Regulatory Reform

In October 2008, the Ministry of Health in Vietnam introduced a new regulation to address the lack of safety on the roads of Vietnam due to dangerous drivers on motorbikes. This regulation required that only people who weighed over 40kg, and had a height of over 1.45m and had a chest size over 73cm would be allowed to ride motorbikes on the road with engine sizes of 50cc and above. This automatically banned 50% of all women in Vietnam from being able to drive on the roads in Vietnam over night.

The Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative (VNCI) has been working to implement the use of impact assessments in the policy making process to stop such regulations from being drafted. The Law on Laws stipulates that from 1st January 2009 all Laws, Ordinances and Decrees will be required to have a RIA (Regulatory Impact Assessment) conducted as part of the law making process to improve laws and policies in Vietnam. The procedures and requirements for conducting RIA are being finalized within the Vietnamese government and their development has been supported by the VNCI project. Mr. Hoang The Lien, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Justice, and member of VNCI’s Steering Committee, stated that the support of VNCI, in cooperation with STAR II, to the drafting team of the RIA on the Law on Laws “provided the technical skills we need to produce evidence-based analysis using RIA. The support to the Law on Laws was a great contribution to the proposed reforms.” Collaboration between STAR and VNCI In addition to supporting the institutional framework’s development, both DAI projects – Support for Trade Acceleration (STAR) and VNCI, have begun working on supporting the development of specific laws and their RIAs due for government approval in 2009 such as the consumer protection law and food safety law. This collaboration has managed to utilize the expertise and resources in both projects toward a common goal of improving specific laws for the benefit of Vietnam. Phase one of VNCI introduced the concept of RIA which has been accepted by the Prime Minister and government in Vietnam as a key tool for improving the economic governance of Vietnam, which has even greater importance in the current economic climate. Phase two of VNCI will pilot, operationalize and implement RIA to assist the Vietnamese government in improving the overall quality of laws and regulations and improve transparency, efficiency, productivity and ultimately Vietnam’s competitiveness.