Disclosure and transparency in activities of local authorities in Vietnam at present

Peoples Councils exe cise supe vision th ough follo ing activities: Revie ing epo ts of o king of Standing People's Council, People’s Committee, People’s Cou t and People’s P ocu acy of [r]

D ISC LO SU R E ầm TR A N SPA REN C IN ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL

AU TH ORITIES IN VIETNAM ẴT PR E SEN T

A/Prof, Dr Tra T D eu Oa 1

I trodut o

Disclosu e and t anspa ency in local gove nment activities a e the esponsibility

of the State in the p ocess of exe cising democ acy, building up integ ity and c eatinggove nments Publicity and t anspa ency of local autho ities at g ass oots levels a eaimed at st engthening people’s confidence in the ope ation of the state appa atus in

o de to stabilize politics, economy and society In ecent yea s, ho is t anspa encyand publicity implemented? Ho do people pa ticipate and evaluate this activity? Ifthe e a e many limitations and obstacles, hat a e the ecommendations needed toensu e disclosu e and t anspa ency in the ope ation of local gove nments? These a ethe issues that ill be explained in the a ticle

A overv ew o format o d sclosure a d tra spare cy act v t es oflocal aut or t es

T anspa ency in management activities is an obviousness, hich can also

be conside ed as a eason fo the existence and the sou ce of the po e of a publicautho ity T anspa ency is fi stly aimed at ensu ing the democ atic natu e of society,demonst ating the people’s ight to pa ticipate in state management T anspa ency isalso a ve y impo tant solution fo ed essing ed tape, b ibe y and co uption, cleaning

up the management appa atus T anspa ency in management is also an indispensablecondition fo the state appa atus to acqui e kno ledge of the people fo managementactivities T anspa ency is also an essential equi ement fo being successful ininte national integ ation

Faculty of tate - Law and heoretical Foundations NationalAcademy of ublicAdministration

T anspa ency means implementing a egime of info mation disclosu e and

t anspa ency in all State management activities, except fo those matte s elated to thenational defence and secu ity hich need to be kept sec et It is necessa y to emphasizethat: info mation disclosu e is associated ith t anspa ency, because the e a e cases

he e the e is disclosu e but not t anspa ency as the authenticity and sound basis ofthe published issues have not been stated clea ly

In the economics, the fi st action is to disclose info mation and make

t anspa ent plans, of hich the most impo tant thing at p esent is to publicizeand make t anspa ent land-use plans, the allocation of land and the use of land, avaluable esou ce of the count y hich is being asted, embezzled and app op iatedthe most The second action is to make t anspa ent the mobilization and the use ofthe state budget in o de to ed ess the ineffective use of budget Public investment

p o ects (using funds f om state o igin) must be publicized, made t anspa ent andsupe vised st ictly to avoid co uption, aste, ineffectiveness and to p event f ombeing a facto causing inflation

It is necessa y to disclose info mation about and make t anspa ent the p ocesses ofplanning and execution of mechanisms and policies If being discussed in an open anddemoc atic manne , mechanisms and policies illbe supplemented and completed, thus,ill be close to eality, meet equi ements in the count y’s development, especially illove come the situation of“mechanism t ading”that makes co upt use ofthe mechanism

to seek fo pa tial, local, g oup benefits T anspa ency helps enfo ce la s smoothly,

p event the situation hen the same egulation is unde stood and inte p eted diffe ently

by state agencies The t anspa ent business envi onment f om policies, p ocedu es, etchelps businesses access info mation, inc ease equality in te m of t ading oppo tunities

fo businesses of diffe ent economic secto s, helps them feel secu e in making businessplans Publicized and t anspa ent administ ative p ocedu es ill cont ibute to ed essthe co uption of civil se vants and officials of functional autho ities, make favou ableconditions fo the people and fo p oduction and ope ation activities of ente p ises, and

at the same time being a basis fo the people and ente p ises to supe vise activities ofcivil

se vants, ed ess the ha assment exto tion of civil se vants on the people and ente p isesheneve they come to state agencies

Fo cad es and civil se vants, the p actical action at p esent is to decla eand disclose info mation about thei assets acco ding to egulations Fi st of all,info mation about assets of candidates fo membe s of Pa liament must be disclosed

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance _

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

Anothe impo tant thing is to disclose info mation about the ec uitment, p omotion,commendation and discipline on cad es and civil se vants In the cu ent situation,such actions ill not only cont ibute an effective measu e to p event and fight against

co uption, clean up the c e of cad es and civil se vants, but ill also play a ve yimpo tant ole in building up the t ust of the people in the state appa atus

Acco ding to Assoc P of D Nguyen Dang Dung, “In public administ ation,info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency means info mation about the la and otheinfo mation elated to the implementation p ocess of public assignment and civil

se vants is p ovided completely, timely and accu ately to the people T anspa ency isassociated ith info mation disclosu e, accountability and f eedom of info mation”Within the f ame o k of public administ ation, the concept of t anspa ency can

be inte p eted to consist of t o impo tant espects such as: access to info mation,and ight and oppo tunities of supe vision/ c iticism of management ob ects againstmanagement agencies

F om the legal pe spective, although t anspa ency has not been defined di ectly inany legal documents, its di ect manifestation is the ight to access to info mation hich

is ackno ledged in the 20 3 Constitution as one of the basic ights of citizens: Citizenshave the ight to f eedom of speech and f eedom of the p ess, and have the ight toassembly, association, and demonst ate Hie exe cise of those ights shall be p esc ibed

by la (A ticle 25) In the 20 8 Anti-co uption La , at p ovisions Clause 4 A ticle 3that “Information disclosure and transparency in organization and operation ofagencies,authorities and units means disclosing of information and provision of explanation forthe organization structure, performance of duties, entitlements and responsibilities of anorganization during their operation”can be inte p eted that t anspa ency is associatedith info mation disclosu e in ope ations of agencies, autho ities and units the same

as p ovisions on info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in public p ocu ementand capital const uction; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in finance andstate budget; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in land use and management;info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in education, etc

The concept of t anspa ency is ide than info mation disclosu e T anspa encyincludes oppo tunities and equality in access to info mation, consistent eliability of

Nguyen Dang Dung, Enhancing t anspa ency of Administ ative Decisions - VNƯ Jou nal of Science, Lega! Studies - Vol 28 (20 2), pp 204-2

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

info mation, p edictability and the openness of agencies hich p ovide info mationAcco dingly, being unde stood in hateve ay, afte all the key matte oft anspa ency

is al ays associated ith the ight to access info mation Ho eve , the extent of access

to info mation depends on limits ofmanagement entities, and in a ide scale, depends

on the natu e of each State Info mation can be app oached in the follo ing aspects:i) the administ ato p ovides info mation at the equest of the pe son ho needs theinfo mation This is a passive ay of info mation p ovision hich depends on theequest of the pe son ho needs info mation At this level, the pe son ho needsinfo mation still depends much on public administ ation officials in app oachingequi ed info mation; it) taking initiative in p oviding info mation At this level,state administ ation entities take the initiative in esea ching peoples demand foinfo mation, f om that to design info mation database best fulfilling such demandWith this fo m, a such database ill also be published actively on va ious media sothat the people a e able to easily sea ch the info mation they need Info mation ill bepublished unde diffe ent fo ms, on va ious mass media such as ebsites, ne spape s,

o kshops o publications so that management ob ects a e able to access actively Atthis level, the dependence of people ho need info mation on public managementofficials fo app oaching info mation is educed; ) management ob ects ill notonly have access to info mation but also take the initiative in pa ticipating in theconst uction and fo mation of info mation (in management science, it is called policyplanning) and supe vising the implementation of such info mation This pa ticipation

is conside ed a pa t oft anspa ency because it helps management ob ects exp ess theidemand and unde stand mo e dea ly the natu e of info mation

Fo this eason, information disclosure and transparency in local state authoritiescan be understood that local state authorities disclose, provide official information aboutconstruction activities, legal documents, organization of implementation, inspectionand examination of such provisions, and the people can easily approach information,are able to contribute and supervise the implementation of local authorities F om thisvie , making ope ations of local autho ities t anspa ent consists of t o significantaspects hich a e p ovision and disclosu e of info mation by local autho ities, andpeople’s accessibility to info mation (quality, in app op iate and timely ay), ightand oppo tunities to cont ibute and supe vise ope ations of local autho ities These

t o aspects a e inext icably linked and inte act ith each othe It is difficult foinfo mation p ovided f om:one side to meet equi ements fo suitability, completeness

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

and timeliness ithout the ight to pa ticipate in activities and to supe vise theimplementation On the cont a y, if the access to info mation is not good, the ightand oppo tunities to pa ticipate in and supe vise activities ill not be p omoted In the

cu ent tendency of state administ ation, it is necessa y to unde stand both of theseaspects to fully emb ace the connotation of t anspa ency in gene al and the p ocess ofmaking t anspa ent ope ations of local autho ities

2 C rrent sit ationofinformation disclos reandtransparencyin operationsoflocal a thorities in Vietnam

Within the scope of this a ticle, the autho is assessing the cu ent situation

of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in the ope ations of local autho ities inVietnam in the follo ing aspects:

2.1.T e act ofpromul at o ofle al docume ts

Info mation about all stages of the development and p omulgation p ocess

of legal documents must be disclosed, including: info mation disclosu e and

t anspa ency du ing the stage of legal document p epa ation; info mation disclosu eand t anspa ency du ing the stage of legal document composition; info mationdisclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of ve ification of d aft legal documents;info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of evie and adoption of

d aft legal documents; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage ofint oduction of legal documents

The gene al assessment on p actices in localities sho s that the p ocess ofd aftingand p omulgating legal documents oflocal autho ities basically follo s the p ocedu es

p esc ibed by the La on P omulgation of Legal Documents, The o ganization foinc easing people’s a a eness and disseminating details of legal documents and thepublication on official gazettes of esolutions, decisions and inst uctions of localautho ities a e also implemented st ictly The p ocess of developing and p omulgatinglegal documents makes conditions fo the people to anticipate the fo mation, thechange in the la as ell as impacts it c eates This is sho n in the p ocess ofdevelopingand p omulgating legal documents in localities he e the e a e egulations to mobilizeide pa ticipation of va ious secto s in the society, not only Vietnamese individualsand o ganizations but also fo eign individuals and o ganizations, in pa ticula , it isecognized in the 20 5 La on P omulgation of legal document; o publication on

official gazettes is a mandato y stage in the p ocess ofdeveloping and p omulgating legaldocuments, hich is a necessa y condition fo enfo cement effect of legal documents,etc The above p ovisions not only c eate conditions fo the people to be a a e oflegal documents but also is one of the elements to fulfil commitments on ensu ingdisclosu e and t anspa ency of la s in the t eaties hich Vietnam is pa ticipating

in Nonetheless, the evaluation of impacts and situation of social elations gove ned

by legal documents as ell as the consultation ith conce ning minist ies, agencies,

o ganizations and the people about d aft legal documents a e still much est ictedContents of legal documents can be unde stood that hen such contents ofdocuments a e itten do n, all people ho a e a a e of them a e able to g asp, andthat they comply ith the la , a e not cont a y to the Constitution and legal documents

at highe levels P ovisions of legal documents must be clea and connected, easy tounde stand and logical, at the same time such documents must be made public foeve yone to kno and be a a e of thei ights and obligations to obey st ictly andcomply ith p ovisions ofthe documents Contents ofcu ent legal documents a e easy

fo the public to unde stand because a ticles of the la have been explained in detailsand conc etized, educing the p omulgation of f ame o k la s, the eby cont ibuting

to ensu e equi ements fo obviousness and easiness fo the unde standing of the ia

o p ovisions on the use of language in legal documents p esc ibed in the 20 5 La on

P omulgation of legal documents

Legal documents can be accessed easily by the people This is sho n in the factthat the Info mation Cente unde the Office ofthe National Assembly has int oduced

a ebsite of Vietnam’s ỉa database (vietla gov vn) having 20,000 legal documentshich a e a anged scientifically so that the people can easily find exact documentsthey need, and it is totally f ee At localities, ỉegal documents a e posted on ebsites oflocal autho ities

Despite that, agencies hich p omulgating iegal documents must make mo eeffo ts to p ovide and disseminate info mation about thei ope ations to makeinfo mation easy to unde stand and apply Actually, many legal documents a e causingdifficulties to the people because they cannot unde stand, and even cad es and civil

se vants sometimes unde stand in diffe ent ays about the same document, o legaldocuments a e conflict o ove lapped ith each othe hen dealing the same matteThe efo e, in o de to be easy to access, legal documents must be made clea , accu ateand easy to unde stand

_ Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance _

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

Besides, in fact, legal documents issued by People’s Committees a e ofteninapp op iate, in te m of contents, ith the Constitution, the la o legal documents

of state agencies at highe levels It can be seen by examining legal documents, and itfound a la ge numbe of illegal documents Acco ding to PAR INDEX 20 8, the e a e

5 out of 63 p ovinces sco ed the component index of “Building up and o ganization

of implementation of legal documents” ove 80%, of hich 5 p ovinces got sco eshighe than 0% The esults a e obtained f om evaluating such c ite ia as follo ing

up the execution of la s, handling documents to detect violations th ough checkingand handling legal documents afte evie ing Acco ding to the statistics, 5 out of

63 p ovinces have fully implemented 3 activities of execution of la s as p esc ibed

at Dec ee No 5 /20 2/ND-CP of the Gove nment At the same time, such p ovinceshave handled timely o p oposed to handle 00% of est icted and inadequate matte sfound hile o ganizing the supe vision ofthe execution ofla sin thei a ea Data aboutchecking and evie ing legal documents also positive hen most of the p ovincescompleted handling matte s detected du ing thei evie ing, timely announced thelist of documents becoming invalid, issued amendments o additions to egulations

o changes to egulations found illegal du ing checking documents in the yea 20 8,cont ibuting to imp oving the consistency, comp ehensiveness, publicity and legality

of the p ovince Besides, some p ovinces have not successfully pe fo med the o k offollo ing up the enfo cement of la s Some p ovinces have slo lyhandled documentsbecoming invalid o documents found to be illegal hen evie ing documents

*Issua ce ofpart cular docume ts

Rega ding the issuance of pa ticula documents by Peoples Committees,such documents a e issued in la ge numbe in o de to meet the demand fo statemanagement at localities as ell as inte nal management The t anspa ency inthe issuance of pa ticula documents by local People’s Committees has cu entlymanifested in the uploading fo ms of documents and p omulgated documents onthei ebsites The p ocess of d afting and issuing pa ticula documents compliesith p ovisions on autho ization and p ocedu es, etc of issuance The p ocess ofissuing legal documents is defined clea ly in the 20 5 La on P omulgation of legaldocuments, hile the p ocess and p ocedu es of issuance of pa ticula documents

Repo t on Public Administ ation Refo m Index PAR INDEX 20 8 (see mo e: https://moha gov vn/DATA/ DOCUMENT/20 /05/Van%20ban%20moi/20 5 20 File%20 o d%20Bao%20cao%20PAR%20INDEX%20

20 8%20(b%El%BA%A3n%20cu%El%BB% i) pdf)

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

contain codes have not been p esc ibed and a e not clea Fo example, befo e theautho ity issue ed books / pink books (land use ight ce tificate) to households, insome localities the e must be discussions and itnesses of elated beneficia ies, even

a file must be built up by the pe son in cha ge Apa t f om that, in many localities,the officials on duty do not ca y out the above mentioned p ocess, the e is nodiscussion among elated pa ties Especially, some pa ticula documents have illegalcontents, causing unpleasantness of the public, o lack info mation, t anspa encyand discussions ith people befo e issuance, esulting in long-lasting claims andlegal p oceedings If such documents a e not canceled timely, the t ust of people

in local autho ities ill be educed Most of administ ative decisions hich causeclaims and legal p oceedings a e elated to land use

2 2 upervision by eople's Council

Peoples Councils exe cise supe vision th ough follo ing activities: Revie ingepo ts of o king of Standing People's Council, People’s Committee, People’s Cou tand People’s P ocu acy of the same level; Revie ing ans e s to questions of thePeople's Council Chai man, the People’s Committee Chai man, othe membe s of thePeople’s Committee, heads of p ofessional divisions unde the People’s Committee,Chief P osecuto of the People’s P ocu acy, and Chief Justice of the People’s Cou t ofthe same level; Revie ing legal documents of People’s Committee of the same level,esolutions of People’s Councils of lo e level hen finding signs of cont a y to theConstitution, the la , esolutions of the National Assembly, o dinances, esolutions

of Standing Committee of the National Assembly, legal documents of state autho ities

at highe levels and esolutions of People's Committees of the same level; EstablishingSupe vision Missions hen it finds necessa y; Voting fo cad es holding positionsnominated by the People’s Council In addition to the o ganization of exe cising theexecutive po e , the People’s Council also pa ticipates in most of the othe activities

to build up the state gove nment, such as: making a list of vote s, pa ticipating inthe o ganization of election acco ding to the la on election, setting up p o ects on

o ganizing the gove nment in acco dance ith its competence to submit to the NationalAssemblyand People’s Council fo decision; deciding the administ ative o ganizational

st uctu e in acco dance ith its competence Mo eove , the People's Council usuallycommunicates ith the public and local citizens, deals ith most ofthe policies elated

to the ights and obligations ofcitizens In o de to make info mation t anspa ent to thepeople, the main supe viso y fo m is th ough implementing democ acy at g ass oots,

ight to claim, accuse, ecommend, o th ough agencies o social o ganizations, citizensand the p ess pa ticipate in coope ating ith state agencies and othe o ganizations andindividuals to pe fo m the ight to supe vise That citizens implement thei ights bythemselves such as filing claims, petitions and accusations, etc they help intensify theactivities of supe vision, inspection and examination of sub ects having competence

fo activities of autho ities, the eby have ed essed sho tcomings and eaknesses ofthe management appa atus and equi ed efo m in public administ ation

The t anspa ency in supe vision activity of the People’s Council is exp essed

th ough:

First, the o k of communication ith vote s of ep esentatives of the People’sCouncil is ca ied out in compliance ith egulations ofthe la The ep esentatives illinfo m vote s about the contents and agenda of the next sessions and epo t solutions

to comments and ecommendations of vote s in p evious sessions and summa izecomments and feedbacks of vote s to submit in the next sessions At meetings ithvote s, the People's Council sho tens times fo ep esentative’s epo ts and spends

mo e time fo vote s to speak out thei ishes At meetings ith vote s, g oups of

ep esentatives of the People’s Council ill equest leade s of the People's Committees

of dist icts, a ds, communes, p o ect management boa ds, elating agencies invited

to the meetings to explain di ectly to vote s about matte s elated to thei competence;

at the same time, equest elating entities to evie the implementation and ans e s ofthe People's Committees to questions of vote s in p evious meetings, questions not yetans e ed o gene ally ans e ed

Seco d, quality o f questioning and ans e ing, th ough hich u gent matte selated to socio-economics, comments, ecommendations of vote s ill be discussed

at legislative sessions The standing committee of the People’s Council does tho ough

p epa ation fo sessions of questioning and ans e ing Questions of ep esentatives

a e sent to the Chai pe son ofthe session Based on contents eceived, conce ning stateautho ities ill p epa e ans e s in iting When eceiving questions, the Standingcommittee of the People’s Council ill assign divisions in cha ge to gathe and send

to ep esentatives of the People’s Council fo thei evie in advance In each session

of the People’s Council, the e often has many questions to autho ities about p essingissues in socio-economic fields, implementation of policies, etc , so vote s a e ve yconce ned fo Di ect questioning bet een ep esentatives and specialized agencieshas c eated a democ atic, f ank and open atmosphe e he e ep esentatives could ask

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

to the last questions that have not been satisfacto ily explained When conducting thequestioning session, afte each ans e , the chai pe son ill summa ize main ideas

so that ep esentatives a e able to unde stand tho oughly and ask mo e questions Iffound any matte s not yet ans e ed clea ly, o if ep esentatives do not satisfy ithans e s of functional autho ities, the Chai pe son ill equest fo fu the cla ification

o give ans e s in iting to ep esentatives Beside comments of ep esentativesand g oups of ep esentatives, the standing committee of the People’s Council illsumma ize comments of the Fathe land F ont and its affiliates, comments of vote s,app aisals of divisions unde the Peoples Council to p epa e questions to submit tothe p ovincial People's Committee and functional autho ities to cla ify and ans e

At the same time, befo e any session, the Standing Committee of the People’s Councilill send lette s to functional autho ities equesting to epo t on thei execution ofcommitments, matte s ackno ledged and acqui ed in the p evious session Assistants

of the Standing Committee ill summa ize details of ans e s f om autho ities to

p ovide ep esentatives fo study befo e the questioning session Quality of questioningactivity has been imp oved g adually by sessions, a lot of p essing matte s have beenasked by ep esentatives and ans e ed by conce ning autho ities Many questioningsessions at meeting-hall have been live b oadcast on adio o television and published

on ne spape s, and b oadcast again on p ovincial television at p ope time so that allvote s of the p ovince a e able to follo up

hird, meeting citizens, eceiving and conside ing thei claims and accusations

a e also egula activities of the People’s Council hich a e ca ied out in acco danceith t anspa ent p ocedu es in a st ict, enthusiastic and esponsible manne and in ademoc atic atmosphe e, that builds up the t ust of citizens in ep esentatives

Fourt , supe viso y delegations have issued plans, clea ly defined pu poses,equi ements, contents, agenda and specific time of supe vision, and had detailedguidelines on matte s to be inspected to ensu e the pu poses of inspection At the end

of the inspection, delegations had epo t assessing the actual situation, at the sametime detecting violations, stating ciea ly easons, p oposing solutions and submitted

to the People’s Council session fo evie and decision

Supe viso y activities of the People’s Council ecently have had focus and mainpoints, coope ation ith divisions unde the People’s Council, ith the StandingCommittee of the People’s Council, ith la p otection autho ities and local socio-political o ganizations th ough hea ing epo ts of state agencies on all activities at

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in state overnance

localities, th ough questioning agencies and pe sons in cha ge of the supe viso ydelegations Fo this eason, supe viso y activities of the People’s Council have been

d a n mo e and mo e attention of citizens and have gained ce tain achievementsNeve theless, in many localities, the People’s Council can only make decisions onmatte s hich have been decided by highe levels and by the Pa ty CommitteeThose decisions a e lack of ob ective, have poo eliability The effectiveness ofsupe vision is still limited because the autho ization of the Peoples Council to dealith violations is p esc ibed specifically, hile elating legal p ovisions on p ocedu es

of implementation a e sketchy The scope of supe vision by the People’s Council ovethe People’s Committee is imp ope in te m of both quality and level Reasons fo theabove limitation a e: i) ep esentatives o k on pa t-time instead of full-time basis; ii)the building ofinstitutions on supe vision has not been app op iate and co espondingith othe institution in activities of investigation, examination and inspection ofope ations of local autho ities

2.3 Adm strat ve procedures, ma a eme t of cadres, c v l serva ts a dpubl cf a ce

*Adm strat ve procedures

People’s Committees at levels disclose timely info mation and updateadminist ative p ocedu es to the national database; post up all administ ative

p ocedu es; eceive, t eat and give esults offeedbacks, ecommendations ofindividualsand o ganizations about administ ative egulations; a e egula ly a a e of situation,esults of solution fo administ ative p ocedu es executed by lo e level units to havemeasu es fo eminding, speeding up and co ecting p omptly du ing the p ocess

of handling administ ative p ocedu es Conclusions at confe ences on summa izingthe Gove nments administ ative efo m activities ove the past yea s sho that theinfo mation disclosu e and t anspa ency of administ ative p ocedu es by People’sCommittees at diffe ent levels have achieved encou aging esults

People's Committees at levels have issued and implemented egulations equesting

fo info mation disclosu e in va ious fields in acco dance ith p ovisions of the La

on Anti-co uption in o de to imp ove the t anspa ency in thei ope ations Foinstance the t anspa ency in land-use planning at diffe ent levels, t anspa ency in landallocation, land lease, pe mission fo change of land use pu pose, issuance of landuse ight ce tificates and handling of violations T anspa ency in p oviding timely

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

info mation to investo s, developing ebsites of p ovinces, depa tments, agencies sothat ente p ises can easily access info mation in o de to p ovide mo e info mation

to ente p ises Besides, local autho ities take initiatives in p oviding info mation toente p ises, investo s and citizens th ough connecting administ ative p ocedu es,establishing the model of “one-doo ” o “connected one-doo ”, tho oughly applyingonline public se vices at levels ,2,3 and 4, being focal points to p ovide info mation,disclosing dea info mation, simplifying p ocedu es to help people follo up thesituation of thei documents on ebsites via sho t messages on mobile phones oemails, ensu ing publicity and t anspa ency of p ocedu es Imp oving gove nment -ente p ise dialogues and enhancing the ole of business associations, di ect dialoguesbet een local autho ities and ente p ises, gove nment - ente p ise dialogues viathe Inte net to inc ease mo e sub ects, topics, and sho ten the time of dialoguesbet een gove nment and ente p ises Acco ding to PAPI 20 8, public se vice andadminist ative p ocedu es also have conside able changes In pa ticula , the e hasbeen a g adual imp ovement in all 4 g oups of public se vice and administ ative

p ocedu es measu ed by PAPI, including se vices of nota izing and ce tification autho ities of g ass oots, se vice of g anting const uction pe mits, se vice of g antingland use ight ce tificates and communal administ ative se vices Th ee c ite ia havingthe conside able inc ease in sco es a e the pa ticipation of the people at g ass oots,info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in making decisions, and accountability

by-Th ee c ite ia having a slight inc ease in sco es a e cont olling co uption in publicsecto , public administ ative p ocedu es and p ovision of public se vices Rega dingthe announcement and disclosu e ofadminist ative p ocedu es and esults ofhandlingdocuments, the e a e 53 out of 63 p ovinces have announced fully and timely the list

of administ ative p ocedu es at th ee autho ity levels Results of handling documents

as pe administ ative p ocedu es in the yea 20 8 have high sco es, of hich the esuit

of eceiving and timely handling documents at p ovincial agencies eached 5%, atdist ict level the e a e 6 out of 63 p ovinces eached 5% and ove , the esult of timelyhandling documents at commune level eached 5% The e have been positive changes

in making apologies to the people and o ganizations in case of delay in handlingdocuments Ho eve , the e a e still 2 p ovinces have not yet pe fo med the apologymaking as p esc ibed 2

! Vietnam P ovincial Gove nance and Public Administ ation Pe fo mance Index (PAPĨ) 20 8 (see: http://papi

o gvn/ p-content/upỉoads/20 /03/20 8PAPIREPORT„VIE„FĨNAL pdO

2Repo t on Public Administ ation Refo m Index PAR INDEX 20 8 (see: PAR INDEX 20 8 (https://moha gov