Effective dates of legislative documents in Vietnam

Effective dates of legislative documents in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Effective dates of legislative documents in Vietnam

Specifically, Article 151 of the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents 2015 (amended in 2020) stipulates the effective dates of legislative documents as follows:

- The effective date of the whole or part of a legislative document shall be specified in the document. Nevertheless, the effective date is not sooner than 45 days from the day on which it is ratified or signed if it is promulgated by a central regulatory agency, or not sooner than 10 days from the day on which it is signed if it is promulgated by the People’s Council or the People’s Committee of a province, or not sooner than 07 days from the day on which it is signed if it is promulgated by the People’s Council or the People’s Committee of a district or commune.

- A legislative document promulgated under simplified procedures may come into force from the day on which it is ratified or signed and must be immediately published on the web portal of the promulgating agency and posted on the media; such document must be published on the Official Gazette of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam if it is promulgated by a central regulatory agency or the Official Gazette of the province within 03 days from the day on which it is announced or signed if it is promulgated by the People’s Council or the People’s Committee of a province.

2. Geographical effect of legislative documents in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 155 of the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents 2015, the geographical effect of legislative documents in Vietnam is stipulated as follows:

- Legislative documents of central regulatory agencies are effective nationwide and applied to every organizations and individuals, unless otherwise prescribed by a legislative document of superior regulatory agency or an international agreement to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory.

- Legislative documents of the People’s Council and the People’s Committee of an administrative division are effective within the administrative division. This must be specified in the documents.

If there are changes in administrative division, the geographical effect and regulated entities of legislative documents will change as follows:

+ If an administrative division is divided into multiple administrative divisions of the same level, the legislative documents promulgated by the People’s Council and the People’s Committee of the divided administrative divisions still apply to the new administrative divisions until the People’s Councils and the People’s Committees of the new administrative divisions promulgate substitute legislative documents;

+ If an administrative division is divided into multiple administrative divisions of the same level, the legislative documents promulgated by the People’s Council and the People’s Committee of the divided administrative divisions still apply to the new administrative divisions until they are replaced by legislative documents of the People’s Councils and the People’s Committees of the new administrative divisions;

+ If part of the geographical area and population of an administrative division is transferred to another administrative division, legislative documents of the People’s Council and the People’s Committee of the expanded administrative division will applied to the transferred geographical area and population.

3. Regulations on application of legislative documents

According to Article 156 of the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents 2015, regulations on the application of legislative documents are as follows:

- Legislative documents are applicable from their effective date.

Legislative documents shall be applied to the acts committed at the time such documents are effective, except for those that have retrospective effect.

- If various legislative documents contain different regulations on the same issue, the superior document shall apply.

- If various legislative documents promulgated by the same agency contain different regulations on the same issue, the one that is promulgated later shall apply.

- If the new legislative document does not contain legal liability or impose a less serious legal liability on the acts committed before the effective date of the document, the new document shall apply.

- Application of Vietnam’s legislative documents must not obstruct the implementation of the international agreements to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory.

In case a Vietnam’s legislative documents other than the Constitution and an international agreement to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory contain different regulations on the same issue, the international agreement shall apply.

Ho Quoc Tuan

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