NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CONSIDERS OPTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING WTO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002179

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD WTRO VM
SUBJECT: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CONSIDERS OPTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING WTO
COMMITMENTS


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1. (SBU) Summary: The Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) is making
plans for its fall session, in which the first order of business
will be to ratify Vietnam's WTO Accession Protocol. The NA has not
yet received detailed instructions from the Vietnamese government on
changes in specific laws that would be needed in order to implement
WTO commitments. In anticipation of making such changes, however,
the NA initially considered two options: attaching an annex to the
ratification resolution with a list of laws that the NA promises to
amend in the 2007 spring session, or making the Accession Protocol
self-enforcing. Neither of these options would fully satisfy the
concerns of the United States or others. Now however, the NA
leaders are considering passage of specific legal changes either in
an omnibus law or as an appendix to the resolution ratifying the
Accession Protocol. End summary.

NA Fall Session - First Business to Ratify WTO Accession
-------------- --------------


2. (U) The National Assembly is seized with the issue of how to
harmonize Vietnamese law with new commitments under WTO. At one
point there was some talk of calling a special National Assembly
session to pass WTO-related legislation. Given that multilateral
discussions have not yet concluded and that the GVN has not yet
submitted any concrete proposals to the National Assembly, a special
session is now not considered practicable. According to NA
officials, the NA fall session is likely to last from October 17 to
November 10, then break for ten days for APEC, and then reconvene
from November 21 to December 5. (Note: In Vietnam's legal system,
the State President has full authority to ratify international
agreements. However, in about four or five cases, including the
U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement, former President Tran Duc
Luong chose to transfer this authority to the NA. Our contacts
expect, with 95 percent confidence, that current President Nguyen
Minh Triet will choose to do so with the WTO Accession Protocol.
End Note.)

Options for Implementing WTO Commitments
--------------


3. (SBU) NA leaders are trying to determine how to best handle any
changes in laws needed to comply with the final Protocol. They have
not yet been given detailed suggestions on this matter by the
government. In the absence of direction, they anticipate that the
first order of business will be approval for a "Resolution to
Ratify" the WTO Accession Protocol. This may be passed as early as
October 19, if the current schedule holds. This resolution, with
the Protocol attached, would commit Vietnam to making all legal
changes needed to implement the terms of the Protocol.


4. (SBU) NA leaders anticipate that changes to specific laws will
be necessary, thus the NA's work will need to extend beyond merely
ratifying the Protocol. Initially fearing that there would not be
enough time to develop and consider language for actual amendments
in the upcoming session, NA leaders were considering two options:

-- Option 1: Attach an annex to the Resolution with a list of laws
that the NA promises to amend in the 2007 spring session, after the
NA and the GVN have had time to develop and consider specific
language for the amendments.

-- Option 2: Make the Accession Protocol self-enforcing in line
with the new Treaties Law, which would mean that the Protocol, or
designated specific parts, would become Vietnamese law.


5. (SBU) We understand that the NA leaders' thinking has since
evolved. They now consider that specific legal changes will be best
made at the time of ratification. Therefore, they are considering
whether to: (a) append to the "Resolution on Ratification" a list of
changes in specific laws; or (b) pass an omnibus law containing the
actual changes. Either alternative would be legally binding. As
noted above, NA leaders have still not received details from the
government on specific legal changes required, but their
understanding is that the number of changes that will have to be
made will be relatively small and that there will be enough time for

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the government to draft new language and explain the needed changes
to the NA.

Comment
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6. (SBU) NA leaders want to express their strong political support
for WTO accession through legislative action, but our contacts
remains confused and somewhat concerned that they will not have time
to do their part. Multilateral discussions continue, which helps
explain why the government has yet to start working with the NA on
necessary changes. This leaves the NA leaders to debate option and
discuss process, and we will continue to track that debate. It is
encouraging that NA leaders now recognize the shortcomings of
limiting their initial legislative moves to making promises of
future actions over coming sessions.

MARINE