Vietnam Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025

On February 19, 2025, the Law on Promulgation Legal Documents No. 64/2025/QH15 was officially passed, replacing the Law on Promulgation Legal Documents 2015, as amended in 2020. This new law will take effect from April 1, 2025. Subsequently, in order to align with the transition to a two-tier local government model and the nationwide administrative unit restructuring taking effect from July 1, 2025, the Law Amending the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents 2025, No. 87/2025/QH15, was approved by the National Assembly and will officially take effect from July 1, 2025. Below, Viet An Law Firm provides an update on the notable changes introduced in the Vietnam Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025.

Amendments and supplements to the legal document system

Government resolutions are recognized as legal documents

• Previously, under the Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2015, with the orientation to simplify the forms of legal documents, the only recognized form of legal document issued by the Government was the decree. The form of resolution was excluded.
• However, from April 1, 2025, under Clause 5, Article 4 of the 2025 Law on Promulgating Legal Documents, the resolution has been reintroduced as a valid form of legal document issued by the Government.

According to the Ministry of Justice, this change reflects practical demands in the Government’s policy direction and execution, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic response and economic recovery period. These circumstances required the Government to have the authority to issue a distinct form of legal document (in addition to decrees), with a more expedited and responsive promulgation process. This allows the document to take effect immediately upon issuance and promptly address arising practical issues.

Regulations on the authority to promulgate legal documents at the commune level

Before July 1, 2025, under Article 4 of Law No. 64/2025/QH15, the system of legal documents did not include: decisions of the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; resolutions and decisions of the Commune-level authorities.

However, under the new provisions of the Law Amending the Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025 (Law No. 87/2025/QH15), effective from July 1, 2025, three new forms of legal documents are recognized, including:

• Decisions of the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee;
• Resolutions of the Commune-level People’s Council;
• Decisions of the Commune-level People’s Committee.

Specifically, under Clause 4, Article 1 of this amended law (which revises Article 22 of Law No. 64/2025/QH15), it is provided that:

• The Commune-level People’s Council shall issue resolutions on matters delegated under laws, National Assembly resolutions, and local socio-economic development policies;
• The Commune-level People’s Committee shall issue decisions to implement the constitution, laws, and resolutions of higher-level authorities, and to perform state administrative management at the local level.

Change in the form of legal documents issued by the State Auditor General from a decision to a circular

The form of legal document issued by the State Auditor General is changed from a decision to a circular to ensure consistency and uniformity with the forms of legal documents issued by Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, and the Procurator General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

Shortening the law-making process from 22 months to 12 months

According to the  Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2015, under Section 1, Chapter II, the process of developing and promulgating laws, ordinances, and resolutions must go through two stages with a total minimum duration of approximately 22 months:

• Formulating a proposal to include the legal document in the annual law- and ordinance-making program (this step requires a minimum of 10 months);
• Once included in the program, competent authorities will draft and submit the legal document for consideration and adoption by the National Assembly according to the schedule set out in the program (this step requires a minimum of 12 months).

From April 1, 2025, under Chapter II of the 2025 Law on Promulgating Legal Documents, the legislative process has been reformed as follows:

• Separating the policy-making process from the process of preparing the draft annual legislative program into two distinct sections (Sections 1 and 2 of Chapter II);
• Clearly distinguishing the policy-making process from the drafting process (Sections 2 and 3 of Chapter II).

Accordingly, the two-stage process (policy formulation and drafting) is only required for the following types of legal documents: new laws and ordinances; laws and ordinances replacing current ones; laws amending or supplementing certain articles that restrict human rights or citizens’ rights under the constitution; and pilot resolutions of the National Assembly. For amendments or supplements to certain articles of existing laws or ordinances and for other resolutions, only the drafting process is required, without the need for the policy-making stage.

Thus, a notable innovation in the  Vietnam Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025 is the potential to reduce the law-making period from 22 months to 12 months.

Development and promulgation of legal documents under simplified procedures and in special cases

From Articles 50 to 52, the  Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025 inherits the provisions on simplified procedures from the 2015 Law and introduces several amendments and supplements, including:

• Clearly stipulating that the proposal to apply simplified procedures may be made either before or during the drafting process of the legal document, ensuring flexibility and establishing a legal basis for competent authorities to apply simplified procedures at any stage when necessary;
• Allowing the use of simplified procedures to develop circulars in all cases, similar to other types of legal documents; Ministers and Heads of ministerial-level agencies are authorized to decide on the promulgation of circulars under simplified procedures without having to consult the Ministry of Justice or report to the Prime Minister for approval;
• Clearly defining the process and procedures for developing and promulgating legal documents under simplified procedures to simplify and streamline the process while still ensuring the quality of the documents.

The addition of policy consultation as a form of public opinion collection

Article 30 of the  Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025 introduces policy consultation as a new form of public opinion collection during the policy development process for draft laws, National Assembly resolutions, and ordinances of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly. Specifically:

• Organizing opinion collection from individuals and entities directly affected by the policy, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations, delegations of National Assembly deputies, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and other relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals;
• Organizing policy consultation conferences with the Standing Committee of the Ethnic Council, the Standing Committees of the National Assembly, ministries, and ministerial-level agencies on policies directly related to their assigned sectors or areas of responsibility during the policy development process.

This is one of the newly introduced mechanisms to improve the current legal development process, especially in the formulation of policy proposals, which have often been overlooked or conducted generically.

Under the  Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025, the policy process plays a crucial role, as the quality of the policy determines the quality of the draft legal document. Through policy consultation activities, the policy-proposing body seeks consensus, selects optimal solutions, and finalizes the policy as a foundation for drafting legal documents, thereby ensuring the feasibility of the policy in practice.

Handling the validity of legal documents in case of division, merger, or adjustment of administrative boundaries

From July 1, 2025, the determination of the validity of legal documents in the event of changes to administrative boundaries is clearly stipulated in Clause 20, Article 1 of Law No. 87/2025/QH15, which amends Clause 2, Article 54 of Law No. 64/2025/QH15.

Accordingly, legal documents issued by the People’s Councils, People’s Committees, and Chairman of the People’s Committees shall have their validity handled in accordance with 4 specific scenarios:

In the case of division of an administrative unit

If an administrative unit is divided into multiple new administrative units of the same level:

• Legal documents issued by the People’s Council, the People’s Committee, or the Chairman of the People’s Committee of the former (divided) administrative unit shall remain in effect for the newly established administrative units,
• Until replaced by new decisions issued by the People’s Council, People’s Committee, or Chairman of the People’s Committee of the new administrative units.

In the case of merger of administrative units

If multiple administrative units are merged into a new administrative unit of the same level:

• Legal documents issued by the merged administrative units shall continue to remain in effect across the entire territory of the newly merged administrative unit,
• Until a new legal document or decision is issued to apply or repeal the previous legal documents.

In the case of partial adjustment of administrative boundaries

If a portion of an administrative boundary is adjusted and transferred to another administrative unit, the legal documents of the administrative unit receiving the adjusted area shall apply to that transferred area.

In other cases

If the case does not fall under the scenarios mentioned above:

• Legal documents that are currently in effect within the original administrative boundaries shall continue to remain valid,
• Unless amended, supplemented, replaced, or repealed by a new legal document or decision.

Additionally, the law requires that the spatial scope of effectiveness of a legal document must be clearly specified within the document itself.

New provision in the Vietnam Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025 regarding legal citation

According to Article 68 of Decree No. 78/2025/NĐ-CP (as amended by Clause 38, Article 1 of Decree No. 187/2025/NĐ-CP, which guides the implementation of the  Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025), the citation of legal documents is regulated as follows:

The site legal documents according to the new Law 2025

For cited documents that are laws or ordinances

• When citing, the full title, number, and symbol of the legal document must be specified;
• For documents that have been amended or supplemented, add after the title, number, and symbol of the document the phrase “as amended and supplemented by” and the type, number, and symbol of the amending or supplementing document;
• If the document has been amended or supplemented multiple times, from the second amendment/supplementation onward, only the type, number, and symbol of the amending/supplementing document shall be cited;
• In subsequent citations, only the type, number, and symbol of the legal document are required;
• If the document has been amended or supplemented, the phrase “as amended and supplemented by” followed by the type, number, and symbol of the amending/supplementing document must also be added after the number and symbol of the document.

For other legal documents

• In the first citation, the type, number, and symbol of the document, as well as its title, must be stated;
• For documents that have been amended or supplemented, add after the title, number, and symbol of the document the phrase “as amended and supplemented by” and the type, number, and symbol of the amending or supplementing document;
• If amended or supplemented multiple times, from the second time onward, only the type, number, and symbol of the amending/supplementing document shall be cited;
• In subsequent citations, only the type, number, and symbol of the legal document are required;
• If the document has been amended or supplemented, the phrase “as amended and supplemented by” followed by the type, number, and symbol of the amending/supplementing document must also be added after the number and symbol of the document.

Note: When citing parts, chapters, sections, subsections, articles, clauses, or points of a document, the ordinal number of the respective part, chapter, section, subsection, article, clause, or point must be specified. If citing a provision in another legal document, the title of that document must also be included.

The above are the updates regarding citation of legal documents in the Vietnam Law on Promulgating Legal Documents 2025. Should you have any related inquiries, please contact Viet An Law Firm for the best consultation and support!