The article analyzes the objective requirements for continuing to innovate legislative work in the current period, evaluates some achievements and limitations in legislative activities over the past time and thereby proposes orientations and solutions to improve the quality and effectiveness of legislative work in Vietnam.
Keywords: legislative work, socialist rule-of-law State, legislative innovation, legal perfection.
Legislative work is one of the most fundamental and important functions of the State, manifesting state power in building and promulgating laws to regulate social relations. In Vietnam, along with the comprehensive national renewal process, legislative activities have been continuously improved, contributing to forming a relatively synchronous legal system covering most areas of social life.
However, faced with rapid changes in domestic and international situations, especially the impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the requirements for developing a socialist-oriented market economy and deep international integration, legislative work is facing many new challenges. Therefore, continuing to innovate legislative work in the current period is an objective and urgent requirement, of decisive significance for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of state management and ensuring human rights and citizens’rights.
OVERVIEW OF LEGISLATIVE WORK
1. Concept: Legislative work is one of the most fundamental and important functions of the State, manifesting state power in building and promulgating the legal system to regulate social relations, ensuring order, justice and sustainable development. In the context of renewal, deep international integration and development model transformation, legislative work in Vietnam has seen many positive changes, while also revealing numerous limitations and shortcomings that need to be seriously recognized.
2. Entities performing: Legislative work is mainly carried out by: The National Assembly: The sole body with the power to make the Constitution and laws. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly: Participates in preparation, legal interpretation and promulgates ordinances under its authority. Other agencies such as the Government, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuracy, the Vietnam Fatherland Front... have the right to propose and participate in law-building.
3. Main contents of legislative work: Building and amending the Constitution, laws, codes; Promulgating ordinances and resolutions with normative legal nature; Perfecting the legal system to ensure unity, synchrony, and feasibility; Meeting the requirements of socio-economic development, protecting human rights and citizens' rights.
4. Legislative process:
Comprising 5 steps: Proposing the building of laws and ordinances; Drafting law projects; Collecting opinions from the people, experts and appraisal; Discussing and giving opinions at the National Assembly; Adopting and promulgating laws
5. Role and significance of legislative work:
- Serves as the legal basis for state and social management activities.
- Ensures legitimate rights and interests of citizens.
- Manifests the democratic and rule-of-law nature of the State.
- Contributes to political stability and sustainable national development.
6. Current trends and requirements: Improving law quality, limiting overlaps and conflicts; Enhancing publicity, transparency and people's participation; Promoting the application of technology in legislative activities.
CRITERIA FOR THE QUALITY OF LAW-BUILDING WORK
Can be summarized as follows:
1. Constitutionality, legality, and unity of the legal system: Legal documents must conform to the Constitution, not contradict higher-level laws and legal documents. Ensure unity, synchrony, no overlaps or conflicts between regulations.
2. Suitability to reality and feasibility: Legal regulations stem from real requirements of socio-economic life. Capable of practical application, not overly formalistic, not imposing obligations beyond implementation conditions.
3. Clarity, transparency, and comprehensibility: Legal language accurate, clear, easy to understand, limiting ambiguous expressions. Specifically regulating rights, obligations, and responsibilities of subjects.
4. Timeliness and stability: Laws promulgated at the right time to regulate emerging social relations. Limiting frequent amendments and supplements that disrupt social life.
5. Scientific and democratic law-building process: With full policy impact assessment and practical summarization. Widely collecting opinions from affected subjects, experts, and scientists.
6. Effective regulation and positive social impact: Laws contribute to protecting human rights and citizens’rights. Promoting socio-economic development, maintaining order, justice, and social stability.
In summary, the quality of law-building work is manifested in promulgating legal documents that are lawful - realistic - easy to implement - with long-term effectiveness.
REQUIREMENTS FOR LEGISLATIVE WORK IN THE CURRENT PERIOD
1. Requirements for building and perfecting the socialist rule-of-law State: Building the socialist rule-of-law State of Vietnam requires all activities of the State and society to be placed within the framework of the Constitution and law. This poses requirements for legislative work to ensure the supremacy of the Constitution, constitutionality, legality, unity, and synchrony of the legal system. On the other hand, law is not only a management tool but also a means to protect human rights and citizens’rights. Therefore, legislative activities need to be innovated towards democracy, publicity, transparency, with people and enterprises at the center.
2. Requirements for socio-economic development and international integration: The process of developing a socialist-oriented market economy and deep international integration requires the legal system to promptly regulate newly emerging socio-economic relations. Legislative work needs to ensure stability while being flexible and quickly adapting to practical changes. In addition, participation in international treaties and new-generation free trade agreements poses requirements for domesticating international commitments fully and consistently, ensuring national and ethnic interests.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS IN CURRENT LEGISLATIVE WORK
1. The legal system is increasingly perfected and comprehensive: In recent years, legislative activities have achieved many important achievements, manifested first in building and perfecting a relatively synchronous legal system in most areas of social life such as economy, politics, culture, society, national defense-security and foreign affairs. Many important laws have been promulgated, amended and supplemented timely to meet the country's development requirements in the new period. The legal system is increasingly approaching international standards, creating a legal basis for international economic integration, ensuring legitimate rights and interests of the State, organizations, and citizens.
2. The legislative process is gradually innovated and more democratic: The law-building process has seen many improvements towards greater transparency, science and democracy, manifested through enhanced collection of opinions from the people, experts, scientists and subjects directly affected by the law. Appraisal activities, discussion, and absorption and revision of draft laws are increasingly emphasized. The role of the National Assembly and its Committees in legislative activities is increasingly affirmed, contributing to improving the quality of promulgated legal documents.
3. Laws contribute to promoting socio-economic development and ensuring human rights: Legislative work has created an important legal corridor for the development of a socialist-oriented market economy, improving the investment and business environment and promoting innovation. At the same time, many progressive legal regulations on human rights and citizens’rights have been recognized, in line with the Constitution and international treaties to which Vietnam is a member.
LIMITATIONS AND SHORTCOMINGS IN CURRENT LEGISLATIVE WORK
In addition to the achievements, legislative work still has many limitations and shortcomings that need to be frankly pointed out.
1. The quality of some laws is not high, stability is not sustainable: Some legal documents lack feasibility, do not closely follow reality, leading to amendments and supplements shortly after promulgation. In some cases, legal regulations are still general and unclear, causing difficulties in application and enforcement. The situation of “framework laws, pipeline laws” still exists, reducing the effectiveness and efficiency of legal regulation.
2. Overlaps and conflicts between legal documents One notable shortcoming is the lack of unity and synchrony between laws and between laws and sub-law documents. There are conflicting, overlapping regulations, even contradictions, causing confusion for enforcement agencies, people and enterprises. This reflects limitations in coordination between agencies participating in law-building as well as in reviewing and systematizing laws.
3. Policy forecasting and impact assessment work is still limited: Policy impact assessment in the legislative process in some cases is still formalistic, not fully forecasting socio-economic impacts, leading to unintended consequences when laws enter life. The law's ability to quickly respond to new practical fluctuations, especially in emerging fields such as digital economy, high technology, and digital transformation, has not yet met requirements.
4. Capacity and assurance conditions for legislative work are uneven: The cadre team participating in legislative work has improved in qualifications, but there are still disparities in professional capacity and legislative skills. In addition, resources in terms of time, human resources and assurance conditions for in-depth research and law-building are still limited.
* Causes of the limitations:
- Socio-economic reality changes rapidly, while laws need time to adjust.
- Human resources participating in law-building in some places are uneven in qualifications and experience.
- Coordination mechanisms between agencies in the legislative process still have loose points.
It can be affirmed that current legislative work has achieved many important results, contributing to building a rule-of-law State, promoting socio-economic development and ensuring legitimate rights and interests of the people. However, limitations and shortcomings still exist, requiring continued strong innovation in legislative thinking, improving law-building quality and enhancing synchrony, feasibility and stability of the legal system. Correctly and fully identifying achievements as well as limitations in legislative work is an important basis for proposing appropriate solutions to continuously improve the effectiveness of legislative activities in the coming time.
ORIENTATIONS FOR CONTINUING TO INNOVATE LEGISLATIVE WORK
The current legislative innovation process often focuses on the following major contents:
1. Innovating legislative thinking: Innovating legislative work must first start with innovating legislative thinking, strongly shifting from management thinking to service and development creation thinking. Laws must aim to create a favorable legal environment for people and enterprises, encouraging innovation and sustainable development. Shorten time while ensuring quality. Clearly delineate responsibilities between proposing, drafting, appraising, and adopting agencies. Innovate discussion and voting methods at the National Assembly.
2. Improving policy-building quality: Policies are the foundation of laws. Therefore, greater attention must be paid to policy building and analysis before promulgating laws, ensuring policies are built on the basis of practical summarization, full and scientific impact assessment. Emphasize policy impact assessment before drafting laws. Clearly, understandably, and easily applicable regulations, limiting “framework laws, pipeline laws”. Strengthen scientific and practical bases.
3. Perfecting the legislative process towards democracy, transparency, and synchrony: Continue to perfect the legislative process towards increasing participation of experts, scientists, people and enterprise community. The application of information technology in legislative activities needs to be promoted to improve publicity, transparency and efficiency. Ensure constitutionality, legality and unity between laws. Overcome overlaps, conflicts, and lack of feasibility. Timely legalize Party guidelines and policies.
4. Strengthening the role of the National Assembly and National Assembly deputies: Promote proactiveness and responsibility of deputies in law-building. Improve the quality of policy discussion and debate. Link legislative activities with supervision of law enforcement.
5. Expanding participation of the People, experts, and enterprises: Widely collect opinions from the People and subjects affected by laws. Strengthen social criticism by the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations. Listen to opinions from experts and scientists.
6. Linking legislation with national development requirements and international integration: Suitable for socialist-oriented market economy. Meet international integration requirements and fulfill international commitments. Create a legal corridor for innovation and sustainable development.
SOME KEY SOLUTIONS TO PROMOTE LEGISLATIVE WORK
To continue innovating and improving the quality of legislative activities, Vietnam focuses on perfecting institutions, legalizing new mechanisms (such as sandbox), applying digital technology in the law-building process, improving policy forecasting quality and promoting the development-creating role of laws to meet sustainable development requirements, resolve institutional “bottlenecks”, promote innovation, and ensure laws truly lead and pave the way for development.
1. Innovating legislative thinking and methods:
- Towards a modern, flexible legislative foundation that creates and serves fast and sustainable development.
- Promote the role of “one step ahead in institutions”, so that laws lead development.
- Strengthen practical research and thorough policy impact assessment before promulgation.
2. Perfecting institutions and laws:
- Focus on perfecting institutions for fast and sustainable development, especially legalizing experimental mechanisms.
- Improve policy forecasting quality, build a team of “institutional architects” with comprehensive thinking.
- Ensure publicity and transparency; expand participation of people, experts, and scientists.
3. Applying digital technology and improving enforcement effectiveness:
- Strengthen digital technology application throughout the law-building process.
- Improve law explanation, guidance on application, document inspection, and review.
- Regularly evaluate law effectiveness after promulgation, promptly handle legal "bottlenecks".
- Digitize the law-building and promulgation process. Publicize and transparently provide draft law information in the digital environment. Support deputies in quickly and accurately accessing documents and data.
4. Strengthening supervision and resolving difficulties:
- Strengthen dialogue and listen to feedback from enterprises and people to resolve difficulties.
- Improve responsibility for preventing violations, strictly handle corruption and negativity, avoid “criminalizing” economic relations.
- Timely detect shortcomings for amendment and supplementation.
5. Promoting information technology application in drafting, opinion collection, and legal document management.
Legislative work plays a pivotal role in building a rule-of-law State. Correctly assessing the current situation and synchronously implementing solutions will contribute to improving the quality of the legal system, meeting national development requirements in the new period.
The process of innovating and improving the quality of legislative work aims at the goal: Building a complete and synchronous legal system that meets development requirements in the digital era; Promoting innovation, resolving institutional bottlenecks, ensuring laws truly serve as a tool for development creation. Therefore, continuing to innovate legislative work in the current period is an inevitable requirement, stemming from the task of building the socialist rule-of-law State of Vietnam and meeting national development requirements in the new context. Innovation needs to be carried out comprehensively and synchronously, from legislative thinking, law-building process to implementation organization. Only when legislative work is truly qualitative and effective can laws become a solid foundation for the country's sustainable development./.
Dr. Dinh Ba Cuong
REFERENCES:
- Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW (2025) on legislative innovation to meet national development requirements - stating tasks and solutions to improve the quality of law-building and enforcement in the new period.
- Regulations of the National Assembly of Vietnam on reforming the legislative process, requiring innovation in law-building thinking, increasing practicality and effectiveness of the legal system.
- Resolution No. 27-NQ/TW (Central Executive Committee) on building and perfecting the socialist rule-of-law State.Continuing to innovate law-building thinking and improve the quality of legislative activities (Electronic People's Police Newspaper)
