Since the Government promulgated Decree No. 61/1998/ND-CP on August 15, 1998 on the work of inspection and examination at enterprises (hereafter called Decree No. 61 for short), this work has seen positive changes, helping to put production and business activities into order and discipline. However, the inspections and examinations conducted by various functional agencies show coincidence and overlapping; or inspections or examinations have been conducted without decisions, or the inspection and examination duration has been arbitrarily prolonged. The coordination among the inspection and examination agencies is not close yet. Acts of misusing or abusing the inspection and examination power to harass for personal benefits and cause difficulties and nuisances to enterprises still exist.

In order to overcome the shortcomings of the work of inspection and examination at enterprises, and strictly implement Decree No. 61, the Prime Minister hereby requests:

1. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities to concentrate their efforts on directing and helping the inspection and examination forces under the management of their respective ministries, branches and localities to firmly grasp the viewpoints and objectives of the work of inspection and examination at enterprises with a view to guiding and helping enterprises to conduct production and business activities lawfully and efficiently; to put an end to the abuse or misuse of the inspection and examination to harass and cause difficulties and nuisances to enterprises; to personally direct the elaboration of the enterprises� inspection and examination programs and plans of enterprises under the management of the ministries, branches and localities. The chief inspectors of the ministries, provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to well act as coordinators in synthesizing the inspection and examination programs and plans of the agencies under the management of the ministries and provinces/cities; to eliminate the repetition, overlapping in the inspection and examination contents right from the elaboration of programs and plans. The direct inspection and examination at enterprises shall be conducted only when signs of law violation are detected or when so requested by the superior competent State agency(ies), and must strictly comply with the provisions in Decree No. 61. For enterprises that should be inspected and examined in many fields, an inter-branch team shall be set up in order to reduce inspections and examinations. Special attention should be paid to the strict implementation of the provisions in Decree No. 61: "Inspection and examination at enterprises shall be conducted only when so decided by the head(s) of the competent State agency(ies); it is forbidden to repeat or conduct more than one inspection and examination bearing the same content within a year at an enterprise (except irregular cases); upon the completion of the inspection and examination at enterprises, there must be a written conclusion on the contents of what has been inspected and examined". Inspectors and examiners who violate law provisions and cause damage to enterprises shall have to compensate for enterprises and be strictly disciplined.

2. Enterprises to enhance the work of internal inspection and examination according to the provisions of the Enterprises Law. The competent State agencies shall step up the monitoring and guiding of enterprises in their self-inspection and examination. The heads of the inspection and examination-deciding agencies shall take responsibilities for their conclusions on inspection and examination at enterprises. The enterprises may use the written conclusions made in the year by the inspection, examination and audit teams as legal grounds for proposing the agencies issuing the inspection and examination decisions to withdraw the repeated inspection and examination contents.

3. The Minister of Public Security to direct the consolidation and reorganization of the Economic Police, the Economic Security Force, the Cultural Security Force, the Fire Prevention and Fight Police, and the Administrative Management Police on social order and security. Such forces should enhance the professional measures in their own activities. The direct examination at enterprises or the access to dossiers, papers and documents of enterprises shall be conducted only in really necessary cases and must be decided by the heads of the competent Public Security agencies as prescribed by Decree No. 61. To put an end to the examination at enterprises without decisions, to avoid the criminalization of administrative, civil and economic relations. The heads of the Public Security agencies shall take responsibility for the violations in the work of examination conducted by the Public Security units under their direct management.

4. The Minister of Finance to direct the coordination of inspection and examination activities on financial and tax matters; assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the ministries, branches and localities in elaborating programs and plans on inspection and examination of enterprises� financial status, avoiding the repetition and overlapping right at the stage of elaboration of such programs and plans.

5. The State Auditor General to closely coordinate with the Minister of Finance and the State Inspector General in elaborating auditing programs and plans before submitting them to the Prime Minister for approval, avoiding the repetition and overlapping in the contents of inspection and examination of enterprises� financial status.

6. The Minister of Trade to direct the Market Management Force to coordinate with the concerned agencies in performing the assigned functions and tasks according to law provisions, not arbitrarily conducting examination at enterprises regarding the contents falling within the functions and tasks of other agencies.

7. The State Inspector General to guide the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities in elaborating inspection and examination programs and plans of enterprises of the ministries, branches and localities; promptly promulgate documents, guiding and further clarifying Decree No. 61�s provisions on the conditions and procedures for each State agency to conduct direct inspection and examination at enterprises; clearly distinguish the settlement of complaints and denunciations from socio-economic inspections; intensify the activities of State management over the inspection work; sum up and evaluate the situation, propose measures to raise the efficiency of the inspection and examination at enterprises.

8. The Minister of Justice to take measures to step up the propagation and popularization of the legislation on inspection and examination, especially for enterprises, so that they can correctly understand and strictly observe law provisions.

The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities and the heads of the concerned agencies shall expeditiously organize the implementation and direct the units under their respective management to well implement this Directive.

Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI