14 information subject to mandatory disclosure in Vietnam from July 01

According to the Law on access to information 2016 of Vietnam effective from July 01, 2018, citizens do not have access to the following information:

- Classified information that contains important contents associated with politics, national defense and security, foreign relations, economics, science, technology and other fields as regulated by the law. Once classified information is declassified, citizens may access to it as regulated by this Law.

- Information the access to which is considered as harming the national interests, causing adverse influence on the national defense and security, international relations, social order and security, social ethics and the community health; harming human life, living or property of others; information classified as working secrets; those concerning internal meetings of state agencies; documents drafted by state agencies to serve their internal activities.

Accessible information with particular conditions

- Information relating to a trade secret may be accessible if the trade secret holder has assented to the access to such information.

- Information relating to secrets and privacy of an individual may be accessible if such individual grants an assent; information relating to family secrets may be accessible if there is an assent granted by all members of that family.

14 information subject to mandatory disclosure

According to Article 17 of the Law on access to information 2016 of Vietnam, the following types of information must be disclosed publicly:

- Legislative documents; administrative documents with universal effect; international treaties of which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member or international agreements to which Vietnam is a signatory; administrative procedures and working procedures of state agencies;

- Information regarding the dissemination and guidance on the implementation of laws and policies in sectors under the state management;

- Drafts of legislative documents as regulated by the law on promulgation of legislative documents; contents and results of the referendum and acquisition of people’s opinions about issues which are under the decision of state agencies and have to be asked for people’s opinions as regulated by the law; schemes and their drafts on the establishment, dissolution, merger or division of administrative units or modification of administrative areas;

- National and local socio-economic development strategies, programs, projects, schemes and plans; sector/field planning, methods and results thereof; annual working programs and plans of state agencies;

- Information regarding state budget estimates; reports on state budget enactment; state budget statements; estimates, enactment reports, statements of budgets of fundamental construction programs/projects funded by state budget; state budget procedures;

- Information regarding the provision, management and use of official development assistance (ODA) and non-governmental aid as regulated; information about the management and use of social relief and benefits; and information about the management and use of people’s contributions and types of funds;

- Information about lists of public investment and public procurement projects/programs, and the management and use of public investment funding, the situation and results of the execution of public investment plans/programs/projects; bidding information; information on land use plans; land price; land appropriation; plans for compensation, site clearance and resettlement concerning regional projects/works;

- Information about investment activities funded by state budget, the management and use of state capital in enterprises; reports on business and ranking of enterprises; reports on the supervision of the disclosure of financial information of enterprises and state agencies representing owners; information about the organization and operation of state-owned enterprises;

- Information about products, goods and services that have adverse influence on the health and environment; inspection conclusions in the fields of environmental protection, community health, foods safety and labor safety;

- Information about functions, tasks, powers and organization structure of agencies and their affiliated units; tasks and powers of officials in charge of dealing with people’s issues; internal regulations and rules promulgated by state agencies;

- Periodical working reports; annual financial statements; information about the statistics on sectors under the state management; sector/field-related national database; information regarding the recruitment, use and management of officials and public employees; information about lists of scientific programs/topics and results thereof;

- The list of types of information subject to mandatory disclosure; name, address, telephone number, fax number and email address of the state agency or the official in charge of receiving information requests;

- Information concerning public interests and community health;

- Information concerning taxes, fees and charges;

- Other information that must be disclosed as regulated by the law.

How do citizens access information?

According to Article 10 of the Law on access to information 2016 of Vietnam, citizens may obtain information by employing one of the following methods: exercise the freedom of access to information publicly announced by state agencies; request state agencies to provide information.

As for simple information which is available on request, applicants for such information may directly read, watch, listen, record, duplicate or take a photocopy of documents containing such information or request state agencies to immediately provide duplicates or copies thereof.

As for complex information which must be gathered from different units affiliated to the information-providing agency or the provision of which requires taking opinions of other agencies or units, the requested agency must, within 10 working days from the receipt of a valid request, direct the applicant for such information to read, watch, listen, record, duplicate or take a photocopy of documents containing such information or receive duplicates or copies thereof at its head office, or grant an official dispatch of its refusal to provide such information.

Ha Nguyen

Source: VnExpress

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