it does not violate the country’s international commitments and creating a legal framework to rally public support of the effort, the law drafting board said. 

The NA Standing Committee focused discussion on the necessity of the law. NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan was concerned about the consistency between the bill and other laws, one of them being the Enterprise Law 2015. 

She requested the drafting board to clarify the relationship between support measures stipulated in the draft law and other laws, the compatibility between regulations in the bill and international conventions to which Vietnam is a member, and the draft law’s impact on the country’s economic and financial landscape. 

The NA’s Economic Committee also asked the Government to address the legal inconsistency between the draft and other specialized laws.

Apart from analysing conflicts between the draft law and other specialised laws, Chairman of the NA’s Law Committee Nguyen Khac Dinh suggested the bill should also ensure harmony with the laws on Corporate Income Tax, Investment, Land, Credit Organisations, Science-Technology, Bidding and Competition. 

Concluding the discussions, NA Vice Chairman Phung Quoc Hien said the NA Standing Committee wants the draft law to be feasible and consistent with the existing laws. He asked the compiling board to make a report assessing the bill’s impacts. 

As scheduled, the committee will present their opinions on preparations for the second session of the 14th National Assembly and the draft Law on Planning in the afternoon of October 6.-VNA