Deputy Pham Khanh Phong Lan from HCM City, who is also deputy head of the city's Department of Health.

Lan also suggested the time for licensing new registration should be 12 months instead of 18 months as stated in the draft.

"Less time will mean less harassment by local officials," she explained. "I've seen many firms in HCM City losing their business opportunities while waiting for the registration which takes much longer than needed."

The proposal from the HCM City deputy relates to a new problem concerning firms operating in Vietnam.

The Law on Enterprises and Law on Investment were passed in November 2014 and they laid out some reforms on economic policies and administrative formalities. They were partially intended to prevent local agencies from adding additional regulations or documents in the circulars or having the opportunity to irritate local firms.

But right after these two new laws took effect, some agencies sought new ways to legalise their need to interfere with businesses.

For example, the Law on Accounting, which is being discussed at the NA, has an inappropriate provision which requires the director of a firm to have a certificate on accounting. Many deputies have rejected this, saying this was completely unnecessary because a director could just hire an accountant.

This one example, but if NA deputies are not smart enough to turn down these kinds of provisions, local businesses will still be tortured by bullying state officers and their interest groups.