05 important rules for provision of legal assistance for SMEs in Vietnam

Currently, “provision of legal assistance for SMEs” means ministries, ministerial agencies and provincial governments’ acts of creating, managing, maintaining and updating law databases, establishing and implementing legal assistance programs with the aims of increasing SMEs’ knowledge and awareness of law, developing their habit of complying with law, minimizing legal risks and issues encountered by SMEs during their operation, and then improving the competitiveness of SMEs and effectiveness in law enforcement.

Provision of legal assistance for SMEs shall be carried out in compliance with the 05 rules specified in Article 4 of Decree No. 55/2019/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government, specifically as follows:

- Legal assistance shall be provided for SMEs with certain focuses within a limited period of time and conformable with legal assistance objectives and the capability of balancing resources; the provision of legal assistance for SMEs must ensure publicity, transparency and effectiveness, and avoid overlapping.

- Legal assistance shall be provided for SMEs through the cooperation between regulatory authorities, representative organizations of SMEs, providers of legal assistance for SMEs and other relevant authorities, organizations and individuals.

- The provision of legal assistance for SMEs through legal assistance service providers shall be given priority.

- Authorities and organizations providing legal assistance for SMEs shall, based on their resources and assistance programs, decide the provision of legal assistance in the following order of priority:

+ Women-owned SMEs and SMEs using more women employees will be provided with legal assistance first if their applications for legal assistance are satisfactory;

+ SMEs in which 30% or more of their employees are the disabled as defined in the Disability Law;

+ SMEs that submit applications for legal assistance first shall be provided with legal assistance first if their applications are satisfactory.

- The State encourages and adopts policies for assistance and facilitation of regulatory authorities, organizations, enterprises and individuals in provision of legal assistance for SMEs, and mobilizes private sector involvement in provision of legal assistance for SMEs.

View full text at Decree No. 55/2019/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from August 16, 2019.

Thu Ba

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