Close legal loopholes promptly.
In order to promptly amend, supplement, and replace inappropriate regulations that hinder development and meet the requirements of the new situation, the number of legal documents issued in recent times has gradually increased with each session of the National Assembly.
However, the cycle of laws awaiting decrees, and decrees awaiting circulars, has not changed, leading to increasingly widening legal gaps and delays in policy implementation.
Enforcement is difficult due to the lack of guiding documents.
In the first few months of 2026, many laws began to take effect. By January 1st, 2026 alone, 29 laws were simultaneously implemented. However, not many laws had immediate implementing guidelines, namely decrees and circulars. A prime example is the 2025 Investment Law. Although officially effective from March 1st, 2026, it is still awaiting implementing decrees.
Following the enactment of this law, several localities, such as Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City, issued documents requiring their local Public Administrative Service Centers to temporarily suspend accepting applications for administrative procedures related to investment activities in Vietnam. The reason given was that the guiding documents were still being finalized and submitted for promulgation, and there was no legal basis or foundation for implementation.
Shortly thereafter, the Ministry of Finance issued a document requesting that, while awaiting the issuance of the Government's resolution and decree, agencies continue to receive and process applications for administrative procedures in the investment sector according to the time limits, procedures, and regulations stipulated in Decree No. 31/2021/ND-CP guiding the implementation of some articles of the Investment Law, Decree No. 19/2025/ND-CP detailing the Investment Law on special investment procedures, and Circular No. 03/2021/TT-BKHĐT stipulating the forms of documents and reports related to investment activities in Vietnam and investment promotion. However, these old regulations will only continue to be applied if they remain consistent with the provisions of the 2025 Investment Law.
The Ministry of Finance's swift issuance of documents to "resolve obstacles" has helped ensure that investment-related procedures are not "stalled." However, determining which tables, procedures, and processes "remain relevant" under the new law in relation to the guidelines for implementing the old law is a concept that needs clarification to ensure consistent and uniform implementation across the country. Clearly, the delay in policy guidance has had a significant impact on investment activities.
According to lawyer Nguyen Dinh, it is noteworthy that the issue of laws awaiting decrees in the investment sector is a recurring problem. When the 2020 Investment Law came into effect, many localities issued documents temporarily suspending the acceptance of applications, leaving investors in a situation where they are "waiting for guidance." This leads to unnecessary waste and reduces the effectiveness of the policy. This backlog of guiding documents is not limited to the investment sector but continues to occur in many other areas as well.
In fact, in some other areas, even though a decree exists, there are no detailed implementing regulations or it takes effect immediately without transitional provisions, leaving many businesses in a difficult situation: complying with the regulations is impossible, but not complying would be against the regulations.
Discipline in execution must become a principle of action.
The Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents 2025 and its detailed decrees clearly stipulate that the issuance of guiding documents specifying concrete measures for organizing and guiding the implementation of expired documents must be carried out before the date the amended, supplemented, or replaced legal document takes effect.
Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tinh said that in practice, we have implemented this regulation in the past, but whether it has been comprehensive and has become a discipline and order needs to be looked at directly in the context of its issuance.
According to the Deputy Minister, going forward, the organization and implementation of policies need to be reformed, requiring legal discipline and enforcement discipline to ensure the supremacy of the law. “Right from the planning stage of drafting and promulgating laws, we must finalize which provisions are included in the law and which are included in decrees and circulars, according to the correct authority. When the law comes into effect, the implementing guidelines must be issued immediately and must be of high quality. This is perfectly normal and in accordance with the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Normative Documents, but we haven't done it well,” Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Tinh shared.
Decrees and circulars are extremely important documents in implementing legal regulations, making regulations that are primarily framework-based easier to apply and enforce; thereby establishing social order and discipline within the state apparatus, contributing to the building of a socialist rule of law state. Therefore, without guiding documents, without a basis for issuing forms, documents, and procedures for implementation, the effectiveness of policies will only remain… on paper.