It is necessary to draft a revised Postal Law.

(Chinhphu.vn) - The Ministry of Science and Technology is seeking public opinion on the draft Law on Postal Services (amended) to improve the legal framework for postal services and supplement new policies in line with Vietnam's international commitments in the fields of postal services, trade, and investment.

During the period 2020-2025, the total volume of postal items is expected to increase more than fourfold, with packages and parcels accounting for over 90%.

The Ministry of Science and Technology stated that the 2010 Postal Law, after 15 years of implementation, has created a fundamental legal framework for the formation and development of the postal market. However, the Law has now revealed many shortcomings and is no longer suitable for new development trends, specifically:

The relevant specialized legal systems (Enterprise Law, Investment Law, Digital Transformation Law, etc.) have been continuously amended and supplemented. At the same time, Vietnam has participated in many new-generation free trade agreements. Therefore, regulations on postal services need to be adjusted to ensure consistency, uniformity, and compliance with international commitments.

The 2010 Postal Law was enacted at a time when the postal industry primarily provided traditional services such as mail delivery, newspaper distribution, and delivery of small packages and parcels; e-commerce and the digital economy were underdeveloped. After 15 years, the market structure has fundamentally shifted: mail services have declined rapidly, while parcel and package delivery services for e-commerce have become the main driver of growth.

Between 2020 and 2025, the total volume of postal items is expected to increase more than fourfold, with packages and parcels accounting for over 90%. This rapid growth inevitably leads to businesses shifting their operations to the digital environment, organizing and managing their activities on digital platforms based on postal data; traditional postal services are transforming into digital postal services.

Currently, the postal sector has the potential to utilize drones and robots for delivery in urban areas. Therefore, regulations are needed to allow postal businesses to fully apply new models and technologies in postal services, while still ensuring control over potential risks during implementation.

Therefore, stemming from management practices, the current state of law enforcement, and the present context, the drafting of the amended Postal Law aims to perfect the legal framework for postal services, supplement new policies to address difficulties and shortcomings arising in practice, ensure uniformity, consistency, stability, feasibility, and conformity with Vietnam's international commitments in the fields of postal services, trade, and investment; and ensure consistency with laws on data, competition, land, finance, and other related laws.

Amend and supplement certain regulations to align with current postal practices.

In the draft Law, the Ministry of Science and Technology proposes amending and supplementing several provisions to align with current postal practices. Specifically, Chapter I: General Provisions, comprising 20 articles, inherits the provisions of the 2010 Postal Law and amends and supplements some regulations to suit current postal practices. Specifically:

Amend and supplement the fundamental concepts of postal activities such as: postal items, postal services, postal network, digital postal services, unmanned postal service points, postal enterprises operating postal networks and those not operating postal networks, and controlled testing mechanisms in postal activities (Article 3).

Expanding the scope of postal services beyond the stages of acceptance, sorting, transportation, and delivery of mail items to include stages directly related to each mail item after acceptance, such as warehousing, order processing, packaging, return of mail items, cash on delivery (COD), and declared value, all organized and operated on the postal network (Clause 3, Article 3).

The regulations are supplemented with provisions on the scope and criteria for defining postal services to distinguish them from transportation, logistics, and other services; postal services must be organized on the basis of a postal network, with identification, tracking, and tracing of postal items (Article 5).

The regulations are supplemented with provisions on the components of the postal network, including both physical infrastructure and information and data systems for managing, operating, and tracking postal items; allowing businesses to own, lease, or cooperate in the use of postal network infrastructure (Article 9).

The regulations are supplemented to classify postal enterprises into those operating postal networks and those not operating postal networks; and to classify network-operating enterprises into large and small-scale enterprises to serve as a basis for applying appropriate management mechanisms (Articles 11, 12, and 13).

Supplementing State policies on the development of digital postal services, green postal services, and the development of a synchronized and modern postal network; ensuring postal operations in emergency situations, natural disasters, and epidemics (Articles 4, 6, and 7).

Refine regulations on contracts for the provision and use of postal services, acceptance of postal items, delivery of postal items, and handling of undeliverable or non-returnable postal items; add electronic data-based contract and confirmation methods suitable for the digital service delivery model (Articles 14 to 20).

Innovating the management methods of postal service business operations.

Regarding postal services business, the draft Law inherits the 2010 Postal Law and amends and supplements it in a way that fundamentally innovates the method of managing postal service business activities from pre-inspection to post-inspection; simplifies and digitizes administrative procedures; strengthens the responsibility of enterprises and the effectiveness of supervision by state management agencies. Specifically:

The current licensing mechanism for postal service businesses is supplemented with a business registration mechanism; businesses must register before providing services, and the state agency only checks the completeness and validity of the documents, not their content; businesses are solely responsible for meeting business conditions throughout their operation (Article 21).

The regulations stipulate conditions for conducting postal services business in a way that is appropriate to each type of enterprise, including postal enterprises operating postal networks and postal enterprises not operating postal networks; and add requirements for ensuring safety, security, and quality management of postal services (Article 22).

Regulations stipulate the responsibility for updating, managing, and publicly disclosing information on business registration for postal services to serve state management, operational supervision, and enterprise accountability (Article 23).

完善 regulations on agency and representative activities in the postal sector, creating a legal basis for cooperation and provision of postal services across borders and in the digital environment (Article 24).

The regulations are supplemented to ensure fair competition in postal service business activities; requiring businesses to comply with competition law and not engage in anti-competitive or unfair competition practices (Article 25).

The Ministry of Science and Technology is currently seeking feedback on this draft on the Ministry's online portal.

Minh Hien

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/can-thiet-xay-dung-luat-buu-chinh-sua-doi-102260519165411673.htm