Avoiding Formalism in RIA Application

 

Speaking at the conference entitled "RIA and enhancement of regulatory quality: International experience and practical issues in Vietnam" organised by the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), the Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative Project (VNCI), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, Dr Nguyen Dinh Cung, Deputy Director of CIEM, said, regulatory impact assessment (RIA) has become obligatory for the legislative process in Vietnam in recent years and is one of important reforms in contribution to enhancing the quality of regulatory documents in Vietnam. Nonetheless, despite good progress, RIA application in Vietnam has in fact not produced the desired results.

 

According to statistics, from 2005 to 2009, Vietnam enacted 117 laws and ordinances; 769 decrees, more than 1,700 circulars and 461 joint circulars (A law or ordinance on average has 6 - 7 decrees or joint circulars guiding its implementation).

 

However, the low consistency and constancy of the legal normative document system causes negative impact on the stability of social relations and economic relations; publicity and transparency of the regulatory system are limited; the construction and application of case law is slow.

 

According to Dr Cung, in fact, RIA is not a report but a process that provides policymakers and stakeholders with information to take the best options. The RIA application remains quite formalistic in Vietnam and is not observed as a procedure of issuing legal normative documents. Vietnam is implementing RIA as a procedure rather than a process.

 

Dr Duong Thanh Mai, Institute of Legal Science under the Ministry of Justice, said: RIA reports are limited to the face of right procedure and compiled and modified by law-drafting agencies to suit law projects. Many reports simply copy explanatory representations of draft laws and are made fit to the drafts. In the process of preparing regulatory impact assessment reports, public consultations are only made to meet requirements on the surface. Therefore, options represented by lawmakers are usually unconvincing. Many legal normative documents need fixing even a year after being ratified by the National Assembly and enacted.

 

According to Dr Mai, to ensure the sustainability of enacted policies and laws and match the laws of nature and society, accelerate and sustain economic and social development, Vietnam needs to improve its issued legal normative documents. Document drafters and RIA report makers must defend ahead of competent authorities.

 

She added that the enactment of quality legal documents will help businesses reduce risks and costs in doing business. “All legal normative documents must undergo RIA. RIA reports on laws and RIA reports on guidance documents must be performed simultaneously after they are enforced. RIA reports must be made public along with legal drafts for comment. It is also necessary to clarify the accountability of the head of RIA report makers, as well as assessment agencies in checking and verifying compliance and quality RIA reports,” she noted.

 

Mr Hayden Fenwick, team leader of the RIA team from New Zealand, recommended that Vietnam be more systematic in making regulations and demanding mandatory RIA use. RIA is an integral part of the lawmaking process. If drafting agencies do not comply, they must bear responsibility for that. The accountability of ministers as the head of a legal document making branch must be clarified.

 

RIA is the regulatory impact assessment report, a supporting tool for laws and solution making process in the initial stage. This is a systematic and consistent method to assess the potential impacts of Government actions and provide information for decision-makers, thus encouraging the creation of sustainable policies and laws. In order to minimise low-quality legal documents, RIA are based on evidence, partially involved in the policymaking and decision making processes to ensure high practicality, serving as a strong foundation for issuing better policies in a changing world.