New features of the Vietnam Coast Guard’s scope of operations

The Law on Vietnam Coast Guard was passed by the National Assembly at the 6th session on November 19, 2018 with 8 Chapters and 41 Articles, coming into force from July 1, 2019.

The Law prescribes the position, functions, duties, powers, organization and operation of the Vietnam Coast Guard; regimes and policies for the Vietnam Coast Guard; responsibilities of relevant agencies, organizations and individuals.

Clause 2, Article 11 stipulates: "In case of humanitarian and peaceful purposes, fighting against and combating crimes or the acts that violate the law, the Vietnam Coast Guard is allowed to operate outside Vietnamese waters."

This is a new point about the scope of operations of the Vietnam Coast Guard, which is defined in the Law as operating outside Vietnamese waters.

The phrase "outside Vietnamese waters" can be understood to include: relevant geographical regions and waters outside Vietnam's territorial waters (mainland, international waters).

Article 12 of the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard clearly defines seven working measures for the Coast Guard, including: mass mobilization, law, diplomacy, economics, science-technology, expertise, and armed forces to protect national security, ensure order and safety at sea according to the provisions of law; The Commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard decides on the use of work measures of the Coast Guard, is responsible before the law and his superiors for his decision.

The provisions of Article 12 of the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard createa a legal basis for the Vietnam Coast Guard to well perform its assigned functions, tasks and powers; showing the right position and role as the people's armed force, the State's specialized force, acting as the core of law enforcement at sea.

This is a new and clearer regulation compared to the 2008 Ordinance, which deals with the shortcomings of the current legal system: there are no regulations on working measures for the Coast Guard.

In addition, the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard also stipulates more clearly the international cooperation of the Vietnam Coast Guard, with a separate section, including three articles on principles, contents and forms of international cooperation, creating an open and favorable legal corridor for the Vietnam Coast Guard to fulfill the national liabilities of the coastal state in accordance with the international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory.

The Law on Vietnam Coast Guard was passed by the National Assembly at the 6th session on November 19, 2018 with 8 Chapters and 41 Articles, coming into force from July 1, 2019.

The Coast Guard has the right to chase ships at sea

Vietnam Coast Guard has carried out many activities related to restriction of human rights and citizenship.

The Vietnam Coast Guard has regularly used these rights to fight and prevent acts of encroaching on Vietnamese waters; illegal fishing; illegal research and exploration of oil and gas and minerals; smuggling, trading, and transporting goods illegally; drug smuggling at sea; Suppressing pirates and armed robbers.

Therefore, in order to ensure compliance with Clause 2, Article 14 of the 2013 Constitution on “Human rights, civil rights can only be restricted according to the provisions of law…,” Chapter 3, Law on Vietnam Coast Guard has specific and clear regulations on the order, procedures and competence of the Vietnam Coast Guard in each activity such as patrol, inspection and control; mobilize human resources, ships and civil means; exercising the right to chase ships at sea; use of weapons, explosives and support tools; use professional technical facilities and equipment; publish maritime security level ...

Responsibilities and regimes and policies for agencies, organizations and individuals participating in and coordinating to cooperate with, support and assist the Vietnam Coast Guard:

Based on the characteristics of the operating environment of the Vietnam Coast Guard on large water areas, with severe and difficult weather conditions, in many cases, participation and coordination, support and assistance of agencies, individuals and organizations are required to perform the tasks.

Therefore, the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard has specific provisions to ensure regimes and policies for organizations and individuals that support Vietnam Coast Guard specifically in some articles.

As stated in Article 6, “Law on Vietnam Coast Guard regulates the responsibilities, regimes and policies for agencies, organizations and individuals participating, coordinating, cooperating, supporting and assisting the Vienam Coast Guard” and Article 16 prescribes the mobilization of people, ships and civil technical means and equipment by the Vietnam Coast Guard.

How has the Vietnam Coast Guard implemented the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard?

To ensure the implementation of the Law, the High Command of Coast Guard has researched and developed two decrees; two Circulars and two Decisions of the Minister of Defense detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard in accordance with the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, ensuring progress and quality according to the drafting plan of the Government and the Ministry of Defense.

Last year, the High Command of the Coast Guard implemented the construction of a project to propagate and disseminate the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard in the period of 2019-2022.

The Minister of Defense signed a decision to establish the project drafting team to submit to the Prime Minister for approval and implementation in June 2019.

The main content of the project is to focus on propagating and disseminating the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard to officers, soldiers, staff of ministries, departments and agencies, ensuring that everyone can communicate and understand the basic content of the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard.

The High Command of Coast Guard is developing a plan to consolidate, rearrange and restructure the Vietnam Coast Guard Training Center in accordance with the order, procedures specified by the Ministry of Defense.

It is expected that the plan will be submitted to the Minister of Defense to sign and then submited to the Prime Minister for approval in the third quarter of 2020.

By 2025, the Vietnam Coast Guard will complete the consolidation, rearrangement and restructuring of the Vietnam Coast Guard Training Center into a human resource training facility to actively serve the development needs of the Vietnam Coast Guard.

Ngân Phương