05 Rules for provision of legal assistance for SMEs in Vietnam

05 Rules for provision of legal assistance for SMEs in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. What is provision of legal assistance for SMEs?

According to Clause 1, Article 3 of Decree 55/2019/ND-CP, 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.

2. Rules for provision of legal assistance for SMEs in Vietnam

Rules for provision of legal assistance for SMEs specified in Article 4 of Decree 55/2019/ND-CP are as follows:

(1) 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.

(2) 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.

(3) The provision of legal assistance for SMEs through legal assistance service providers shall be given priority.

(4) 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.

(5) 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.

3. Criteria for identification of SMEs in Vietnam

Criteria for identification of SMEs specified in Article 5 of Decree 80/2021/ND-CP are as follows:

(i) Any micro-enterprise in the field of agriculture, forestry, aquaculture; industry and construction that has an average annual number of employees who participate in social insurance not exceeding 10 people, total revenue in the year not exceeding 3 billion VND or total capital of the year not exceeding 3 billion VND.

Any micro-enterprise in the field of commerce and services that that has an average annual number of employees who participate in social insurance not exceeding 10 people, total revenue in the year not exceeding 10 billion VND or total capital of the year not exceeding 3 billion VND.

(ii) Any small enterprise in the field of agriculture, forestry, aquaculture; industry and construction that has an average annual number of employees who participate in social insurance not exceeding 100 people, total revenue in the year not exceeding 50 billion VND or total capital of the year not exceeding 20 billion VND, except micro-enterprises mentioned in (i)

Any small enterprises in the field of commerce and service that has an average annual number of employees who participate in social insurance not exceeding 50 people, total revenue in the year not exceeding 100 billion VND or total capital of the year not exceeding 30 billion VND, except micro-enterprises mentioned in (i)

(iii) Any medium enterprise in the field of agriculture, forestry, aquaculture; industry and construction that has an average annual number of employees who participate in social insurance not exceeding 200 people, total revenue in the year not exceeding 200 billion VND or total capital of the year not exceeding 100 billion VND, except micro-enterprises and small enterprises mentioned in (i), (ii).

Any medium enterprises in the field of commerce and service that has an average annual number of employees who participate in social insurance not exceeding 100 people, total revenue in the year not exceeding 300 billion VND or total capital of the year not exceeding 100 billion VND, except micro-enterprises and small enterprises mentioned in (i), (ii).

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