Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Minh Tuan
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Communist Review
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| A symposium titled “New Era, Era of National Rise of Vietnam - Theoretical and Practical Issues” held in Hanoi on Nov. 15__Photo: Phuong Hoa/VNA |
A complete legal system constitutes an important factor in promoting the development of all domains of social life. It also reflects the distinctive features of a law-ruled state. For the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam to manage society and govern the state to confidently enter the era of national rise, the continued improvement of the current legal system is imperative.
This article evaluates the current status and proposes solutions to improve the legal system, aiming to build and strengthen the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam in the new era of national rise.
Objectives for strengthening the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam in the new era
Resolution 27-NQ/TW of November 9, 2022, adopted by the 13th Party Central Committee, on further building and consolidating the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam in the new period (Resolution 27-NQ/TW) has underlined eight distinctive features of the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam, the viewpoints and overall objectives toward 2030. It affirms three focuses and 10 groups of tasks and solutions to further building and consolidating the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam.
Regarding the general objectives, Resolution 27-NQ/TW clearly points out: “To complete the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam of the people, by the people and for the people under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, with a complete legal system which is strictly and consistently enforced; respects the Constitution and law, and respects, guarantees and effectively protects human and citizen rights; in this state, the state power is unified, and clearly delegated with close coordination and efficient control; the administration and justice systems are professional, rule-of-law based and modern; the state apparatus is streamlined, clean, and operating effectively and efficiently; the contingent of cadres, civil servants and public employees is fully qualified, capable, genuinely professional, honest and upright; the state governance is modern and effective, meeting the requirements of rapidly and sustainably developing the country to be a developed socialist-oriented high-income country by 2045”.
The building and completion of the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam aim to successfully achieve the goal of developing the country fast and sustainably in the coming period, in the new era which is determined by the Party as an era of national rise.
This goal was stated in the Platform on national construction in the period of transition to socialism (supplemented and developed in 2011). Generally, upon the end of the transitional period, Vietnam will have basically built a socialist economy with appropriate superstructure, laying the foundation for becoming a constantly prosperous and happy socialist country.
Building on the achievements obtained in the past years, the Party has determined the current stage as follows: “The 14th National Party Congress marks the moment when the country enters a new era - the era of national rise.”[1] Party General Secretary To Lam has elaborated that “the era of national rise implies vigorous, definite, resolute, active and trustworthy changes to overcome challenges and ourselves, materializing the aspirations, attaining the goals and obtaining great achievements.”[2]
Therefore, the 14th National Party Congress will attach importance to the strategic breakthroughs in strengthening institutional and legal systems as well as the strategic solution to streamlining the state apparatus. Consensus, resoluteness, and great efforts are needed to address “bottlenecks”, inspire aspirations, unlock and attract resources for national development. This aims to successfully achieve the goal of strengthening the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam of the people, by the people and for the people under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam. In the era of national rise, the socialist law-ruled state is inevitable with a higher degree of development in all of its eight distinctive features as outlined in Resolution 27-NQ/TW.
Actual status of the current legal system
A complete legal system is a distinctive feature of the socialist law-ruled state of Vietnam. The improvement of the legal system has been crowned with many achievements, better meeting the requirements outlined in Resolution 27-NQ/TW, including democracy, equality, humanity, completeness, timeliness, synchronism, consistency, publicity, transparency, stability, feasibility and accessibility.
Concretely, the 2013 Constitution was promulgated with many new provisions of breakthrough nature, serving as a foundation for institutional improvement and a driving force for rapid and sustainable national development. Besides, laws and ordinances were promulgated, revised and improved in a timely manner, gradually aligning with international standards[3]. The National Assembly enacted 63 laws and ordinances during the 2005-07 period; 82 during 2007-11; 110 during 2011-16[4]; 72 laws and two ordinances in the 14th Legislature; and 43 laws and three ordinances in the 15th Legislature.
Competent bodies have also issued numerous detailing and guiding documents. From July 1, 2016, to December 31, 2023, the Government promulgated 983 decrees; the Prime Minister issued 353 decisions; ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies issued 6,184 circulars; and ministries and ministerial-level agencies issued 37 joint circulars[5].
In addition, by May 2024, 72 case laws had been adopted by the Council of Judges of the Supreme People’s Court.
The legal system has been established and improved through increasingly appropriate and modern procedures, ensuring the effective institutionalization of the Party’s policies and lines. The 13th National Party Congress’ Documents affirmed: “The role of law and law enforcement has received increasing attention in the State’s organization and operation as well as in various aspects of social life[6]. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s 2024 Global Innovation Index Report, Vietnam’s input indexes and institutional indexes have been markedly improved, rising from 83rd out of 132 countries and territories in 2021 to 51st in 2022; 54th in 2023 and 58th in 2024[7].
Further improving the legal system in the era of national rise
To successfully attain the objective of building and completing a socialist law-ruled state in Vietnam and firmly embarking upon the era of national rise, the legal system should be further improved with robust and appropriate solutions.
Continuing to renew legal thinking
At present, social relations are evolving rapidly in a diverse, multi-dimensional and complex manner, while information sources are abundant, public intellectual level is continuously rising, and democracy is increasingly promoted. This requires improving the quality of law and institution making through new approaches based on the principles of “early thinking”, “far-sighted vision”, “four issues requiring steadfastness,” and “five issues requiring enhancement”, specifically as follows:
- The “four issues requiring steadfastness” underlined by the Party include: steadfastness in applying and creatively developing Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought; steadfastness in pursuing the goals of national independence and socialism; steadfastness in implementing the Party’s renewal line; and steadfastness in adhering to the Party building principle to ensure the Party effectively leads the State and society, including law making and legal system perfection.[8]
- “Five issues requiring enhancement” include: enhancement of constructive thinking for development; enhancement of fast and sustainable development thinking; enhancement of thinking in legal improvement suitable to economic, social and cultural conditions; enhancement of open thinking in accepting policy initiatives in the context of renewal and integration; and enhancement of thinking in equality, publicity, transparency, and accountability.
Renewing legislative thinking aims to create a legal corridor for addressing new issues and trends, fostering breakthroughs in national development in the coming years, encouraging creativity, liberating all production forces, and unlocking all resources for development.
Policy solutions
- Enhancing the quality of policy making to improve the quality of building and completion of the legal system. Public policies are expressed in specific forms, including legal documents. Qualitative policy planning is a decisive factor in the quality of legal documents.
- Renewing the process of policy planning up to the requirements of modern state governance. Policy planning not only ensures society’s and people’s right to access information but also promotes their role and involvement, including the advisory contributions and policy feedback from think tanks. During the policy planning process, the State gathers information and feedback from individuals, collectives and consulting bodies, enhancing policy inclusiveness, avoiding decision-making errors and improving policy quality.
- Intensifying policy communications from the inception of policy initiatives through the planning and promulgation process to ensure stakeholders understand and participate in policy implementation.
- Assessing policy impacts, creating a scientific and convincing foundation for amending and supplementing legal provisions.
- Implementing effective measures to prevent and address violations and extreme trends in policy planning, such as group interest, corruption; deviations from the Party’s undertakings and lines; development-hindering policies; contradictory objectives; and one-sided policies.
Improving the legal system in content, form and technique
- Promptly institutionalizing the Party’s viewpoints, guidelines and policies into laws; applying mechanisms for implementation coordination, examination and detection of shortcomings, delays and other errors in the process of drafting and finalizing legal documents; continuing to apply appropriate measures to ensure accountability for political and legal violations.
- Ensuring the comprehensive improvement of the legal system across all domains of social life, with priority given to documents that need to be promulgated, amended and supplemented to respond promptly to reality; removing difficulties and problems, creating momentum for fast and sustainable national development. In each development stage, it is necessary to stick to reality and understand demands, thereby formulating appropriate law-making programs that can be adjusted promptly when necessary; building on three identified bottlenecks and seven strategic orientations[9] for elaborating and completing laws, focusing on the following:
+ The law governing the organization and operation of the state machinery should align with the spirit of renewing the political system to be “elite, tidy, effective and efficient”, stepping up power decentralization and division. This ensures a legal basis for “localities decide, localities act, localities take responsibility” while “ the Party Central Committee, the Government and the National Assembly intensify institution strengthening, play a constructive role, and enhance inspection and supervision”[10].
+ The law on human rights in the context of integration; the law on promoting human resources and fostering aspirations; and the law on removing bottlenecks in human resources, including personnel work in the political system.
+ The law on economic issues in the spirit of facilitating development and unlocking resources for sustainable development; removing infrastructure bottlenecks; the law on improving the effectiveness of administrative reform, promoting the application of information technology, advancing digitalization, and ensuring security in the digital society.
- Further modernizing the legal document-promulgating process and procedures, leveraging technological advancements in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
- Studying the development of a set of criteria for assessing the completeness of the legal system at central and local levels, referencing institutional assessment methods in indexes such as the Global Innovation Index, Provincial Innovation Index, and Public Administrative Reform Index, among others.
In anticipation of the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 2030 and the 100th birth anniversary of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam) in 2045, greater efforts are required for the country to confidently and firmly embark upon the new era, the era of national rise. Completing the legal system to build and consolidate the socialist law-ruled state is a critical and urgent task.-
[1] Party General Secretary and President To Lam’s opening speech at the 10th plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee, National Politics Publishing House, Hanoi, 2024.
[2] Prof. Dr. To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam: “Some basic contents of the new era, an era of national rise; strategic orientations for the country to enter the new era, the era of national rise”, Communist Review, https://www.tapchicongsan.org.vn/06.00, November 1, 2024.
[3] Prof. Dr. Ta Ngoc Tan, 2011 Platform: Theoretical and practical matters through 10 years’ implementation, National Politics Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, p. 267.
[4] Review report on 10 years’ implementation of the Political Bureau’s Resolution 48-NQ/TW on the Strategy on formulating and completing Vietnam’s legal system up to 2010, with orientations toward 2020, p. 28.
[5] Ministry of Justice, Report 270/BC-BTP on reviewing the 2015 Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents and the 2020 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, pp. 10-11.
[6] Documents of the 13th National Party Congress, National Politics Publishing House, 2021, p. 72.
[7] “Vietnam continues to climb in global innovation index”, https://baochinhphu.vn. September 26, 2024.
[8] Documents of the 13th National Party Congress, National Politics Publishing House, 2021, p. 109.
[9] Prof. Dr. To Lam, Party General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam: “Some basic contents on the new era, the era of national rise; strategic orientations for the country to embark upon the new era, the era of national rise”, Ibid.
[10] Party General Secretary and President To Lam’s opening speech at the 10th plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee, Ibid.
