Draft rules for convenience stores won’t work: industry insiders

A Ministry of Industry and Trade draft on retail services management has specifications that cannot be applied in practice, industry insiders insist.

Many disagreements have risen to the fore as the ministry collects opinions on a draft circular the classification and management of retail services like shopping malls, supermarkets, commercial centers, outlets, and convenience stores.

One newly-introduced rule in the draft is that convenience stores would be those that mainly serve customers within a 500-meter radius.

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) asked the ministry Wednesday to drop this regulation that it called unreasonable, saying the store management cannot know where buyers live.

The VCCI pointed out other unreasonable regulations that would curb the freedom of doing business and increase business costs unnecessarily. For example, the draft requires supermarkets, mini-marts, malls, commercial centers, outlets, and stores to have parking lots and parking spaces for customers. This would increase the cost of doing business and reduce business flexibility.

No parking space would mean fewer buyers, but that is a problem for a business to handle without interference from regulators, the VCCI said.

Other experts have also opined that that the regulation on distance was impractical and unnecessary.

Vu Thi Hau, chairwoman of the Association of Vietnam Retailers, said that while it was necessary to introduce new regulations to manage modern retail channels, the draft rules were too detailed in ways that would restrict business development.

She added her association was collecting responses from its members and will make suggestions later to make the regulations workable.

A law expert said governmental and administrative intervention in the market should only deal with trade disputes, fraud or other actions that aim to deceive buyers.