What is policy? Regulations on regulatory impact assessment in Vietnam

What is policy? Regulations on regulatory impact assessment in Vietnam (Internet image)

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

1. What is policy?

According to Clause 1, Article 2 of Decree 34/2016/ND-CP, policy means the State’s orientation or solution for resolving a practical issue in order to attain a certain objective.

2. What is regulatory impact assessment?

According to Clause 2, Article 2 of Decree 34/2016/ND-CP, regulatory impact assessment means the analysis and forecast of the impacts of a policy being elaborated on different groups of subjects so as to select the optimal solution for policy implementation.

3. Regulations on regulatory impact assessment in Vietnam

According to Article 6 of Decree 34/2016/ND-CP (amended in Decree 154/2020/ND-CP), the to-be-assessed impacts of a policy include:

- Economic impacts, which shall be assessed on the basis of conducting cost-benefit analysis for one matter or several matters related to production, business, consumption, the investment and business environment, competitiveness of enterprises, organizations and individuals, national or local economic development structure, public spending, public investment and other economic matters.

- Social impacts, which shall be assessed on the basis of analyzing and forecasting impacts on one matter or several matters related to population, employment, property, health, the environment, healthcare, education, travel, poverty reduction, traditional cultural value, community connection, social affairs, and other social affairs.

- Gender impacts (if any), which shall be assessed on the basis of analyzing and forecasting economic and social impacts related to the opportunities, conditions and capacity of exercising rights and enjoying benefits of each gender.

- Impacts of administrative procedures (if any), which shall be assessed on the basis of analyzing and forecasting the necessity, lawfulness, reasonability and observance costs of administrative procedures to implement the policy.

- Impacts on the legal system, which shall be assessed on the basis of analyzing and forecasting agencies’, organizations’ and individuals’ capacity for implementing and observing the policy, impacts on the state apparatus, and Vietnam’s capacity for implementing and observing treaties.

4. Responsibility to make regulatory impact assessment reports in Vietnam

Responsibility to make regulatory impact assessment reports according to Article 8 of Decree 34/2016/ND-CP (amended in Decree 154/2020/ND-CP), is as follows:

- Agencies, organizations and National Assembly deputies that make proposals for formulation of legal documents shall:

= Make regulatory impact assessment reports according to form No. 1 provided in Appendix V to Decree 34/2016/ND-CP;

= Collect opinions and criticism opinions on draft regulatory policy impact assessment reports; accept such opinions and finalize draft reports.

- 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 shall support National Assembly deputies in making regulatory impact assessment reports in accordance with Decree 34/2016/ND-CP.

5. Methods of regulatory impact assessment in Vietnam

Methods of regulatory impact assessment according to Article 7 of Decree 34/2016/ND-CP are as follows:

Regulatory impact assessment shall be conducted by the quantitative and qualitative methods. In case of impossibility to apply the quantitative method, a regulatory impact assessment report must clearly state the reason.

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