Vietnam Covid-19 Outbreak - The Legal Secrets of Vietnam’s Success

Undoubtedly, Vietnamese people can be proud of the society’s collective success in combating Covid-19 outbreak (less than 300 confirmed cases and no death after three months since the first confirmed case). Newspaper reports have attributed Vietnam’s success to many things including Government’s decisive and consistent policy, comprehensive quarantine and contact tracing, and high-level of awareness and cooperation by Vietnamese people. However, not much has been said about the legal framework that underpins Vietnam’s success. In this post, we will describe the legal framework which deals with infectious disease and epidemic such as Covid-19 in Vietnam. This post is written by Nguyen Hoang Duy and edited by Nguyen Quang Vu.

Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases 2007

The Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases 2007 was issued by the National Assembly in 2007. Laws issued in Vietnam are not always perfect. However, the fact that there is a law issued by the highest authority in Vietnam about pandemic a long time ago (probably after the SARS outbreak in 2003) demonstrates that Vietnam has given serious thought about how to deal with a pandemic.

A Brief Introduction on Vietnam Legal Framework

A copy of my book “A Brief Introduction on Vietnam Legal Framework” is now available for download for free here. Although the book was written a long time ago (in 2012), we believe it still contains useful information on Vietnam Legal Framework (especially for foreigners who have limited knowledge about the topic). Hope this could help you to kill some time when working from home during the coronavirus outbreak.

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Regulations on gifts-giving under the Vietnamese Anti-Corruption Law 2018

A notable change of the new Anti-Corruption Law 2018, among other things, is that the Anti-Corruption Law 2018 applies to not only State agencies, organizations, units and public officials, but also to non-state enterprises, organizations, and officials. However, a closer reading of Article 22 on the giving and receipt of gifts under Anti-Corruption Law 2018 may indicate otherwise. In particular,

(a) Article 22.2 provides: “Agencies, organizations, units, and public officials are not allowed to directly or indirectly receive gifts in any form from agencies, organizations, units, individuals which are relating to the affair which they are handling or fall under their management”; and

(b) Article 3.9 of the Anti-corruption Law 2018 defines “agencies, organizations, units” under the Anti-corruption Law 2018 as agencies, organizations, units of the State.

Based on the definition in Article 3.9 and the wording of Article 22.2, it is arguable that the regulations and restrictions regarding gifts-giving under the Anti-corruption Law 2018 only apply to State-owned enterprises, state agencies, organizations, units, and public officials but not to non-state enterprises, organizations, and officials.

Environmental license and permit for industrial parks in Vietnam

The following is a non-exhaustive list of licenses, permits and requirements on environment which an industrial park in Vietnam need to comply with.

1. Environment impact assessment report (EIAR – Báo cáo đánh giá tác động môi trường) or environment protection plan (EPP – Kế hoạch bảo vệ môi trường).

2. Confirmation on completion of the environmental protection works (Xác nhận hoàn thành công trình bảo vệ môi trường).

Vietnam Business Law

Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases 2007