Report assessing the implementation of the Law on Civil Registration and its implementing regulations

 
In implementing the 2025 work plan, within the framework of cooperation and support from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Department of Administrative Justice collaborated with experts to develop a report assessing the implementation of the Law on Civil Registration and its detailed implementing regulations. This report comprehensively evaluated the implementation of civil registration regulations, particularly in relation to ensuring the right to civil registration and nationality determination for vulnerable population groups. A workshop was also organized to share research results, consult with, and gather feedback from representatives of several provinces and cities on the report's content. The workshop results are as follows:
I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
1. Workshop Title
The workshop was officially titled: “Workshop on sharing research results and evaluating the implementation of the provisions of the Law on Civil Status and its implementing regulations in relation to ensuring the exercise of civil status registration rights and nationality determination for vulnerable population groups.”
2. Workshop Objectives
To inform and share research results with relevant provinces and cities regarding the report evaluating the implementation of the Law on Civil Status and its implementing regulations, aiming for a comprehensive assessment of the implementation of civil status legal provisions, especially in relation to ensuring the exercise of civil status registration rights and nationality determination for vulnerable population groups, as developed by the Expert Group.
3. Time and Location of the Workshop: - Time: 1 day, December 5, 2025.
- Location: Tay Bac Hotel, 4 Ha Bong Street, An Hai Ward, Da Nang City.
4. Content and Program
The main content of the workshop is to provide information on the process of preparing the report and the results of the research report evaluating the implementation of the provisions of the Law on Civil Registration and its implementing regulations in relation to ensuring the exercise of civil registration rights and nationality determination for vulnerable population groups, while also listening to feedback from representatives of local agencies.
5. Chairperson and Co-chairs
The workshop is chaired by Mr. Nham Ngoc Hien – Deputy Director of the Department of Administrative Justice, and co-chaired by Mr. Vu Anh Son - expert, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
6. Agency/Unit Responsible for Organizing the Workshop: Department of Administrative Justice, Ministry of Justice.
7. Speaker Information
The speakers represent the expert group, including:
- Ms. Tran Thi Lan Phuong, Master of Law, Deputy Head of the International Law Research Department, Institute of Strategy and Legal Science, Ministry of Justice.
- Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hang, Master of Law, former Head of Department, Department of Administrative Justice, Ministry of Justice.
8. Participants
The workshop has the following composition:
- Organizing Committee
- Experts
- Representatives from the Ministry of Justice
- Representatives from several relevant ministries and agencies
- Representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
- Delegates representing the Departments of Justice and civil servants working in justice and civil registration at the commune level from 11 provinces and cities: Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Quang Ngai, Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Hue, Da Nang, Can Tho, Tay Ninh, and Khanh Hoa.
9. Funding:
The workshop's funding was 100% provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
II. WORKSHOP RESULTS
1. Regarding the sharing of research report results assessing the implementation of the provisions of the Law on Civil Registration and its implementing regulations in relation to ensuring the exercise of civil registration rights and nationality determination for vulnerable population groups.
a) Regarding the report preparation process:
This research report assesses the situation of law enforcement from the effective date of the Civil Registration Law (January 1, 2016) to the present, nationwide.
The report was prepared during the first eight months of 2022, through research and review of legal documents in the field of civil registration and related fields, and administrative reports provided by the Department of Administrative Justice.
b) The basic content of the report is as follows:
(i) Results of the implementation of the Law on Civil Registration and its implementing regulations, including the work of building and perfecting the institutional framework, and the work of organizing the implementation of the law (issuing and organizing the implementation plan; disseminating and publicizing legal regulations; reviewing relevant legal documents; conducting inspections, audits, and providing professional guidance; training, fostering, and strengthening the team of civil registration officials; ensuring the issuance of personal identification numbers when registering the birth of children; applying information technology in civil registration and management; and other tasks). (ii) Assessment of achievements, highlighted as:
- The institutional framework in the field of civil registration has been fundamentally perfected, ensuring a legal basis, and many new reform-oriented regulations have directly expanded access to civil registration rights for vulnerable groups. - The deployment of a sufficient number of civil servants with increasingly higher legal expertise in civil registration has significantly contributed to resolving practical difficulties, especially regarding the complex civil registration of vulnerable groups, which has been addressed promptly and in accordance with the law.
- The implementation of the electronic civil registration database and the connection for assigning personal identification numbers to children upon birth registration has created an important foundation for ensuring the right to civil registration for vulnerable groups.
- Administrative procedures in the field of civil registration continue to be reformed and simplified, thereby expanding access and ensuring the right to civil registration for vulnerable groups.
- The dissemination and promotion of laws on civil registration have been strengthened, contributing to raising awareness and promoting the exercise of the right to civil registration, including for vulnerable groups. - The application of information technology in civil registration has been given attention and implemented in localities, and the electronic civil registration database has been established.
- Civil registration and management work has seen many positive changes, gradually meeting the requirements of state management and ensuring the right to civil registration for vulnerable groups.
- Civil registration and management work at representative offices has been strengthened and ensured in terms of quality.
(ii) Assessment of existing shortcomings, limitations and causes:
- The law lacks specific provisions for civil registration for vulnerable groups; some civil registration regulations are not fully synchronized or consistent with related laws, failing to guarantee the right to civil registration for vulnerable populations; they do not anticipate or address all practical issues; and they are not conducive to full online civil registration and registration regardless of place of residence.
- The development and completion of the national electronic civil registration database faces many difficulties regarding resources.
- The civil registration staff is still unstable, directly affecting the guarantee of civil registration rights for vulnerable groups, especially since July 1, 2025, when the local government organizational model has been transformed and administrative units merged.
- Coordination between relevant sectors and agencies is not yet truly smooth, close, and effective. - The implementation of the Law on Civil Registration is still affected by many subjective and objective factors such as information technology infrastructure, the limited IT skills of civil servants working in the judicial and civil registration field, and customs and practices that are not applied correctly according to the law, which significantly affect the results of civil registration. In current management, there is no mechanism to manage the number of children born and the number of deaths in a year, so there is no accurate information on the birth and death registration rates for vulnerable groups. On the other hand, localities also lack appropriate methods and approaches to conduct civil registration for vulnerable groups. (iii) Recommendations and proposals:
- Continue to improve the institutional framework in the field of civil registration in the direction of putting the people, especially vulnerable groups, at the center.
- Strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of state management of civil registration through monitoring, urging, professional guidance and document review. - Continue to strengthen, improve, and enhance the capacity of civil servants working in civil registration – a crucial factor in ensuring access to rights for vulnerable groups.
- Strengthen and improve the inter-sectoral and inter-level coordination mechanism in civil registration and management.
- Enhance the provision of adequate facilities and equipment for judicial agencies.
- Promote the dissemination and education of civil registration laws in a way that is easily accessible to vulnerable groups.
- Continue to promote administrative reform and digital transformation in civil registration and management, while maintaining direct support for vulnerable groups.
- Strengthen and enhance civil registration and management activities at representative offices. To ensure the implementation of the proposed solutions, the expert group also identified specific recommendations for the National Assembly, the Government, and local authorities, aiming to establish a reasonable mechanism for perfecting the legal framework and ensuring appropriate operational mechanisms.
2. Regarding the results of the exchange, discussion, and feedback:
The delegates focused on sharing experiences and discussing the following issues:
- The representative from the Hue City Department of Justice shared some practical issues in the process of implementing civil registration laws, especially after July 1, 2025, when Hue will implement a two-tiered local government model and thoroughly decentralize the handling of administrative procedures in the field of civil registration to the commune-level local government. Accordingly, a major problem currently is the overload in handling work. The workload concentrated at the commune level is very large, especially in densely populated urban areas, while the staffing level has not increased correspondingly. During this period, civil registration officials mainly focus on handling administrative procedures and do not have the opportunity to advise or organize in-depth support activities for vulnerable groups.
The transfer of complex procedures, including civil registration, to vulnerable population groups can lead to errors, partly because civil registration officials in some areas, after reorganization, lack practical experience and are not yet proficient in using the electronic civil registration and management system. This leads to confusion in receiving and advising on the resolution of dossiers, especially those of vulnerable groups.
- Representative of the Gia Lai Provincial Department of Justice: Regarding the team of civil registration officials at the local level, in Gia Lai, the civil registration officials at the commune level in the province are responsible and dedicated to their work. The majority of civil registration officials have many years of experience at the grassroots level and are well-versed in the characteristics of the population, culture, and customs of ethnic minorities in the area. This helps them effectively handle situations arising in the field of civil registration, while also performing well in public relations work, guiding and explaining legal regulations in an easy-to-understand and accessible way for the people. However, the biggest limitation is the uneven level of IT skills, especially in using electronic civil registration software, digital signatures, and online public services, leading to a low quality of online civil registration processing. This also leads to an overload in processing civil registration applications. Improving the quality of civil registration staff is also very urgent and important, not only to meet the requirements of administrative reform, but also to ensure the personal rights of citizens, contributing to building a modern, professional administration and serving the people better and better.
- Representative from the Nghe An Provincial Department of Justice: Suggested further improvement of relevant legal regulations concerning vulnerable population groups, ensuring clear legal mechanisms or detailed, more proactive guidance for practical issues arising in addressing birth registration requests for vulnerable groups, especially cases involving the registration of births of children born abroad but without proof of entry.
- Representative from the Can Tho City Department of Justice: Generally agreed with the draft report prepared by the expert group, and requested the Ministry of Justice to provide training, guidance, and professional direction on civil registration for inexperienced or untrained judicial officials; and to organize professional training courses and issue certificates to civil registration officers. Support and guidance should be provided to localities to effectively operate the Electronic Civil Registration Software as directed by the Ministry of Justice.
- Representative from the Da Nang City Department of Justice: Practical implementation has shown that the capacity and quality of civil servants vary significantly across localities; some newly recruited or transferred civil servants lack practical experience and face difficulties in handling complex procedures such as civil registration involving foreign elements, corrections, and additions to civil registration records. In the coming period, the Department of Justice will continue to review and proactively provide professional guidance; strengthen in-depth training and professional development in the field of civil registration to ensure the quality and efficiency of handling civil registration procedures at the local level.
- Representative from the Tay Ninh Provincial Department of Justice: The group of free migrants and those whose nationality is undetermined are living together as husband and wife without registering their marriage. Because they lack documents proving their identity and place of residence, they cannot complete the necessary paperwork to register their marriage according to regulations. Unrecognized marriages significantly affect the rights of both parties in property matters, and also impact the rights of children of these "married" couples, especially the right to have their parentage established and their information recorded on their birth certificates. Specific and thorough guidance is requested to address this issue.
- Representative from the Quang Ngai Provincial Department of Justice: A mechanism for effective and practical legal education and communication is needed to raise awareness among the public, particularly vulnerable groups, regarding civil registration and ensuring human and civil rights.
The workshop was productive and listened to the opinions of the participating delegates. Mr. Nham Ngoc Hien, Deputy Director of the Department of Administrative Justice, who chaired the meeting, acknowledged the contributions of the delegates and requested the expert group to take note of the issues raised by the localities to revise the report if necessary.
3. Assessment of Advantages and Limitations:
Advantages:
- The expert group's preparation in developing and presenting the report at the workshop was highly appreciated.
- The report's content basically summarized the overall results of law enforcement in the field of civil registration, especially establishing the correlation in ensuring the rights of vulnerable population groups, clearly identifying positive aspects, existing shortcomings, limitations, causes of the problems, and proposing solutions.
- Delegates from various localities listened attentively and spent considerable time exchanging, sharing, and discussing.
Limitations:
The impact of the transition to a two-tiered local government organizational model on law enforcement in the field of civil registration, especially in relation to ensuring the exercise of civil registration rights and nationality determination for vulnerable population groups, was not fully assessed. III. Conclusion:
 
The workshop to share research results and assess the implementation of the provisions of the Law on Civil Status and its implementing regulations in relation to ensuring the exercise of civil status registration rights and nationality determination for vulnerable population groups was successfully organized, receiving many valuable suggestions. The content of the presentations and discussions was comprehensive and detailed. The workshop achieved its objectives and results as planned in the activity plan.