Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha: Ministry of Industry and Trade creates a stable legal foundation for production and business

In 2025, the work of building and perfecting laws of the Ministry of Industry and Trade has achieved positive results, demonstrating the determination in leadership and direction as well as the proactive spirit of "working until the end of the day" of units under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha - Chairman of SB LAW Company shared and evaluated the work of building and perfecting the law of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2025 with Industry and Trade Newspaper.

*The work of building and perfecting laws in the industry and trade sector contributes to creating a stable legal foundation for production and business activities. Photo: VNA*

Creating a stable legal foundation for production and business activities

- How do you evaluate the proactive spirit, "no matter when it's time, there's no end to work" and the role of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in building and perfecting the legal system of the industry in 2025?

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha : The results of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's drafting of legal documents in 2025 demonstrate remarkable progress in the scale, progress and quality of legislative and regulatory work.

In particular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade's submission to the National Assembly for approval of the Law on Chemicals (amended) and the Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Economical and Efficient Use of Energy demonstrates its capacity to perfect policies in highly technical and risky fields. In particular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has also demonstrated its proactiveness in lawmaking when submitting to the Government for submission to the National Assembly for promulgation of the Law on E-commerce. This is a policy-forecasting move, consistent with the context of digital trade, cross-border trade and management requirements for the digital economy .

At the decree and circular level, the Ministry of Industry and Trade submitted 20 decrees to the Government (16 decrees have been issued) and issued 49 circulars, reflecting a huge workload, and at the same time showing that the Ministry has fully performed its assigned responsibilities under the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents. These documents directly regulate the activities of enterprises, markets and people in many fields such as energy, chemicals, e-commerce, competition, and consumer rights protection.

From an institutional perspective, it can be seen that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is taking on the role of the agency in charge of law-making in many key areas of the economy. The Ministry not only completes its tasks according to the approved program but also proactively proposes amendments and supplements to promptly complete the legal framework, ensuring transparency, feasibility and conformity with international practices.

It can be affirmed that the spirit of initiative, responsibility and the motto "no work after hours" have contributed to improving the effectiveness of the work of building and perfecting laws of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, thereby creating a stable legal foundation for production and business activities, promoting the investment environment and supporting sustainable economic growth.

- In the process of innovating legislative thinking, the Ministry of Industry and Trade focuses on reviewing and removing legal "bottlenecks"; eliminating the mindset of "if you can't manage it, then ban it". In your opinion, how does this affect the legal environment and the operations of businesses and people?

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha : The Ministry of Industry and Trade's strengthening of reviewing and removing legal "bottlenecks"; abandoning the mindset of "if you can't manage it, then ban it" and perfecting regulations to serve digital transformation, green transformation, and innovation will create positive and long-term impacts on the legal environment as well as the operations of businesses and people.

It can be seen that there are currently many regulations in areas such as energy, logistics, e-commerce, competition, etc. that are overlapping, scattered or infeasible. When these problems are resolved, businesses will have easier access to policies, limit legal risks, and reduce procedural time and costs. This promotes policy stability and predictability - an important factor in the investment environment.

Furthermore, the move away from the “if you can’t manage it, ban it” mindset represents a shift towards a risk-based management approach, based on the principles of transparency and development support. This is an orientation consistent with international practices and the requirements of a modern market economy. When the management agency shifts from a heavy pre-control model to an effective post-control model, businesses will have more room for innovation. This is especially important in fast-growing areas such as e-commerce, digital economy, renewable energy, environment and industrial production.

In addition, the completion of the legal framework to serve digital transformation, green transformation and innovation will create new growth drivers. Regulations related to data, technical standards, carbon credits, competitive electricity markets, renewable energy, cross-border digital trade, etc. are the legal foundation for businesses to apply new business models, invest in new technologies and participate more deeply in the global supply chain. People also benefit through access to digital services, improving the quality of goods and services, reducing costs and increasing environmental safety.

*Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha - Chairman of SB LAW Company. Photo: Quoc Chuyen*

Building laws in a professional, modern and feasible direction

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade is taking the lead in implementing major projects to improve the capacity of legal organizations according to Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW, aiming at training, fostering and strengthening the role of the legal team. In your opinion, how significant is this effort in improving the quality and effectiveness of legal improvement of the Industry and Trade sector in the coming time?

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha : The Ministry of Industry and Trade's leadership in implementing projects to improve the capacity of legal organizations according to Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW on innovation in law-making and enforcement to meet the requirements of national development in the new era is of particular importance in the process of perfecting the law of the Industry and Trade sector, both at the institutional and policy implementation levels.

First of all, these Projects contribute to consolidating the position and role of the legal organization in the state management structure of the Ministry, helping the Ministry of Industry and Trade build a legal team with sufficient capacity, in the right position, with clear functions, in accordance with the requirements of innovation in law-making work. At the same time, this is a necessary step to improve the quality of legislative and regulatory techniques.

A legal team with in-depth training in drafting legal documents, assessing policy impacts, and comparative law will help the drafting of documents become more systematic, scientific, and more consistent with international practices. This is especially important in the context of Vietnam's deep integration, having to comply with the commitments and standards of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as the CPTPP, EVFTA Agreements... which require a high level of legal technical skills.

In addition, these Projects also help to enhance the Ministry's forecasting and policy response capabilities. With a strong legal team, the Ministry of Industry and Trade can quickly identify new legal issues arising from market practices such as energy transition, digital trade, supply chain management, geopolitical fluctuations, thereby proactively proposing amendments and supplements to the law. This helps to limit the situation of slow, inconsistent or out-of-touch documents.

On the other hand, improving legal capacity contributes to improving the quality of law enforcement and application. A document with good technical quality but lacking a legal system to implement it will have limited practical effectiveness. When the legal organization is trained, clearly decentralized and operates uniformly from the Central to the units under the Ministry, the guidance, dissemination, inspection and review of documents will become more effective, minimizing legal risks, conflicts or overlaps.

- In the coming time, in your opinion, in what aspects should the work of perfecting the legal system of the Industry and Trade sector continue to be improved, in order to promptly institutionalize the policies of the Party and State as well as improve policy response capacity to keep up with practical requirements and meet the requirements of international integration?

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha : Firstly , it is necessary to continue to improve the law-making mechanism in a professional, modern and feasible direction. Policy impact assessment, consultation with affected subjects, cost and benefit analysis and comparative legal references need to be carried out fully, methodically and based on practical data. This helps legal documents to be more feasible, accurately reflect market needs and avoid unrealistic regulations or unnecessary compliance costs.

Second , it is necessary to strengthen the forecasting and policy response capacity of the Industry and Trade sector. The sector is being strongly impacted by trends such as supply chain shifts, energy transition, digital economy, cross-border trade and requirements to comply with international standards. Therefore, legal organizations need to improve their ability to identify risks early, quickly update international developments and make timely recommendations for amending and supplementing laws to reduce policy lag. This is a premise for the Ministry of Industry and Trade to maintain a proactive role in institution building.

Third , it is necessary to continue to promote the review, systematization and simplification of laws. Many regulations in the fields of energy, chemicals, trade, logistics, food safety, etc. still have overlaps, dispersion or lack of uniformity. Building specialized codes, updating legal databases and standardizing the process of drafting and checking documents will help ensure the consistency, transparency and applicability of the legal system. At the same time, abolishing inappropriate administrative procedures will create favorable conditions for businesses and people.

Fourth , it is necessary to develop legal human resources according to the requirements of Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW. The legal team of the Ministry and its affiliated units must be thoroughly trained in legislative techniques, international law, specialized law and policy analysis skills. Human resource capacity is a decisive factor in the quality of legal documents; therefore, professional training, international experience exchange and application of information technology to the legal process must be given strong priority.

Finally, it is necessary to continue to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of law enforcement. A high-quality document can only be truly effective when it is fully implemented. Therefore, the Ministry needs to optimize the mechanism for disseminating laws, guiding implementation, checking and supervising their application; promote the application of technology in state management; and enhance the accountability of agencies and units in the process of policy implementation.

Thank you!

According to Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha, improving the quality of legal perfection in the industry and trade sector is not only an intrinsic requirement of the institutional reform process, but also a condition to enhance national competitiveness and meet international integration requirements in the new context.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/luat-su-nguyen-thanh-ha-bo-cong-thuong-tao-nen-tang-phap-ly-on-dinh-cho-san-xuat-kinh-doanh-433319.html