Decree No. 34/2016/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from July 01, 2016, details the process of promulgating legal documents.
Article table of contents
Legal documents are documents that contain legal regulations and the promulgation of which complies with regulations of law on authority, manner, and procedures as prescribed by law. According to Decree No. 34/2016/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, the process of promulgating legal documents consists of 3 steps.
Step 1: Making of proposals for formulation of legal documents
Cases requiring the making of proposals for formulation of legal documents include: Laws and ordinances, the National Assembly’s resolutions, the National Assembly Standing Committee’s resolutions, the Government’s decrees, resolutions of provincial-level People’s Councils. The making of proposals for formulation of legal documents is prescribed as follows:
- The responsibility for the formulation of contents of policies and regulatory impact assessment shall belong to agencies, organizations and National Assembly deputies that make proposals for formulation of legal documents, the National Assembly Office, National Assembly delegations’ offices and the Legislative Research Institute which are requested by National Assembly deputies to support the latter in making law or ordinance formulation proposals.
- The responsibility to collect opinions in the course of making proposals for formulation of legal documents shall belong to the proposal-making agency.
- Appraisal of proposals for formulation of legal documents: The Ministry of Justice shall organize the appraisal of proposals for formulation of laws and resolutions of the National Assembly and ordinances and resolutions of the National Assembly Standing Committee to be submitted by the Government, and decrees of the Government. Provincial-level Justice Departments shall organize the appraisal of proposals for formulation of resolutions of provincial-level Councils to be submitted by provincial-level People’s Committees.
- Approval of proposals for formulation of legal documents: The Government shall consider proposals for formulation of laws and resolutions of the National Assembly; ordinances and resolutions of the National Assembly Standing Committee; and decrees of the Government at its regular meetings. Provincial-level People’s Committees shall consider and approve proposals for formulation of resolutions of provincial-level People’s Councils.
- Making of the government’s proposals on law- and ordinance- making programs: The Ministry of Justice shall draft the Government’s proposals on law- and ordinance-making programs, accept opinions of members of the Government and finalize the Government’s proposals on law- and ordinance-making programs. On the basis of opinions of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice shall, under the authorization of the Prime Minister and on behalf of the Government, sign, reports on submission of the Government’s proposals on law- and ordinance-making programs to the National Assembly Standing Committee.
Step 2: Drafting and appraisal of draft legal documents
- Drafting agencies: The Ministry of Justice shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Government Office in, drafting and submitting to the Prime Minister for promulgation a decision assigning agencies in charge of, and agencies coordinating in, the drafting. A minister or ministerial-level agency head shall establish a Drafting Board in case his/ her ministry or agency is assigned to take charge of drafting.
- Ministries and ministerial-level agencies in charge of drafting legal documents shall have the responsibility to propose and make lists of detailed documents.
- The Ministry of Justice and the Department of Justice are responsible for receiving and synthesizing proposals to make a list of detailed regulatory documents, and consider and decide on a list of detailed regulatory documents.
- Regulatory impact assessment for policies determined in draft legal documents: In the course of drafting, appraising, verifying, considering and giving opinions on drafts of laws and resolutions of the National Assembly, ordinances and resolutions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, and decrees of the Governments, if such documents are proposed to be added with new policies, the agencies, organizations and individuals proposing the policies shall make regulatory impact assessment reports for such new policies within 10 days after proposing new policies.
- Processing of dossiers of draft legal documents at the Government Office and provincial-level People’s Committee Offices.
- Agencies in charge of the drafting shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice, the Government Office and related agencies in, accepting opinions of the Government and revising and finalizing draft documents. Under the authorization of the Prime Minister, ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies shall, on behalf of the Government, sign reports on submission of draft laws and resolutions to the National Assembly; submission of draft ordinances and resolutions to the National Assembly Standing Committee; and submission of draft decrees to the Prime Minister for signing after they are approved by the Government.
- Appraisal of draft legal documents shall be conducted by the Ministry of Justice, legal organizations, provincial-level Justice Departments, district-level Justice Divisions.
Step 3: “Cong bao” and publication of legal documents
- The Government Office shall publish printed “CONG BAO” of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and manage e-”CONG BAO” of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the web portal of the Government.
- The Offices of provincial-level People’s Committees shall publish printed provincial- level “CONG BAO” and manage e-provincial-level “CONG BAO” on the web portals of provinces and centrally run cities.
- The Government Office and the Offices of provincial-level People’s Committees shall take responsibility for failing to publish documents in “CONG BAO”, for delaying publication of documents in “CONG BAO”, or for failing to publish documents in full text, completely or accurately in “CONG BAO”.
- A legal document of a district- or commune-level People’s Council or People’s Committee shall be posted up within 3 working days after it is signed for certification or for promulgation by the chairperson of the People’s Council or People’s Committee respectively. The posting time must be at least 30 consecutive days from the posting date.
View more details at Decree No. 34/2016/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from July 01, 2016, annulling the following documents:
- Key word:
- Decree No. 34/2016/NĐ-CP
