The Government approved the amendment of Decree 58 on the management of maritime activities.

The Government Office has just issued a document conveying the opinion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on the proposal to develop a Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 58/2017/ND-CP dated May 10, 2017 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Vietnam Maritime Code on the management of maritime activities (hereinafter referred to as Decree 58).

Accordingly, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha approved the proposal to develop a Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 58 at the request of the Ministry of Transport .

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Transport to preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to draft a Decree according to Clause 2, Article 19 of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, and submit it to the Government in August 2024.

During the process of drafting the Decree, the Ministry of Transport coordinated with the Ministries of Justice, National Defense, Finance, Culture, Sports and Tourism, Industry and Trade, and Foreign Affairs to study and agree on the name of the Decree in accordance with the scope of regulation, content of amendments and supplements; carefully assess the impact of policies on regulations on the management of submarines and management of fixed transport routes for foreign shipping lines when providing cargo transportation services in Vietnam.

When the Decree arises content of regulations falling under the case in Clause 3, Article 19 of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, the Ministry of Transport shall coordinate with the Ministry of Justice to clearly define the content and basis, report to the Government to report to the National Assembly Standing Committee as prescribed.

Event - Government approves amendment to Decree 58 on maritime activities management — Decree 58 was issued by the Government on May 10, 2017, detailing a number of articles of the Vietnam Maritime Code on the management of maritime activities.

According to the report of the Ministry of Transport, since Decree 58 took effect (July 1, 2017), the state management of maritime has been effective, especially the reform of administrative procedures for ships entering and leaving seaports, which is an important legal basis for building and implementing the national single window mechanism for ships entering and leaving seaports.

However, after more than 6 years of implementation, some shortcomings and inadequacies have arisen from practice and from the provisions of the Decree itself, which need to be studied and amended to ensure consistency between legal documents and practical requirements, and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state management.

Specifically, regarding the ordering of maritime safety services: pursuant to Article 24 of Decree 58, maritime safety services are public services. However, the ordering of maritime safety services is currently being carried out in accordance with Decree No. 32/2019/ND-CP dated April 10, 2019 of the Government regulating the assignment, ordering or bidding for the provision of public products and services using the state budget from regular expenditure sources, accordingly, maritime safety services are defined as public career services. Therefore, it is necessary to amend Article 24 of Decree 58 to suit the reality.

Regarding the announcement of maritime notices: Currently, maritime safety enterprises are being assigned the authority to carry out 6 procedures for announcing maritime notices stipulated in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Article 44 of the Decree. However, the announcement of maritime notices is an administrative procedure carried out by state management agencies, currently assigned to the 2 Northern and Southern Maritime Safety Corporations, which is not appropriate.

Currently, enterprises ensure the publication of maritime notices and maritime safety work in the water area under the responsibility of the Maritime Port Authority. Therefore, it is necessary to study and amend the authority to publish maritime notices in Article 45 of the Decree.

For temporary seaport infrastructure: reduce the necessary documents for temporary seaport infrastructure serving the purpose of construction works and projects when announcing their use because these structures do not carry out commercial exploitation, only receive materials during construction, so it is not necessary to have complete documents on state acceptance approval, fire prevention and fighting, environment, and seaport security.

On September 28, 2022, the Minister of Transport issued Decision No. 1254/QD-BGTVT approving the Project on developing Vietnam's maritime transport fleet. To implement the Project on developing Vietnam's maritime transport fleet, it is necessary to study and amend the regulations on the use of tugboats to support inland waterway vehicles to increase the length of the vehicle to increase the productivity of transport activities.

In addition, to implement the revised Law on Electronic Transactions in 2023, regulations related to the implementation of electronic procedures for ships need to be revised and supplemented accordingly; supplement the responsibilities of state management agencies in building specialized databases to ensure the implementation of administrative procedures in the online environment .

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