Reviewing law-making activities essential for better CPTPP's implementation

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

The CPTPP has a direct impact on many of Vietnam's domestic legal institutions. Therefore, amending and developing domestic legal regulations to ensure compatibility with commitments is the most important task in the implementation of the agreement.

Charles Thursby-Pelham, First Secretary of the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, said that the comprehensive review of law-making activities to implement the CPTPP is useful for State agencies, the VCCI, associations and each business when assessing the benefits from this agreement. The results will also be helpful for the next steps in the implementation of the CPTPP in particular and free trade agreements (FTAs) in general in the future.

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

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

Trang also made recommendations to improve the 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 building of law-making plans need to be done in a more inclusive manner.

The compilation of legal documents should be done as soon as possible and the compiling agency should pay special attention to consulting the affected subjects, she said, adding that the process of implementing commitments needs to be regularly monitored and inadequacies should be promptly dealt with.

The seminar and research report on law-making efforts to implement the CPTPP are part of the VCCI's series of activities to support businesses relating to CPTPP and FTAs. In the coming time, VCCI will continue to carry out events to provide information on the commitments and the implementation of FTAs in order to support businesses as well as relevant state agencies to bring maximum benefits for Vietnam's economy during the implementation of these agreements.