At the 5th session of the 14th National Assembly, 08 draft laws will be discussed and passed. The Legal Secretary will highlight some of the most notable new points in the draft laws to be passed this time.
Article table of contents
1. Revised National Defense Law
This draft introduces several amendments and additions compared to the 2005 National Defense Law. Notably:
- One of the new policies and principles in defense activities is the enhancement of international integration. Specifically, the draft has added the phrase “international integration and defense diplomacy” in several articles;- Defense and security education is a core subject in high schools, intermediate schools, colleges, universities, governmental institution schools, political organizations, socio-political organizations, and is integrated into primary and secondary schools.
2. Revised Competition Law
The draft Revised Competition Law comprises 10 chapters and 99 articles, with the following significant new points:
- Absolute prohibition of agreements that seriously restrict competition;- Addition of provisions prohibiting organizations and individuals from engaging in actions related to competition-restricting agreements, such as providing information to form such prohibited agreements;- Changes to the criteria for determining the threshold for notifying economic concentration activities, including: market share in the relevant market, value of the economic concentration transaction, and total revenue in the market.
3. Draft Cybersecurity Law
In response to the requirements of cybersecurity activities, the Draft Cybersecurity Law has been formulated, covering 64 articles with notable provisions on the requirement for foreign enterprises providing internet services to establish servers in Vietnam.
Specifically, Clause 4 Article 28 of this Law stipulates: Foreign enterprises providing telecommunication or internet services in Vietnam must set up their headquarters or representative offices in Vietnam and store in Vietnam the personal information of users in Vietnam, as well as other important data collected and generated from the exploitation of the national cyberspace infrastructure of Vietnam.
4. Draft Law on Denunciation (Revised)
The Draft Law on Denunciation (Revised) is expected to be passed at the 5th session of the National Assembly. It includes notable additions such as:
- The right of the whistleblower to withdraw the denunciation. If the withdrawal of the denunciation is deemed grounded, the person resolving the denunciation issues a decision to cease the resolution. If the violation is not yet discovered or addressed, the resolver must consider handling it according to the law;- Whistleblowers who contribute significantly to preventing harm to the State, organizations, or individuals will be rewarded materially and spiritually.
5. Revised Law on Sports and Physical Training
The Draft Revised Law on Sports and Physical Training includes several notable amendments and additions:
- Added regulations prohibiting the exploitation of sports and physical training activities for organizing betting or illegal betting;- Added the sports business as a type of sports facility.
6. Law on Surveying and Mapping
Compared to the current legal provisions, the proposed Law on Surveying and Mapping includes the addition of 06 articles on the national geospatial data infrastructure and regulations related to issuing surveying practice certificates to individuals in alignment with ASEAN countries.
7. Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Articles of Laws Related to the Planning Law
This law amends and supplements certain articles of 13 laws, including: the 2007 Chemical Law; the 2010 Law on Efficient and Economical Use of Energy; the 2004 Electricity Law and the Law amending and supplementing certain articles of the Electricity Law; the 2016 Pharmacy Law; the 2012 Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harm; the 2014 Notarization Law; the 2016 Children's Law; the 2013 Law on Science and Technology; the 2014 Investment Law; the 2010 Law on Food Safety; the 2014 Public Investment Law; the 2014 Construction Law; and the 2009 Urban Planning Law.
8. Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units: Van Don, Bac Van Phong, Phu Quoc
This law specifies the constitutional provisions on special administrative-economic units applicable to the three units: Van Don, Bac Van Phong, and Phu Quoc.
Local government is organized into a Special Zone People's Council and a Special Zone People's Committee.
Notably, according to the Draft, business conditions in these areas are also relaxed, such as narrowing down the sectors with conditional business investment; no requirement for construction permit procedures for urban and residential development projects with approved planning.
