At the same time, it is necessary to supplement regulations to suit the development of the digital economy, protect citizens’ rights, and enhance enforcement capacity and legal transparency in order to build a socialist rule-of-law state. In recent years, in response to practical demands, the Party and the State have promulgated strategic resolutions to orient the improvement of the legal system, enhance national governance capacity, and promote effective integration. This article assesses the current state of policy and legal improvement in key areas and proposes policy orientations aimed at enhancing transparency and efficiency of Vietnam’s economy and increasing compatibility with international standards.
Keywords: Improvement of the legal system; enhancing transparency and efficiency of the economy.
The system of policies and laws plays a particularly important role in managing society and ensuring the lawful rights and interests of the State, organizations, and citizens. Over the past years, Vietnam’s policy and legal system has been continuously developed and improved, contributing to socio-economic development and the maintenance of social order and safety. However, in the current context, further improvement of the policy and legal system remains an urgent requirement for many reasons.
OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUE
A well-developed legal system provides a solid foundation for social stability and development. When laws are comprehensive, clear, and consistent, all economic, political, and socio-cultural activities are regulated transparently. Citizens and businesses can feel secure in working, producing, and investing without concern over legal gaps or overlaps. Conversely, an incomplete legal system lacking feasibility leads to difficulties in application and reduces the effectiveness of state management.
In addition, improving the legal system contributes to the protection of human rights and citizens’ rights. As society develops, many new relationships arise, especially in areas such as information technology, environmental protection, and e-commerce. If the law does not adjust in a timely manner, the legitimate rights and interests of citizens may be infringed upon. Therefore, revising and supplementing legal provisions in line with practical realities is an inevitable requirement.
Furthermore, in the process of international integration, the national legal system needs to approach common regional and global standards. This not only enhances the country’s position but also facilitates cooperation, exchange, and economic development. A progressive and transparent legal system is a crucial factor in attracting investment and building trust with international partners.
However, improving the legal system is not solely the responsibility of state agencies; it also requires the participation of the entire society. Each citizen must enhance legal awareness and actively contribute opinions to the development of legal regulations that are practical and close to real life. In particular, the younger generation needs to be educated about the law in order to become responsible citizens who live and work in accordance with the Constitution and the law.
Thus, improving the legal system is a long-term, continuous process of great significance to the country’s sustainable development. This issue requires appropriate attention and proactive, coordinated implementation in order to build a fair, democratic, and civilized society.
WHY IT IS NECESSARY TO IMPROVE THE CURRENT POLICY AND LEGAL SYSTEM
First, society is constantly evolving and developing. The process of international integration and the strong development of science and technology, especially digital transformation and the digital economy have generated many new issues in social life. If policies and laws are not updated and supplemented in a timely manner, they will become outdated and no longer suitable for reality, causing difficulties in management and enforcement.
Second, some existing policies and laws still have limitations. In practice, there remain overlapping, inconsistent, or unclear provisions, leading to ineffective application of the law. This not only affects citizens’ rights and interests but also reduces public trust in the fairness and rigor of the legal system.
Third, improving policies and laws is a requirement to ensure human rights and citizens’ rights. As society develops, people’s needs and awareness of rights and obligations continue to increase. Laws must be improved in a transparent and equitable manner, placing people at the center, thereby better protecting the legitimate rights and interests of individuals.
Fourth, improving policies and laws also contributes to enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of state management. A coherent and clear legal system creates favorable conditions for state agencies to perform management functions while preventing and limiting legal violations.
In summary, in the context of continuous national renewal and development, further improvement of the policy and legal system is an objective and inevitable requirement. This not only meets practical demands but also contributes to building a stable, fair, democratic, and civilized society.
ISSUES IN POLICIES AND LAWS THAT NEED FURTHER IMPROVEMENT
In the process of national development, policies and laws play a particularly important role in managing society, ensuring citizens’ lawful rights and interests, and promoting sustainable socio-economic development. However, in the face of rapid social changes and deep international integration, the current policy and legal system still has several issues that require further improvement.
First, some legal provisions remain overlapping and inconsistent. In practice, certain legal documents issued by different agencies are not fully aligned in content, causing difficulties in application and enforcement. This not only reduces the effectiveness of state management but also creates confusion for citizens and businesses in exercising their rights and obligations. Therefore, it is necessary to review, amend, and systematize legal documents to ensure consistency, clarity, and accessibility.
Second, some policies and laws have not kept pace with social development. The rapid development of science and technology particularly digital technology, the digital economy, and social networks has generated many new issues that the law has not yet fully regulated. This results in “legal gaps,” making management difficult and hindering the protection of citizens’ legitimate rights and interests. Hence, proactive research and timely promulgation of new regulations consistent with reality are urgently needed.
Third, law enforcement in some localities remains insufficiently strict. Although the legal system is increasingly complete, enforcement effectiveness remains limited due to a lack of responsibility among some officials or low legal compliance awareness among citizens. Inspection, supervision, and violation handling in certain areas are not timely or sufficiently deterrent. This requires strengthening discipline and order, as well as enhancing public service ethics among officials.
Fourth, legal dissemination and education have not been truly effective. In some localities, citizens - especially young people have not been adequately equipped with essential legal knowledge, leading to violations caused by lack of understanding. Therefore, it is necessary to innovate legal dissemination methods to make them more vivid, accessible, and closely linked to real life, especially in schools and mass media.
Fifth, ensuring citizens’ participation in providing feedback during the policy- and law-making process needs to be further strengthened. When people are listened to and allowed to contribute, promulgated policies are more realistic and better aligned with social needs.
In summary, improving policies and laws is a long-term process that requires the efforts of the State and the active participation of the entire society. Only when the legal system is built in a coherent manner, aligned with reality, and strictly enforced can it provide a solid foundation for sustainable national development.
SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING POLICIES AND LAWS
In the context of globalization, strong digital transformation, and the demand for sustainable development, the policy and legal system plays a particularly important role in guiding socio-economic development, ensuring human and citizens’ rights, and maintaining social order and discipline. A complete legal system provides a solid foundation for social stability and development. When laws are comprehensive, clear, and consistent, all economic, political, and socio-cultural activities are regulated transparently. Citizens and businesses can feel secure in working, producing, and investing without concern over legal gaps or overlaps. Conversely, incomplete laws lacking feasibility lead to difficulties in application and reduce the effectiveness of state management.
However, practice shows that the current policy and legal system still has many limitations that need to be addressed and improved. Therefore, proposing solutions to improve policies and laws is an urgent requirement.
* Current situation of policies and laws
- Insufficient coherence and consistency of the legal system: Some normative legal documents remain contradictory or overlapping, particularly between laws and their implementing guidelines, causing difficulties in application.
- Uneven quality of policy formulation: In some cases, policy impact assessments remain formalistic and fail to adequately forecast socio-economic impacts, resulting in policies that are difficult to implement in practice.
- Limitations in law enforcement: A segment of officials does not meet requirements in terms of capacity and public service ethics; the phenomenon of “laws on paper” persists due to insufficient supervision mechanisms and sanctions.
- Limited participation of citizens and businesses: The involvement of citizens and enterprises in the policy-making process remains limited, leading to policies that do not fully reflect the needs and interests of social stakeholders.
* Solutions for improving current policies and laws
- Improving the quality of policy and law-making: It is necessary to innovate policy-making processes by taking practice as the foundation, strengthening scientific research, reviewing practical experience, and selectively referencing international experience. Policy impact assessments must be conducted seriously and substantively, particularly regarding impacts on citizens, businesses, and vulnerable groups. At the same time, the situation of “framework laws” and overly general regulations should be limited, ensuring that legal provisions are clear, specific, understandable, and feasible.
- Ensuring coherence, consistency, and stability of the legal system
An important solution is to review, systematize, and codify normative legal documents in order to promptly identify and address conflicting, overlapping, or outdated provisions.
- Enhancing the effectiveness of law enforcement: Laws can only be effective when they are strictly enforced. Therefore, it is necessary to: enhance the capacity, responsibility, and public service ethics of officials; promote the application of information technology and digital transformation in state management to increase transparency and reduce compliance costs; and improve inspection, supervision, and sanction mechanisms to ensure that all violations are handled promptly and fairly.
- Promoting the participation of citizens, businesses, and society: Improving policies and laws must be associated with democracy, openness, and transparency. The State should expand consultation channels and solicit opinions from citizens, businesses, professional associations, and experts during the drafting and revision of laws.
- Proactively adapting to new contexts: In the conditions of the digital economy, green economy, and deep international integration, policies and laws must be flexible, forward-looking, and adaptive. It is necessary to promptly complete the legal framework for new fields such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence, the circular economy, environmental protection, and sustainable development.
- Improving law-making in line with the orientation of non-criminalization of civil and economic relations
+ Improving legislation
Criminal procedure law should be improved toward considering mechanisms such as “preliminary hearings,” whereby courts can participate in resolving cases from the investigation and prosecution stages, together with arguments and evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defense, to assess whether evidence is sufficient to bring cases to trial. This mechanism enhances the role and importance of defense counsel in identifying grounds to refute inconsistencies and insufficient or forced incriminating evidence.
+ Enhancing the effectiveness of implementing the principle of non-criminalization of civil and economic relations
. Rapidly apply artificial intelligence in building and managing legal regulatory systems and in warning of issues that have not been clearly distinguished between criminal and civil or economic fields.
. Enhance the professional capacity of procedural authorities. The criminalization of civil and economic relations does not stem solely from legal provisions but also from the manner of application and enforcement by competent authorities. Limited professional capacity and inadequate understanding of criminal law and related legal fields can lead to incorrect assessments, wrongful charges, and inappropriate investigation, prosecution, and adjudication outcomes.
Encourage parties in civil and economic relations to apply alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms such as arbitration, commercial mediation, and pre-litigation mediation. To promote the use of these mechanisms, their roles, significance, advantages, and benefits must be clearly demonstrated. In addition, legal regulations on ADR mechanisms should continue to be improved. Specifically, for commercial mediation, it is necessary to develop a separate law based on Decree No. 22/2017/ND-CP on commercial mediation, establishing a comprehensive and unified legal framework. The orientation of non-criminalization of civil and economic relations in Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW is a continuation of the Party’s and State’s correct policy, contributing to a transparent legal environment and ensuring freedom of investment and business.
In conclusion, improving policies and laws in the current period is a long-term and strategic process that requires comprehensive renewal in thinking, methods, and approaches, as well as the active and responsible participation of the entire political system and society as a whole. In the context of accelerating industrialization, modernization, and increasingly deep international integration, the requirements for law-making and legal improvement go beyond the mere promulgation of legal normative documents, placing greater emphasis on ensuring quality, coherence, consistency, and adaptability of the legal system in response to rapid changes in practice.
Enhancing the quality of policy formulation must be carried out on a scientific and objective basis, closely linked to socio-economic realities and the country’s sustainable development goals. At the same time, strengthening the effectiveness of law enforcement should be identified as the key factor determining the practical value and effectiveness of policies and laws. Alongside this, promoting the participation, supervision, and social criticism of citizens, businesses, and social organizations will contribute to greater transparency, feasibility, and social consensus in the process of developing and implementing laws.
With strong political determination, innovative thinking, and the concerted efforts of the whole society, the process of improving policies and laws will create a solid foundation for building a socialist rule-of-law state and meeting the requirements of rapid and sustainable national development in the new period.
PhD. Le Dinh Trang
REFERENCES
- Criminal Code of 2015.
- Criminal Procedure Code of 2015.
- Communist Party of Vietnam (2025), Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW dated April 30, 2025 on reforming law-making and law enforcement to meet national development requirements in the new era.
- Law on Electronic Transactions 2023.
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Do, MA. Tran Thi Khanh Tram (2023), Solutions to prevent the criminalization of violations in civil, economic, and administrative fields (Procuracy Journal, No. 11/2023).
- PhD. Le Dinh Khien (2001), Criminalization of civil and economic transactions – concepts and causes, Ministerial-level research project: Solutions to prevent the criminalization of civil and economic transactions.
- Lawyer Nguyen Tien Lap (2025), What institutional solutions can limit “criminalization”?, Saigon Economic Times.
