Vietnam’s New Administrative Procedural Rules - an Analysis from Judicial Reform Perspective

Since 1990s Vietnam has started developing the mechanism for administrativelitigation for the purpose of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of publicadministrative practices, and promoting the implementation of citizens’ civil andpolitical rights. The mechanism has contributed to the decrease of the administrativediscretion in making decisions. However, there were many issues of both quality andquantity pertaining to the administration of litigation practice. To improve the situation, Vietnam has made multiple efforts in strengthening thelegal framework for administrative dispute resolution. One of the most notable moveswas enactment of Law on Administrative Procedures in 2010 to replace the Ordinanceon the Procedures for the Settlement of Administrative Cases 1998 for the purpose ofenhancing the quality of administrative litigation and fulfilling social expectation. Thenew law introduces new set of administrative procedural rules which helps, amongothers, to clarify the jurisdiction of the administrative courts, simplify administrativeprocedures, improve the rights of parties in the administrative case, and saveconsiderable time in dispute resolution. The new administrative procedural rules areexpected to contribute significantly towards the judicial reform in Vietnam. This paper aims to provide an introduction on the recent development ofadministrative litigation system in the context of judicial reforms in Vietnam. It startswith background development of administrative litigation system in Vietnam andcritically analyzes the issues of the mechanism and inadequacies of the administrativeprocedural rules during the first decades of development. It then discusses the salientprovisions of the new Law on Administrative Procedures and offers several thoughts for its further improvement.