HCMC – The prime minister has told the Government office forward a petition made by karaoke and bar businesses on fire safety regulations to the ministries of Public Security, Construction and Culture-Sports-Tourism, requesting them to remove legal hindrances faced by these businesses.
Many karaoke and bar businesses from Hanoi, HCMC, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Hai Duong, Nghe An, Haiphong and Thanh Hoa sent a petition to the prime minister and relevant ministries, indicating the prevailing fire safety regulations have forced many karaoke parlors and bars to suspend their operations, according to the Government news site (baochinhphu.vn).
According to them, most karaoke parlors were established before Decree 136 and Circular 147 come out and they are eligible for operations in compliance with laws, including the then fire safety regulations.
However, after fire safety inspections as per Plan 513 conducted by the Ministry of Public Security, since October 2022 till now, all karaoke businesses have been forced to suspend operations due to their failure to comply with the new fire safety regulations as concluded by interdisciplinary inspection teams of provinces and cities and firefighters.
Businesses themselves have yet to know how to fix their facilities and which materials to use in line with the new regulations, while they have received no feedback from the local authorities over their proposals or guidance.
There are around 20,000 licensed karaoke parlors nationwide, with an investment of around VND75,000 billion in the karaoke, disco and bar business.
To help those businesses out, the prime minister requested the ministries of Public Security, Construction, and Culture-Sports-Tourism to work together to revise and supplement regulations on fire fighting and prevention. A dialogue between ministries and businesses may be needed to find solutions, he said.
