Vietnamese leader urges better law-building for country's development

Good legal institutions and rule of law will be “breakthrough measures” to bring the country forward, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has said.

Whether a country succeeds depends on its laws and its institutions but so far, “we haven’t paid due attention to institution building", the Vietnamese Government leader said as he addressed a conference on laws held on Tuesday in Hà Nội.

“We usually are concerned about separate individual cases or projects, not institution building,” PM Phúc said, calling for more attention on this issue.

Since the beginning of this tenure, the Government has considered institution-building a “central task,” evidenced by the fact that recently the monthly Government meeting has started with policy and institution discussions instead of socio-economic talks as before, according to PM Phúc.

Minister, Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tiến Dũng said efforts have been expended to fix overlapping and conflicting legal documents related to investment and business, the environment, construction and land, collect feedback from the public and advice from international organisations via policy dialogues and address legal problems that might arise in the Industry 4.0 era – all to make institutions a truly “guiding and facilitating force,” not a roadblock to development.

PM Phúc noted that 90 per cent of all law projects are written by the Government – ministries and State agencies – which makes the role of the Government even bigger and “if the problems arise, the responsibility first falls on the Government.”

In recognition of feedback the Government has received from the public, PM Phúc stressed that the “life” of certain law projects is “too short” – referring to the need to make amendments just a short time after promulgation.

The issue of drafting agencies asking to withdraw or delay ordinances and law projects because they have not got enough time to prepare, or failure to issue timely and detailed instructions on the implementation of the laws, remain commonplace, PM Phúc said.

“In every Government meeting, I always demand that ministers report publicly on what law projects or bills that have not been done on schedule,” he said.

Emphasising the important, exhaustive task that is to build a socialist state with rule of law, he said it is necessary to continue to improve the process of law-building, clearly define responsibilities and co-ordination between different agencies, focus more on law enforcement, and observe disciplines in law-building.

He also highlighted the need to prevent policy corruption from vested interests and uphold integrity in this process.

Vice-Chair of the National Assembly Uông Chu Lưu said at the meeting that law enforcement remains a “weak link,” adding that legal violations on the part of the public are rampant – especially with regards to traffic laws, environmental protection and food safety.

Lưu said a society where people comply with the law would prosper and develop.

The Ministry of Justice should do more studies and advise the Government to submit to the National Assembly the law project on the organisation of law enforcement, which is expected to help implement breakthrough solutions to enhance law enforcement and spread the spirit of adhering to the law in society, he said./.