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| Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu__Photo: https://moj.gov.vn |
On April 30, the Politburo issued Resolution 66-NQ/TW, calling for a fundamental shift in Vietnam’s lawmaking to build a democratic, coherent, and transparent legal system that ensures smooth governance, removes obstacles, and encourages active participation from the public and business community in national development. Việt Nam News and Law spoke with Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu about key orientations for improving the lawmaking process as well as solutions for removing existing legal “bottlenecks”.
On April 30, the Politburo issued Resolution 66-NQ/TW on renewing the lawmaking and law enforcement processes to meet requirements for national development in the new era. The Resolution sets forth the need to innovate the mindset in lawmaking. Could you please elaborate on what is meant by “innovating the lawmaking mindset” and the orientations for this work in the time to come?
Resolution 66-NQ/TW affirms that for the country to confidently advance into a new era, the era of the nation’s rise, breakthrough development, and prosperity under the leadership of the Party, it is necessary to fundamentally reform the lawmaking and law enforcement processes. At the heart of this reform lies the innovation of the lawmaking mindset, shifting from a mindset that tends to prioritize state control to the one that ensures effective state management and simultaneously encourages innovation, unleashes productive forces, and unlocks all available resources.
Innovating the lawmaking mindset also covers the institutionalization of the Party’s guidelines and policies more fully, properly and timely. Legal reforms must be grounded in Vietnam’s practical realities, seizing opportunities, and paving the way and unlocking potential for development. Laws and institutions must be transformed into a competitive advantage, a solid foundation, and a powerful driver of national development. Lawmaking must stem from the overarching interests of the nation rather than narrow or sectoral interests. Moreover, it is imperative to abandon the outdated thinking of “banning what cannot be managed.”
The orientations for innovating the lawmaking mindset in the coming time are clearly articulated in Resolution 66-NQ/TW.
Firstly, to ensure the comprehensive and direct leadership of the Party over lawmaking. Accordingly, Party Committees at all levels must lead the process of institutionalizing the Party’s guidelines and policies into law, while enhancing the inspection and supervision of this work. Building and improving institutions and laws must be regarded as a core task of central agencies and sectors, with ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies directly responsible for leadership and accountability.
Secondly, to proactively research strategies and policies at an early stage, grounded in domestic realities and with reference to international experience, thus improving the foresight, proactivity, and quality of lawmaking work. The process of formulating and promulgating legal documents must be democratic, professional, scientific, timely, feasible, and effective. It is necessary to distinguish between policy formulation and legislative drafting, and to gradually implement centralized, professional, and modern legislative drafting. Policy communication must be strengthened. Activities such as practice reviews, field surveys, international experience studies, regulatory impact assessment, and policy option choice must be conducted thoroughly, substantively, and scientifically. Feedback from those suffering policy impacts must be seriously considered and addressed. The design of policies and laws must not impose unnecessary burdens on citizens and businesses.
Thirdly, to focus on building and improving the legal framework for the socialist-oriented market economy, aiming to create a favorable, open, transparent, and safe legal environment with low compliance costs. It is vital to drastically cut and simplify investment and business conditions and administrative procedures; foster innovative startups; and improve the investment and business environment toward stability. The law must effectively guarantee freedom of business, property rights, and freedom of contract, and ensure equality among enterprises of all economic sectors.
Fourthly, to improve the legal system in tandem with restructuring the political apparatus, ensuring a streamlined, efficient, and effective governance structure. This includes strengthening decentralization and delegation of authority, in adherence to the principle of “localities decide, localities implement, localities are accountable.”
Lastly, to develop and improve laws governing the organization and operation of judicial and judicial assistance agencies in conformity with the goals and orientations of judicial reform. It is necessary to strongly promote the development of legal services, legal support, legal aid, and security interest registration services so that individuals and businesses have easier access to the law and better manage legal risks.
In summary, innovating the lawmaking process requires a fundamental shift in perceptions, thinking, and methods, as well as breakthrough reforms to ensure the highest possible quality of legislation for the development of the country and the happiness of the people.
Resolution 66-NQ/TW sets the target of “basically completing the removal of legal bottlenecks by 2025.” In your view, how can this goal be achieved so that legal documents truly “pave the way” and “unlock resources” rather than merely regulate behavior?
Resolution 66-NQ/TW sets a very clear objective: “By 2025, to basically complete the removal of bottlenecks caused by legal regulations.” This is undoubtedly an ambitious goal, yet one that must be pursued given the country’s pressing development needs, particularly as we aim for approximately 8 percent economic growth in 2025 and strive for double-digit growth in subsequent years.
To realize this objective, a comprehensive set of solutions must be implemented with strong and concerted efforts from ministries, sectors, local authorities, and competent agencies to promptly and thoroughly identify existing legal bottlenecks and develop feasible, well-considered plans to address them.
The Ministry of Justice intends to advise the Central Steering Committee on Institutional and Legal Reform, led by the Party General Secretary, and other competent authorities on solutions to realize the targets set forth in Resolution 66-NQ/TW. The early identification, full assessment, and effective resolution of these legal bottlenecks will, through both legislative and regulatory measures under the direction of relevant authorities, help improve the legal environment toward being more facilitative, transparent, safe, and low-cost in terms of compliance. The focus will be on removing bottlenecks in the following key fields: (i) science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation; (ii) power delegation and decentralization; and (iii) finance, investment, land, and planning, including both urban and rural planning, and other relevant issues.
Tackling these obstacles will help mobilize all available resources within the economy and encourage the full participation of the public and business community in socio-economic development.
That said, this is a highly demanding task that requires the determined involvement and proactive engagement of the entire political system. It also demands strong leadership from central agencies, close coordination with local administrations, and active contributions from all stakeholders, especially the business community, seasoned legal professionals, and the media. As for the Ministry of Justice, we are working closely with relevant ministries, sectors, agencies, organizations, and individuals to review, identify, and effectively eliminate these legal bottlenecks.
One of the key highlights of Resolution 66-NQ/TW is the emphasis on enhancing the control of power in lawmaking and law enforcement, as well as preventing corruption, waste, negative practices, and vested interests and parochial interests in legislative activities. In your opinion, how should these priorities be institutionalized?
In line with Politburo Regulation 178-QD/TW dated June 27, 2024, Resolution 66-NQ/TW reaffirms the policy of enhancing power control in lawmaking and law enforcement, while intensifying efforts to prevent corruption, waste, negative practices, and the influence of vested interests and parochial interests in the legislative process. This is a task that must be carried out on a regular and continuous basis in order to improve the quality of lawmaking and contribute to the country’s rapid and sustainable development.
Fundamentally, these orientations have been partially institutionalized in the drafting of the 2025 Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents and are now being further embedded in the draft Law Revising a Number of Articles of the 2025 Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents. In this process, special emphasis must be placed on ensuring the comprehensive and direct leadership of Party Committees at all levels, while upholding the principles of transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to public feedback, especially from citizens and businesses directly impacted by the legislation.
In addition, on May 17, the National Assembly adopted Resolution 197/2025/QH15 on special mechanisms and policies aimed at creating breakthroughs in lawmaking and law enforcement. Notably, the Resolution explicitly requires strict handling of acts of corruption, misconduct, and the exercise of group or parochial interests in the lawmaking and enforcement processes. Such violations must be addressed in accordance with the nature and severity of the offenses, through disciplinary measures under Party regulations, administrative discipline, or criminal prosecution in accordance with the Party’s regulations and the State’s laws.
Resolution 66-NQ/TW emphasizes the modernization of infrastructure and the advancement of digital transformation in lawmaking and law enforcement. Could you elaborate on the roadmap for realizing this objective, particularly with respect to the drafting and appraisal of legal documents?
Resolution 66-NQ/TW sets forth a new, comprehensive, and groundbreaking orientation for lawmaking and law enforcement from a technical perspective. It highlights the urgent need to modernize these processes through the application of big data and artificial intelligence. On May 17, the Government issued Resolution 140/NQ-CP, adopting its Action Program to implement Resolution 66-NQ/TW. Under this program, the Ministry of Justice is assigned to lead, in coordination with the Ministry of Science and Technology and other related ministries and sectors, the development of two key schemes on building a legal big data infrastructure and on the application of artificial intelligence in the drafting, review, and assessment of legal documents.
As assigned, the Ministry of Justice will carry out the development of these schemes from now until the end of 2026 and promptly put them into operation to support the drafting and appraisal of legal documents.
In addition, the ministry is currently concentrating on upgrading and completing the National Legal Database to form a shared digital infrastructure. It is also actively implementing a scheme on the application of digital technology in receiving and processing public feedback and recommendations on legal documents, pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision 244/QD-TTg dated February 5.
Notably, the ministry has developed and officially launched the National Law Portal on May 31, as directed by the Prime Minister, thereby laying the foundation for digital interaction and enabling citizens and businesses to proactively participate in the institutional improvement process.
Furthermore, Resolution 57-NQ/TW on the development of science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation also affirms the central role of digital technology in national governance. The Ministry of Justice fully embraces this vision, viewing technology not merely as a technical tool, but as a foundation for enhancing the quality of legal institutions and effectively advancing the country’s renewal and development efforts.
With strong political will, a clear implementation roadmap, and close coordination among various agencies in the political system, I am confident that digital transformation in the field of lawmaking and law enforcement will mark a fundamental shift, bringing the law closer to the people and enhancing the effectiveness of state governance through the rule of law in the digital era.- (VLLF)
