The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs on August 13 promulgated its administrative procedure code consisting of 281 articles on labour and social affairs.

Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said the move is aimed at building an administrative system to serve the interests of people and improve the ministry’s capacity to provide leadership in State management of labour and social affairs issues.

The procedure code, which defines the roles of administrations at four levels - the central, the provincial, the district and the commune - is the result of the two-year implementation of the first phase of the Government’s project on streamlining administrative procedures on State management for the 2007-10 period.

Ngan added that her ministry would regularly update and revise the code, in order to further simplify and ensure the transparency of administrative procedures, thus making them more easily accessible to ordinary people.

For years, administrative procedures have created barriers affecting business and people’s daily lives, needlessly consuming time and money, and reducing the national economy’s competitiveness.

The Government has therefore approved the project to support the 2006-10 socio-economic plan, fulfil the country’s commitments to the World Trade Organisation and work out a democratic, professional and transparent administrative system, thus contributing to the battle against corruption and waste.

The project deadline has been set for August 15 for all ministries and industries to issue their own administrative procedure codes and August 20 for local administrations.

The project will serve as a basis for the Prime Minister to make public the national database on administrative procedures scheduled for September./.