The Government amends 7 Decrees to simplify administrative procedures under Ministry of Science and Technology management
The Government has recently issued Decree No. 15/2026/ND-CP dated 14 January, 2025, amending and supplementing several articles of seven decrees to cut and simplify administrative procedures related to production and business activities within the state management scope of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Decree No. 15/2026/ND-CP amends and supplements various articles of 7 Decrees: 76/2018/ND-CP; 65/2023/ND-CP; 63/2023/ND-CP; 115/2025/ND-CP; 163/2024/ND-CP; 23/2025/ND-CP; and 133/2025/ND-CP.
Decree No. 15/2026/ND-CP amends and supplements these Decrees to cut unnecessary business investment conditions and reduce processing times for administrative procedures. Key changes include reducing the required years of work experience in fields under the management of the Ministry of Science and Technology, cutting unnecessary document components in applications, removing regulations requiring the submission of copies, adjusting forms, and implementing online application submissions.
Reducing processing time for administrative procedures
Specifically, Decree No. 15/2026/ND-CP amends Article 17 of Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP to implement a plan to reduce the processing time for the withdrawal of industrial property registration applications from 2 months to 30 days.
Decree No. 15/2026/ND-CP also amends Article 42 of Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP to reduce the processing time for procedures regarding compensation to patent owners for delays in pharmaceutical marketing authorization from 3 months to 2 months.
At the same time, implement the plan to reduce the processing time for procedures of registering for the professional examination of industrial property representatives as stipulated in Article 63 of Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP, is reduced from 20 days to 15 days.
Reducing work experience requirements
Decree No. 15/2026/ND-CP amends and supplements Articles 18 and 20 of Decree 76/2018/ND-CP. According to the new regulations, organizations and individuals requesting the recognition of scientific research and technological development results from self-conducted research, or those requesting state funding or the purchase of scientific research and technological development results, can submit applications online via the national public service portal, directly, or through postal services to the competent authority.
Additionally, Decree No. 15/2026/ND-CP amends the conditions for granting Certificates of eligibility for technology assessment service activities in Clause 2, Article 33 of Decree 76/2018/ND-CP.
Under the new regulations, enterprises and science and technology organizations registering for a Certificate of eligibility for technology assessment services must have at least 02 experts with a university degree or higher in a major suitable for the technology field to be assessed, with at least 02 years of work experience (down from the previous 3-year requirement) in the technology field to be assessed.
Also according to the new regulations, enterprises and science and technology organizations registering for a Certificate of eligibility for technology appraisal services must have at least 02 official appraisers in the organization's technology appraisal field (who are public employees or laborers with contracts of 12 months or more, or laborers with indefinite-term contracts) with at least 02 years of work experience (down from the previous 3-year requirement) in the technology field to be appraised.
Abolishing certain administrative procedures
Furthermore, Decree No. 15/2026/ND-CP abolishes Articles 42 and 47 of Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP, corresponding to the removal of the following procedures: the assignment of registration rights for patents, industrial designs, and layout designs resulting from state-funded science and technology tasks to other organizations and individuals; and the procedure for allowing other organizations and individuals to use patents, industrial designs, and layout designs resulting from state-funded science and technology tasks.
New regulations on the authority to handle administrative procedures
Decree No. 15/2026/ND-CP amends and supplements Articles 28 and 29 of Decree No. 133/2025/ND-CP regarding the authority to perform procedures including: granting, re-granting, extending, amending, supplementing, and withdrawing licenses to use radio frequencies and equipment, as well as processing requests to stop using radio frequencies for radio stations on fishing vessels; and granting, re-granting, extending, amending, supplementing, and withdrawing licenses to use radio frequencies and equipment, as well as processing requests to stop using radio frequencies for amateur radio stations.
According to the new regulations, the granting, re-granting, extension, amendment, supplementation, and withdrawal of licenses for radio frequencies and equipment, as well as processing requests to stop using radio frequencies for radio stations on fishing vessels as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree No. 63/2023/ND-CP (detailing the Law on Radio Frequency No. 42/2009/QH12, amended by Law No. 09/2022/QH15), shall be implemented as follows:
a) The issuance of licenses is performed by the provincial-level People's Committee of any province or centrally-run city (province);
b) The re-issuance, extension, amendment, supplementation, and withdrawal of radio frequency and equipment licenses, and the processing of requests to stop using radio frequencies, are performed by the provincial-level People's Committee that originally issued the license.
The granting, re-granting, extension, amendment, supplementation, and withdrawal of licenses for radio frequencies and equipment, as well as processing requests to stop using radio frequencies for amateur radio stations as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree No. 63/2023/ND-CP, shall be implemented as follows:
a) The issuance of licenses is performed by the provincial-level People's Committee of any province;
b) The re-issuance, extension, amendment, supplementation, and withdrawal of radio frequency and equipment licenses, and the processing of requests to stop using radio frequencies, are performed by the provincial-level People's Committee that originally issued the license./.
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