New points of the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents 2008 of Vietnam

- Reducing the form of legal documents, adding a number of competent agencies to issue documents.

According to the previous Law, the Government has the right to issue legal documents in the form of resolutions and decrees; the Prime Minister shall promulgate decisions and directives; Ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies have the right to issue legal documents in the form of decisions, directives, circulars, etc. However, according to the Law on Promulgation of legislative documents 2008 of Vietnam, the Government only promulgates legal documents in a single form, a Decree; the Prime Minister promulgates the Decision; Ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies shall promulgate in a form a Circular. Moreover, according to the previous Law, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and the Chief Procurator of the Supreme People's Procuracy promulgate various legal documents such as Decisions, Directives and Circulars. However, according to the Law on Promulgation of legislative documents 2008 of Vietnam, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and the Chief Procurator of the Supreme People's Procuracy shall only promulgate Circulars.

The new law also adds that the agency competent to issue legal documents is the State Auditor General. Previously, the old law did not provide for the Auditor General this right, but the authority to issue legal documents of the Auditor General was specified in another document. Specifically, according to the Law on Promulgation of legislative documents 2008 of Vietnam, the current system of legal documents includes: Constitution, laws and resolutions of the National Assembly; Ordinances and resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly; Orders and decisions of the State President; Decrees of the Government; Decisions of the Prime Minister; Resolutions of the Justices Council of the Supreme People's Court and circulars of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court; Circulars of the President of the Supreme People's Procuracy; Circulars of Ministers or Heads of Ministry-equivalent Agencies; Decisions of the State Auditor General; Joint resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly or the Government and the central offices of socio-political organizations; Joint circulars of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and the President of the Supreme People's Procuracy; those of Ministers or Heads of Ministry-equivalent Agencies and the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, the President of the Supreme People's Procuracy; those of Ministers or Heads of Ministry-equivalent Agencies; Legal documents of People's Councils and Peoples Committees.

- Specifying the elaboration and issuance of legal documents according to the shortened order.

According to Article 75 of the Law on Promulgation of legislative documents 2008 of Vietnam, in cases of emergency or in cases where urgent amendments or revisions are needed to ensure consistency with newly promulgated legal documents, the preparation and promulgation of laws and resolutions of the National Assembly, ordinances and resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, orders and decisions of the President of the State, decrees of the Government, and decisions of the Prime Minister can be undertaken using the abridged sequential procedures. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly shall decide the preparation and promulgation of ordinances and resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly using the abridged sequential procedures; submit to the National Assembly the preparation and promulgation of laws and resolutions of the National Assembly using the abridged sequential procedures. The President of the State shall decide the use of the abridged sequential procedures for the preparation and promulgation of orders and decisions of the President of the State. The Prime Minister shall decide the use of the abridged sequential procedures for the preparation and promulgation of decrees of the Government and decisions of the Prime Minister.

Preparation and promulgation of legal documents using the abridged sequential procedures shall be undertaken as follows: the lead drafting agency shall not necessarily create a Drafting Board or an Editorial Team to prepare the draft legal documents. Rather, it shall directly organize the preparation of such documents; the lead drafting agency may organize the collection of comments and suggestions for the draft legal documents from agencies, organizations and individuals concerned; the assessing agency and the examining and verifying agency shall be responsible for assessing the draft legal documents right after having received the complete sets of draft legal documents and supporting documents.

Consideration and approval of proposed draft legal documents using the abridged sequential procedures are also faster, to be specific: the National Assembly shall consider and approve the proposed draft legal documents at one of its meeting sessions; and the Standing Committee of the National Assembly and the Government shall consider and approve proposed draft legal documents at one of their meetings.

The addition of a number of new points of the Law on Promulgation of legislative documents 2008 of Vietnam compared with the previous law aims to streamline the legal document system, making it more convenient to collect and codify laws. On the other hand, it also helps to issue some urgent legal documents faster and more convenient.

Source: Website of Nghe An Political School

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