Law-making activities for CPTPP implementation under scrutiny

The seminar was held within the framework of the Australian-funded programme, Aus4Reform, which aims to assist the Vietnamese Government in achieving its goal of improving the local business environment and modernising the national economy.

The CPTPP has a direct impact on many of the country’s domestic legal institutions. Therefore, amending and developing domestic legal regulations to ensure compatibility with commitments represents a key task in the agreement implementation process.

Charles Thursby-Pelham, first secretary of the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, stated that the comprehensive review of law-making activities to realise the CPTPP is useful for State agencies, the VCCI, various associations, and each business when assessing the overall benefits of the agreement. The results will also be conducive to the wider implementation of the CPTPP, along with free trade agreements (FTAs) in general moving forward.

On behalf of the research team, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, director of the Centre for WTO and Integration under the VCCI, said a total of 11 legal documents have been issued aimed at carrying out the commitments of the CPTPP immediately. This is in addition to four documents which are being drafted for the implementation of the CPTPP commitments in line with the roadmap in the 2019 to 2021 period.

According to Trang, most of the provisions set out in legal documents are compatible with the commitments of the CPTPP that have been "internalised".  Indeed, some regulations are at a higher level than required or are in line with an earlier roadmap, she said.

Trang also made recommendations aimed at improving the overall efficiency of law-making in the implementation of the CPTPP, as well as newly signed FTAs, such as the review of regulations' compatibility with FTA commitments and the development of legal plans which must be done in a more inclusive manner.

The compilation of legal documents should thereby be done as swiftly possible, with the compiling agency paying special attention to consulting the affected subjects, she said. In addition, she added that the process of implementing commitments must be regularly monitored and inadequacies should be promptly dealt with.

The seminar and research report regarding law-making efforts to implement the CPTPP are part of the VCCI's series of activities which aim to support local businesses in relation to the CPTPP and other FTAs. In the near future, the VCCI will continue to carry out events aimed at providing information on the commitments and the implementation of FTAs. This will be done in order to support firms as well as relevant state agencies to bring maximum benefits for the Vietnamese economy during the process of carrying out these agreements.