Cut Procedures, Don't Let Them Regrow

Vietnam's commitment to drastically reducing administrative procedures by 50% in 2026 signals a powerful national drive towards streamlining governance and fostering a more efficient environment for citizens and businesses. This initiative, emphasized by top leadership, elevates administrative reform from a technical task to a strategic imperative for the nation's development. However, as experience has repeatedly shown, the challenge lies not merely in cutting procedures but in preventing their insidious regrowth under new guises.

The history of administrative reform in Vietnam is replete with paradoxes. Procedures deemed redundant are often replaced by new 'confirmation steps,' 'explanations,' or 'review requests.' Paperwork may disappear, only for the underlying burden to persist through alternative demands. This cyclical pattern suggests that the core issues are not superficial process design but deeper systemic problems: the unchecked discretionary power of officials and a pervasive culture of risk aversion.

When officials retain subjective decision-making authority, the incentive to maintain procedural 'gateways' remains strong. Coupled with a system where innovation is not always protected, but errors are strictly punished, public servants naturally create 'safety nets'—often in the form of bureaucratic procedures. Therefore, simply targeting a percentage reduction in procedures without altering the fundamental power structures and motivations driving their creation is unlikely to yield lasting change. The goal must be to ensure that what is cut today does not simply 'regrow' tomorrow.