Reviewing law-making activities essential for better CPTPP's implementation
Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (VCCI) in coordination with the Central Institute for Economic
Management (CIEM) on November 10 organised a virtual seminar on the
implementation of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific
Partnership (CPTPP) from the law-making perspective.
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./.