Laws of Vietnam

DIRECTIVE No.51-TTg OF JANUARY 24, 1997 OF THE PRIME MINISTER ON ORGANIZING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW ON THE PROMULGATION OF LEGAL DOCUMENTS

The Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents was passed by the IXth National Assembly at its 10th Session on November 12, 1996 and takes effect on January 1st, 1997. This is one of the important laws stipulating the power, procedure and order of the State agencies at the central level in issuing regulatory and legal documents; at the same time, it defines the common principles as the legal basis for the issue of regulatory and legal documents by the local Administration.

In order to timely organize the implementation of this Law, the Prime Minister issued the following Directive:

1. The Ministry of Justice shall cooperate with the Office of the Government in compiling:

- A Decree on the issue of regulations on the evaluation of projects and on the drafting of regulatory and legal documents;

- A Decree on the function, task and power of the legal organization of each branch;

- A Decree on the translation of regulatory and legal documents into foreign languages.

These decrees must be compiled and submitted to the Government for promulgation in January 1997.

2. When a Ministry, ministerial-level agency or agency attached to the Government is assigned to sponsor the compilation of other draft laws, ordinances and regulatory and legal documents, it must ensure that these documents have a high quality before submitting them to the Government, and that the contents of the articles are detailed, clear and concrete, so that when they are promulgated and become effective, they are applicable right away. If a law, an ordinance or a decree has articles and clauses which must be further stipulated in other documents, the compiling agency must submit those documents together with the draft law, ordinance or decree concerned to the Government for consideration; at the same time, it must send a list of those documents and articles that are to be annulled.

3. The Ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government, and the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government must urgently reorganize their personnel, perfect their legal organizations in order to ensure that these organizations become an agency staffed with highly qualified personnel capable of providing consultancy for the leadership in compiling and managing regulatory and legal documents, meeting the requirements in issuing regulatory and legal documents as mentioned in Clause 2 of this Directive, and complying with the stipulations of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents.

The Ministry of Justice shall make a plan of professional and concrete guidance training for the legal personnel of the Ministries, branches and localities.

4. A drive shall be launched to fully revise and systematize the regulatory and legal documents in 1997 and 1998 according to a general plan of the Government attached to this Directive.

The Ministry of Justice shall take the main responsibility and cooperate with the Office of the Government in directing, checking, encouraging and giving professional guidance to the Ministries, branches and localities in effectively carrying out this general drive.

5. The Ministry of Justice shall take the main responsibility and cooperate with the other State agencies and organizations concerned to urgently compile and early submit to the Government the draft Law on the power, order and procedure of issuing regulatory and legal documents by the People’s Councils and the People’s Committees.

6. The Ministers, the Heads of ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, and the Presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall cooperate with the other agencies concerned in organizing the wide and deep introduction and dissemination of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents among the agencies, units and personnel under their management, particularly those directly involved in the compilation of regulatory and legal documents.

The Ministry of Culture and Information shall take the main responsibility and cooperate with the Ministry of Justice to guide the mass media in introducing the significance and contents of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents.

The Ministry of Education and Training shall take the main responsibility and cooperate with the Ministry of Justice to guide the training centers in studying, compiling and correcting the relevant teaching programs and documents and making them conform to the stipulations of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents.

The Ministry of Justice shall take the main responsibility and cooperate with the Office of the Government to prepare a plan for organizing professional training courses for the legal staff members of the Ministries, branches, agencies and social organizations at the central and local levels in order to satisfactorily enact this Law.

7. The Office of the Government shall prepare a plan to consolidate the Official Gazette department and supplement it with more officials and equipment to ensure that the Official Gazette is published and distributed to the Ministries, branches, the administration at different levels, and the people as a whole. The regulatory and legal documents of the State agencies at the central level must be published in "The Official Gazette of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" within 15 days at the latest, beginning from the date when they are publicized or signed into force.

8. The Ministers, the Heads of ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, and the Presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to guide and organize the implementation of this Directive.

For the Prime Minister,

Deputy Prime Minister,