The Ministry of Justice has just announced the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2015 Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents to widely seek comments and contributions from agencies, organizations, enterprises, and a large number of people both domestically and internationally. Below are some noteworthy contents that have been amended and supplemented in this Draft Law:
Article table of contents
Amendments to the regulation on the effective date of legislative documents in Vietnam
According to the Draft Law, the effective date of the entire or part of the legislative documents is stipulated in that document, however:
- Not earlier than 10 days from the date of adoption of the resolution by the Provincial People's Council or from the signing date of the issuance for the normative legal document (decision) of the Provincial People's Committee;
- Not earlier than 07 days from the date of adoption of the resolution by the District, Commune People's Council or from the signing date of the issuance for the decision of the District and Commune People's Committee.
Amendments to regulations on the formulation and issuance of documents through simplified procedures in Vietnam
The formulation and issuance of legislative documents through simplified procedures, for cases to suspend the entire or part of the normative legal document for a certain period, are detailed in the new Law, specifically:
"In the case of abolishing the entire or part of a normative legal document replaced by another normative legal document or no longer applied in practice; suspending the effectiveness of the entire or part of a normative legal document to promptly protect the interests of the State, rights, legal interests of organizations, individuals; extending the application period of the entire or part of a normative legal document for a certain period to address urgent issues arising in practice and in cases where it is necessary to issue a document immediately to implement an international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member."
Administrative procedures amended before July 01, 2016, do not require additional dossier components in Vietnam
The Draft Law clearly states: Provisions on administrative procedures in legislative documents issued by competent authorities as stipulated in Clause 4, Article 14 of the Law on issuing legislative documents promulgated before July 01, 2016, shall continue to be applied until replaced by another document or new administrative procedures. Moreover, attention should be paid to administrative procedures that were amended and supplemented but were issued before July 01, 2016, which shall not generate new administrative procedures or add dossier components, requirements, conditions, or increase the time for resolving currently applied administrative procedures.
Official Gazette publication of certified legislative documents in Vietnam
This is a new regulation mentioned in the Draft Law, which applies official gazette publication for certified legislative documents (currently, it does not mention the publication of certified legislative documents in the official gazette).
To be specific:
- Within 03 days from the date of publication, certified signing or signing issuance, the authority, or individual competent to issue the normative legal document shall send the document to the official gazette agency for publication or publicly post it.- legislative documents issued following simplified procedures may take effect from the date of adoption or signing issuance and must be immediately posted on the issuing agency's electronic portal and announced in the mass media; published in the official gazette of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or province, central city-level official gazette no later than 03 days from the date of publication, certified signing or signing issuance.
Replacing a series of words, phrases
| Words, phrases stipulated in Law on the issuance of legislative documents 2015 | Words, phrases replaced in the Draft Law |
| “synthesis report, explain and accept opinions of organizations, individuals" at Point c Clause 2 Article 92 and Point c Clause 2 Article 98 | "synthesis report, explanation, acceptance of opinions of organizations, individuals" |
| “administrative procedures assessment report” at Point c Clause 2 Article 58, Clause 4 Article 59, Point d Clause 2 Article 92, Clause 5 Article 93, Point d Clause 2 Article 98, Point d Clause 2 Article 102, Clause 5 Article 103 | "administrative procedures impact assessment report” |
| “document technique” at Article 8, Point e Clause 3 Article 58, Clause 7 Article 65, Point b Clause 3 Article 68, Point d Clause 3 Article 75, Point c Clause 2 Article 77, Point dd Clause 3 Article 92, Point e Clause 3 Article 98 | “document drafting technique” |
| "Impact assessment content of the decree formulation proposal” at Clause 2 Article 87 | “Impact assessment report of policies in the decree formulation proposal” |
| “Impact assessment report of the document” at Point c Clause 2 Article 95; | Impact assessment report of policies |
| “population subject to direct impact of the draft resolution” at Clause 2 Article 113; | “population subject to direct impact of policies in the resolution formulation proposal” |
| “project” at Clause 4 Article 121; | “draft resolution” |
| “showing signs of being unlawful” at Articles 165, 166, and 167. | “unlawful” |
It is anticipated that the Revised Law on the issuance of legislative documents will be effective July 01, 2021.
- Thuy Phu -
