These include the Law on Forestry, the Planning Law, the Law on Cyber Security, the Law on Fisheries, the Law on National Defense, among others.

The Law on Denunciations, which will come into force on January 1 next year, aims to further facilitate the people’s exercise of their right to denunciation and better protect whistleblowers.

Vietnam has long recognized the rights of whistleblowers in general and corruption whistleblowers in particular in many different legal instruments. However, many legal provisions are just principles, non-specific and scattered in various legal instruments of different legal effects.

The Law on Denunciations (the Law) was passed last November together with the Law on Complaints. These laws will take effect in July and replace the 1998 Law on Complaints and Denunciations (amended twice in 2004 and 2005).

The Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) contains more than 130 commitments relating to the right to complaint and the settlement of complaints about administrative decisions and acts. Twelve of the 21 agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have provisions on this issue. These provisions pose a requirement for Vietnam to review and amend its legal documents relating to complaints and denunciations.