A market surveillance officer during a raid at a facility producing sub-standard helmets in Vinh Long province. (Photo: chonghanggia.qltt.gov.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - The current CompetitionLaw in Vietnam has yet to come into practise, and it will need furtherimprovement to reach its full potential, said Trinh Anh Tuan, Deputy DirectorGeneral of the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) of the Ministry of Industryand Trade (MoIT).
During his speech at a Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)conference on May 10, Tuan stressed the importance of the national law oncompetition in pushing economic progress and protecting a fair environment fornational competition.
The conference introduced several changes in the Competition Law draft to besubmitted, with visions toward building a socialist-oriented market economywith in-depth global integration.
Dau Anh Tuan, Head of the VCCI’s Legal Department, stressed the need for amodified Competition Law, as the current set of laws shows several inadequaciesin defining legal breeches in fair entrepreneur competition--includingmonopolistic behaviours, market domination and market centralisation, while theprevious set of conditions for a relevant market is now considered obsolete andunaccommodating in practise.
Furthermore, the law on competition is making it difficult to investigate casesof unfair competition. There has yet to be a definite legal framework for thecompetition authority to obtain proof of unfair competitive practises done byfirms, and to assert the level of damage done by these breeching firms in orderto prevent and punish such acts.
As such, the reviewed and renewed Competition Law is built upon the basis ofanti-trust practise and ensures fair competitive actions amongst firms. The lawaims to increase Vietnam’s economic efficiency and protect the rights andbenefits of Vietnamese businesses and consumers.
Another objectivefor the new law is to guarantee fairness and transparency for court decisionsin cases regarding unfair competition and affirm the central role of thegovernment in protecting a competitive market economy.
Tang Van Nghia, Dean of Postgraduate from Foreign Trade University, alsopraised the upcoming changes. He advised lawmakers to add an exemption clausein order to grant businesses pricing freedom, as a true market economy givesfirms the right to choose their own levels of supply and price.
The draft for a revised law on competition is expected to institutionalise andrealise the government’s policy to construct a fair market without monopoly andunfair competition in the near future.-VNA
VNA
