Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai, head of the steering committee on building the national anti-corruption strategy by 2030, has signed a decision on the issuance of the committee’s action plan.

With its foreign policy of peace, independence, self-reliance, respecting and committing to the principles and noble objectives of the United Nations (UN), Vietnam wishes to make more contributions to the common efforts of the international community in upholding international law and the UN Charter and promoting the role of the UN and multilateral institutions, especially in the maintenance of international peace and security. This article reviews Vietnam’s efforts in fulfillment of the UN’s common goals of maintenance of international peace and security as well as its guidelines, policies and actions on the issue.

International cooperation has been recognized as a key in the fight against corruption in general and corruption relating to wildlife crime in particular. In order to create a legal basis for international anti-corruption efforts, the United Nations adopted the Convention against Corruption on October 31, 2003. Vietnam became an official State Party to the Convention on August 19, 2009. This article analyzes the Convention’s provisions and Vietnam’s regulations on international cooperation in the fight against corruption, especially those concerning the wildlife, and puts forward some recommendations for making them more compatible with the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

The article first reviews the United Nations Convention against Corruption in terms of criminalization of corruption. It then criticizes limitations and inadequacies of the 1999 Penal Code of Vietnam regarding corruption crimes in comparison with standards set by the UNCAC. 

Vietnam’s criminal law’s evolution landmarks include the first-ever 1985 Penal Code, 1999 Penal Code (revised in 2009) and the latest Penal Code passed in 2015 (revised in 2017). Each of these codes and its revised version was imbued with characteristics of certain criminal legislation trends in its effective period. In the initial stage of codification of Vietnam’s criminal law, international aspects were embodied in a very moderate manner. The 1985 Penal Code only recognized some international criminal law principles regarding some crimes in order to protect interests of the international community. The 1999 Penal Code went further with some revisions to guarantee Vietnam’s responsibility as a state party to a number of conventions and treaties on criminal justice. However, these two codes have not yet initiated the internationalization trend of Vietnam’s criminal law. Until the 2009 Code revising the 1999 Penal Code and the 2015 Penal Code (revised in 2017), such trends as modernization, benevolence, international integration, judicial reform and respect for human rights are embraced. So, for what reasons Vietnam’s criminal law has been influenced by international criminal law and more and more clearly leaned toward consistency with international criminal law?

This article looks at the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), recently ratified by the EU Parliament, from the angle of transparency. Reviewing the road from WTO’s limited use of measures to improve transparency and reduce bribery in international trade to new generation FTAs, the paper examines headways made in mainstreaming transparency in practically all chapters of the trade agreement.

While an effective financial disclosure system requiring politicians and public officials to report on their assets and incomes can help detect and prevent corrupt practices, it can also help build public confidence and trust in the integrity of politicians and the public service.

The 2015 Penal Code marks a great progress in the country’s criminal justice by holding commercial legal entities liable for their criminal acts. Its novel provisions create a legal basis for the fight against criminal acts committed by commercial legal entities in recent years as well as for international cooperation on combating crime, especially transnational organized crime.

This article summarizes significant changes in the 2015 Penal Code and its revisions in 2017, including penalizing commercial legal persons for committing certain crimes, scrapping the crime of illegally doing business, and criminally charging corruption-related offenders in the private sector.

Corruption in the non-state business sector happens when someone takes advantage of his/her position in his/her enterprise for the sake of his/her personal gains. In Vietnam, the 2015 Penal Code (revised in 2017) has broadened the scope of corrupt acts to include corruption occurred in the private sector. Specifically, persons with high positions and/or powers in a non-state enterprise or organization will be liable for the following criminal acts: embezzlement, receiving bribes, giving bribes and bribery brokerage. However, in order to effectively prevent and combat corruption in the private sector, holding persons committing corrupt acts liable is not sufficient enough.