5 things to know about legislative documents of Vietnam

1. What is a legislative document?

It is a written document which contains legislative rules and is issued intra vires, in the prescribed form, and according to the prescribed process and procedure.
Where a document containing legislative rules is not issued intra vires, in the prescribed form or according to the prescribed process or procedure, it is not accepted as a legislative document.

2. Basics of a legislative document

Legislative documents are normally created by using a general template which includes the following main contents:
- Scope of application.
- Subjects of application.
- Implementation sections.
- Transitional provisions.
- Entry into force.
These are 5 main parts that you should figure out when you read a legislative document.

3. Legislative documents of Vietnam

(Note: Legislative documents mentioned hereunder are arranged in descending order in terms of their legal value. This means that the higher the issuing authority ranked, the higher legal value their legislative documents have).

Issuing authority		Document type	Date of entry into force
Central-level issuing authority	National assembly	- Constitution. - Code. - Law. - Resolution.	- Not earlier than 45 days from the date of ratification or signing.
	National Assembly Standing Committee	- Ordinance
	National Assembly Standing Committee in conjunction with Presidium of Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee	- Joint resolution.
	President	- Order. - Decision.
	Government	- Decree.
	Government in conjunction with Presidium of Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee	- Joint resolution.
	Prime Minister	- Decision.
	Board of Judges of the Supreme People’s Court	- Resolution.
	Chief Judge of the Supreme People’s Court	Circular
	General Procurator of the Supreme People’s Procuracy
	Minister, Head of a Ministry-level body
	- Chief Judge of the Supreme People’s Court in conjunction with General Prosecutor of the Supreme People’s Procuracy - Minister or Head of Ministry-level body in conjunction with Chief Judge of the Supreme People’s Court and General Prosecutor of the Supreme People’s Procuracy	Joint Circular.
	State Auditor General	Decision.
Local-level issuing authority	Provincial-, district- and communal-level People’s Council	Resolution.	- Not earlier than 10 days from the signing date with respect to written documents issued by the People’s Council and People’s Committee at the provincial level. - Not earlier than 07 days from the signing date with respect to written documents issued by the People’s Council and People’s Committee at the district and communal level.
	Provincial-, district- and communal-level People’s Committee	Decision.

4. Enforcement of a legislative document

a. Date of entry into force of a legislative document

In addition to the date of entry into force which is mentioned above, if a legislative document is issued according to the streamlined process and procedure, it may enter into force from the date of ratification or signature.

At the same time, it must be made available on the information portal of the issuing authority, broadcast via mass media means and published on the Official Gazette of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or a relevant province not later than 03 days from the date of release or signature.

b. Ex post facto

This is also called the retrospective effect that a legislative document had before the date of its issuance. 

- Where it is critically necessary to protect general interests of organizations, individuals and the entire society, central-level legislative documents will be allowed to set out ex post facto regulations. 

- Note: Ex post facto is not allowed if:

  + New legal liabilities are imposed for actions which were committed when laws did not prescribe these liabilities. 

  + Legal liabilities are imposed at the more severe level.

- Ex post factor is only allowed in central-level legislative documents, not local-level legislative documents. 

c. Cessation of a legislative document

A legislative document will be ceased if:

- It is subject to suspension.

- It is subject to the termination decision.

- It is subject to the temporary suspension decision intended to deal with any economic and social issues that may arise. 

Date of cessation of a legislative document must be clearly specified by another legislative document.  

In the case of suspension, the decision on such suspension must be published on the Official Gazette, broadcast via mass media means within the maximum duration of 03 days from the date of issuance of that decision. 

d. Annulment of a legislative document

A legislative document will be annulled if:

- The duration of effect specified in that legislative document has expired. 

- That legislative document is amended, supplemented or replaced by another one issued by the authority that issued the former one.

- It is annulled by another legislative document issued by the competent authority.

If a legislative document is annulled, other legislative documents providing details of implementation thereof will be annulled as well.

=> This is deemed another new regulation set out in the 2015 Law on Issuance of Legislative Documents which is a great progress in codification and standardization of Vietnam’s legislative documents. 

e. Spatial effect of a legislative document

- Central-level legislative documents have nationwide effect, unless otherwise provided by legislative documents issued by the senior authority or international conventions.

- Local-level legislative documents have effect within an administrative subdivision which is determined in these documents.

If there is any change in the administrative division, the spatial effect shall be prescribed as follows: 

- If one administrative division is split into multiple same-level subdivisions, legislative documents issued by the People’s Councils or People’s Committees of the original one will have effect to these subdivisions until when they are replaced by those issued by the People’s Councils or People’s Committees of these subdivisions.

- If multiple administrative divisions are merged into one new same-level administrative division, legislative documents of the People’s Councils or People's Committees of these divisions will continue their effect until when the new administrative division issues replacement legislative documents. 

- If a part and residents of an administrative division are moved to another administrative division, legislative documents of the expanded People’s Council or People’s Committee will have effect upon that part and these residents.  

5. Design of a legislative document

Firstly, in terms of the format of a legislative document:

- Paper size: A4 (210 x 297 mm) (the permitted tolerance of 0.2 mm).

- Page margins: top – bottom – right: 20 mm and left: 30 mm. (the permitted tolerance of 5 mm). 

- Font: 16-bit Vietnamese character set.

- Page numbering: Ordinal Arabic numerals are used for continuous pagination from the 2nd page to the last page, horizontally placed in the middle of the top margin or to the right of the bottom margin of each page of a legislative document. 

Secondly, in terms of the content layout of a legislative document:

a. Introductory part:

- Official country name and motto.

The official country name “THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM” is displayed in block capitals, has the font size of 12 through 13, regular and bold font style, and placed on the top and to the right side of a legislative document.  

 The national motto “Independence – Freedom – Happiness” is displayed in lowercase letters, has the font size of 13 or 14, regular and bold font style, and placed below the official country name. The first letter of each of its unit phrases is capitalized and unit phrases are separated from each other by a hyphen. A horizontal continuous line which is as long as the body text line above must be drawn below.

    

- Name of the Issuing authority

It must be written in block capitals with regular and bold font style, font size of 13, must be affixed by a horizontal continuous line which is 1/3 – 1/2 as long as the text line and is aligned proportionally to the text line.    

  

- Number or code of a legislative document

This is constituted by numerals, issuing year, document type and issuing authority.

Number of a legislative document is written in Arabic numerals, consisting of the ordinal numbers of registration designated to specific types of document which start from January 1 - December 31 of the calendar year.

The word “Number" is written in lowercase letters with the font size of 13 and regular font style. After the word "Number" in the same line, the colon mark is placed. If the number is less than 10, the number 0 must precede.

The mark (/) is used for separating the numbers from the issuing year while the mark (-) is used for separating groups of abbreviated words included in the number of a legislative document.

Example: Circular No. 25/2011/TT-BTP 

Where: 25 means the ordinal numeral; 2015 means the issuing year; TT means the abbreviation for the document type which is Circular; BTP means the abbreviation for the name of the issuing name which is the Ministry of Justice.

- Place name, date of issuance of a legislative document 

Place name means the official name of a centrally-affiliated city or province, or location where the issuing authority is based.

Date of issuance of a legislative document means the date on which a legislative document is signed.  Only Arabic numerals are allowed. The number 0 must be added before the number denoting the date which is less than 10, or the number denoting January or February.  

Place name, date of issuance of a legislative document must be arranged in one sentence with the font size of 13 – 14, the italic font style. Its first letters denoting the place name are capitalized. The place name and date of issuance are separated by the comma mark (,), and center-aligned below the official country name and motto. 

- Name of a legislative document

This is comprised of the name of the document type and title.

The name of the document type has been mentioned above. It is formatted in block capitals with the font size of 14, the regular, bold font style and is center-aligned with the horizontal direction of the legislative document.

The document title means the overall content of the entire document which is center-aligned below the name of the document type, formatted in lowercase letters with the font size of 14 and the regular and bold font style.

In respect of the attached document, the note on the attached document is placed in brackets with the italic font style, the font size of 14, and center-aligned below the name of the document.

- Bases for issuance of a legislative document

They are arranged in descending order which means that documents that have higher legal value and remain in effect will be arranged in front.

They are formatted in lowercase letters with the italic font style, the font size of 14, placed below the name of the document. Line break for each base is needed and each line of a base ends with the semicolon mark (;). The last line ends with the full stop mark (.).

b. Body part

Depending on how large the scope of application of a legislative document is, one of the following structures will be selected:  

- Section, chapter, subchapter, article, paragraph and subparagraph.

- Chapter, subchapter, article, paragraph and subparagraph.

- Chapter, article, paragraph and subparagraph.

- Article and paragraph.

- Paragraph and subparagraph.

Section, chapter, subchapter and article of the document must be given a heading. The heading is a group of words denoting the main content of the section, chapter, subchapter and article.

The document content is presented as follows:

 + The content part (the body text) is formatted in lowercase letters (which is justified) with the regular font style and the font size of 13 – 14. 

For each line break, the indent can be set as 1cm or 1.27cm (1 default tab); the minimum spacing between two paragraphs can be 6pt; the spacing between lines or line spacing can be single line spacing, or 15pt (exactly line spacing) or more.

  + If the document content is structured as section, chapter, subchapter, article, paragraph and subparagraph, the document will be presented as follows:

i. The word “Section”, "Chapter” and the number thereof are displayed in a single line, center-aligned, written in lowercase letters with the font size of 13 - 14 and the regular and bold font style.

The Latin numbers must be used for numbering the section and chapter. Title (name) of the section and chapter is placed below, center-aligned and written in block capitals with the font size of 13 – 14 and the regular and bold font style.

ii. The word “Subchapter” and the ordinal number are displayed in a single line, center-aligned, written in lowercase letters with the font size of 13 - 14 and the regular and bold font style. The Arabic numerals must be used for numbering the subchapter.

Title (name) of the subchapter is placed below, center-aligned and written in block capitals with the font size of 12 – 13 and the regular and bold font style.

iii. The word “Article”, ordinal number and title thereof are written in lowercase letters, indented at 1 default tab. Arabic numerals must be used for numbering the article and a full stop must be used after the number of the article; the body text has the font size of 13 – 14 and the regular and bold font style; 

Arabic numerals must be used as the ordinal number of paragraphs in each subchapter after which the full stop mark is placed, has the font size equal to that of the body text (13 - 14) and the regular font style; if a paragraph is given a title, the ordinal number and title of that paragraph is displayed in a single sentence, in lowercase letters with the font size which is the same as that of the body text (13 - 14) and the regular font style; 

Alphabetical Vietnamese letters must be used to denote the order of subparagraphs included in each paragraph which is put in brackets, written in lowercase letters with the font size equal to that of the body text (13 – 14) and the regular font style.

c. Conclusion

This part comprises the title, full name and signature of the person having competence in signing a legislative document, stamp of the issuing authority and the place of receipt of the document.

- Signature 

The Government’s Decree will be signed by the Prime Minister who acts on behalf of the Government for issuance of this type of document and has the abbreviation "TM." (means PP or per pro) that comes in front of the word “Government”.

The Decision of the Prime Minister and Circular of a Minister or Head of a Ministry-level body are signed by the Prime Minister, Minister or Head of that Ministry-level body, respectively, for making these documents become effective.

If a deputy signs a document for the abovementioned person, the abbreviation “KT.” (means OBO or on behalf of) must be put in front of the title of the person having competence in signing the document.

The title and full name of the signing person or the person acting on behalf of the signing person must be provided in full.

In a joint document, the title and host authority of the signing person must be clearly provided.

* Abbreviated words like “TM.”, “KT.” or “Q.” (means For), power and title of the signing person must be written in block capitals with the font size of 13 – 14 and the regular and bold font style. 

Full name of the signing person is written in lowercase letters with the font size of 13 – 14 and the regular and bold font style and center-aligned in comparison with the line of power and title of the signing person. 

- Stamp of the issuing authority

This stamp is only appended to the document only when the person having competence in signing the document signs on the document.

- Place of receipt

This place may comprise supervision, inspection or issuing authority, Official Gazette, depository entity and other organizations or entities, depending on the document content. 

The word “place of receipt” is written in a single line (parallel with the line "power and title of the signing person and left aligned), ends with the colon mark and displayed in lowercase letters with the font size of 12, and the italic and bold font style;

The list of authorities, organizations or entities and individuals receiving a legislative document must be written in lowercase letters with the font size of 11 and the regular font style; name of each authority, organization, entity and individual or each group of authorities, organizations or entities receiving the document is written in a single line with dashes used as bullets which are left-aligned, and ends with a semicolon for each line.

The last line comprises the word “Filed to” that precedes the colon mark followed by the abbreviated word "VT" (means the archival division of an entity or organization), the abbreviated word denoting the name of an entity (or a division) that draft the document, and the number of copies used for filing purpose (where necessary) which is put in brackets, and ends with the full stop mark.  

Legal bases:

- The 2015 Law on promulgation of legislative documents

- The Circular No. 25/2011/TT-BTP. 

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