Harmonizing Domestic Laws With WTO Obligations

Since it acceded to WTO on January 11, 2007, Vietnam has taken gradual steps towards opening its doors to foreign investments in an attempt to harmonize its domestic laws with its WTO commitments. However, not every road is filled with roses, and Vietnam’s effort for harmonization has not been without shortcomings. 

As a result, our Article will provide a summary of certain policies of the domestic laws in the context of Vietnam’s participation four years after its accession to WTO while stressing major issues regarding the compatibility between Vietnam’s domestic laws and its commitments to WTO. Although it should be noted that it is not the Article’s intention to comment on whether the cases discussed herein violate any WTO obligations or not but it is rather to raise the issue and greatly emphasize the importance of harmonization.

Our Article shall divulge and elucidate (i) the well-known story within the legal community in Vietnam on the application of the 51% voting rule between Resolution 71/2006/NQ-QH and the Law on Enterprises; (ii) the new story regarding the conflict between WTO commitments and Circular 122/2010/TT-BTC on price controls; and (iii) the story on retailing with a heavy emphasis on the Economic Need Test imposed by Circular 09/2007/TT-BTM to show a common result of driving away potential foreign investors from entering Vietnam’s market due to its regulatory challenges and the incompatibility with its WTO obligations.

Therefore, it is apparent for Vietnam to resolve the issues discussed herein as being a member of the WTO, Vietnam is bound to execute its commitments in accordance with WTO’s rules and regulations. However, despite the Ministry of Justice taking the initiative to review legal documents in the main areas of commerce in practice, Vietnam’s progress seems to be simply too slow.

The full PDF version of our Article can be read here.

Keywords: Vietnam’s accession; WTO commitments; Resolution 71/2006/NQ-QH; Circular 122/2010/TT-BTC; Circular 09/2007/TT-BTM; the Law on Enterprises.