The Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) on October 1 forwarded an appraisal dossier for a draft decree amending and supplementing several articles of the decrees detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Science, Technology, and Innovation to the Ministry of Justice for review.
The draft aims to amend and supplement five Government decrees promulgated in 2025, including decrees 262, 263, 265, 267, and 268.
The objective of the draft is to resolve urgent difficulties and bottlenecks, establish a favorable legal framework, and unlock resources for science, technology, and innovation activities.
Its core focus centers on cutting or simplifying administrative procedures, ensuring synchronization and consistency with the 2025 Law on Public Employees, and addressing pressing hurdles in carrying out science, technology, and innovation initiatives.
The most notable change involves revisions and additions to regulations governing innovation tasks under Decree No. 268.
According to the MST, feedback from credit institutions and enterprises during the implementation of interest-rate subsidy programs indicated that current disbursement procedures interfere with the debt collection workflows applied by credit institutions. As a result, many lenders have been reluctant to participate.
Furthermore, delayed funding disbursements from the State Treasury could jeopardize enterprises' ability to fulfill their debt obligations to credit institutions on time.
Consequently, the MST proposed amending and supplementing Clause 8, Article 22 of Decree No 268/2025/ND-CP. Under the proposal, the Fund would proactively transfer support funds into a "dedicated account" at the relevant credit institution according to the debt collection schedule, releasing the subsidy payments based on valid on-time debt collection vouchers. This ensures that the lenders' standard debt collection processes remain undisturbed while safeguarding enterprises' repayment obligations.
Additionally, the draft introduces a clause stating: "The Fund shall suspend interest rate subsidies on loans during any period in which the enterprise incurs overdue debt." In such cases, the enterprise must pay the full interest due to the credit institution under the signed credit agreement.
The MST also noted that Decree No 268 and Decree No 267 do not yet clearly distinguish between science and technology tasks and innovation tasks.
In practice, this lack of clarity has led ministries, sectors, local authorities, organizations, and enterprises to interpret the provisions differently, causing substantial friction in identifying, approving, executing, and managing these tasks.
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