(Source: Viet Nam Social Secutrity) 

The Vietnam Social Security (VSS) in collaboration with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) held a dialogue on the implementation of social insurance (SI), health insurance (HI) and unemployment insurance (UI) policies with foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City on June 16. Attending the conference were representatives from the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and more than 400 FDI enterprises in the south of Vietnam.

According to VSS and VCCI, most of the staff in FDI enterprises who are in charge of SI, HI and UI operations are professional and knowledgeable of social security policies and administrative procurements and strictly comply with the provisions of laws and follow the procedures of social insurance, health insurance.

Feedback on difficulties faced by FDI enterprises in recent years with the social security offices has been highly constructive, showing the willingness of enterprises in collaboration with VSS to reform administrative procedures, with the ultimate goal of providing better services to employees and enterprises. This also has contributed to improving the business environment in Vietnam.

By the end of 2016, though FDI enterprises only accounted for only 7.7 percent of the total number of enterprises participating in social security schemes, their contributions and number of employees accounted for 47.2 percent and 42.9 percent, respectively. However, as of December 31, 2016, there were still enterprises who owed SI with a total of 1,241 billion VND (3.9 percent FDI enterprises’ total contributions). This situation created difficulties for the implementation of social security schemes.

 Despite the high appreciation of the VSS’s efforts in reforming its business procedures in recent years, representatives of some FDI enterprises at the dialogue pointed out difficulties and obstacles faced by their companies in the implementation of SI policies in general and the 2014 Law on Social Insurance in particular. Representatives from FDI enterprises also raised questions related to returning social insurance books to employees, calculating pension between employees in non-State organisations, dealing with procedures for issuing books, cards and resolving HI benefits, working with regulations on HI, SI and UI contribution for foreigners working in Vietnam and overseas Vietnamese labourers.

The presidium answered questions related to SI, HI and UI policies such as returning SI books to the employees in accordance with2014 Law on Social Insurance, where employees are allowed to keep SI books,  enabling them to check on their SI payments and directly supervise the responsibility of employers’ SI contribution. The ultimate goal is to avoid a situation where enterprises deduct SI employees’ contributions, but do not pay this amount to the Social Security fund on their behalf.

In relation to enterprise’s concerns on the depletion of the SI fund in 2030 tempting employees to withdraw their SI contribution as a onetime payment, Bui Sy Loi, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs said that: “At present, the State is adjusting suitable contribution and payment policies; therefore, there is no problem with the fund". Mai Duc Chinh, Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, added: “The social insurance fund is protected by the State and the fund is safe in any situation."

At the conference, Tran Dinh Lieu, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Social Security (VSS), said that VSS has recently made many efforts in improving service quality especially in electronic transaction in SI, HI and UI contributions. Also, through electronic transaction software, enterprises can declare and submit social insurance forms and documents through VSS’s portal. By the end of 2016, VSS has provided 14 level-3 online public services and 236,546 enterprises registered for electronic transactions. VSS regularly revises procedures and records in all areas such as contribution collection, issuance of SI books, HI cards, settlement and payment of regimes toward decreasing procedures and simplifying them.

International Cooperation Department