The Relationship Between International Law of the Sea and Vietnamese Law of the Sea

(Baonghean.vn) -Question 6. What is the relationship between international maritime law and Vietnamese maritime law?

Reply:The promulgation of the Law of the Sea of ​​Vietnam is a very necessary and important legal event in the law-making process of the State of Vietnam in relation to international treaties to which Vietnam is a member.

There are three reasons to explain this event, which also show the relationship between Vietnam's Law of the Sea and international maritime law:

[l]. After signing the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in 1994, the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ratified and officially became a member of the Convention. The rapid internalization and transformation of the provisions of the Convention into domestic law is an inevitable requirement, and any country must have the obligation to implement it. Of course, all provisions of the Law of the Sea of ​​Vietnam must not be contrary to the provisions of international maritime law, but are only allowed to specify the regimes and provisions of international maritime law.

[2]. Before the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea adopted the Convention, in order to meet the needs of state management of activities at sea, Vietnam had legal documents on the sea, but they were not complete, comprehensive, and not suitable for handling the increasingly developing relationship, socio-economic activities, national defense and security at sea, especially in the complex dispute situation, those documents did not meet the requirements. Therefore, it is impossible not to have a national Law of the Sea to meet all those requirements and, moreover, that also demonstrates the responsibility and seriousness of Vietnam as an official member of the Convention.

[3]. The current world trend is towards the sea and ocean. In fact, the exploitation of ocean resources, from maritime transport, biological and non-biological resources, oil and gas exploitation is increasingly developing, bringing great benefits to the country, especially to Vietnam, a coastal country with a long coastline and large sea area. The cause of economic development associated with the task of protecting national sovereignty in the current situation requires Vietnam to reach out to the sea to exploit, protect and manage the sea, which is an inevitable requirement. If there is no timely law to regulate these activities in accordance with international law, in accordance with political and diplomatic relations in the region and countries, it can easily lead to conflict, and the risk of conflict not only affects the region and the world, but also the interests of the country and its people.

More