President signs new laws on food safety, adoption

President Nguyen Minh Triet promulgated the Adoption Law; the Food Safety Law; the Enforcement of Criminal Verdicts Law and the Commercial Arbitration Law yesterday.

The seventh plenary session of the 12th National Assembly approved all four laws last month.

The Adoption Law is intended to establish a long-term relations between adoptive parents and their adopted children to the mutual benefit of both.

Its purpose is to ensure that adopted children are raised, nurtured and educated in a family environment.

It makes only children younger than 16 eligible for adoption.

Justice Deputy Minister Dinh Trung Tung said the law would create a stable, consistent legal framework that would promote long-term support and help in the protection, nurturing, raising and educating children from all of society .

Approval of the law also showed Viet Nam had honoured its international commitments after ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Child about 20 years ago.

The law of 5 chapters and 52 articles will come into effect in January 1, 2011.

Food safety

The Food Safety Law replaces the Food Safety and Hygienic Ordinance and includes numerous new regulations such as Chapter 3 that is intended to ensure food safety.

The law makes the assessment, management and dissemination of information about risks with food imperative.

It also regulates the safe export of food.

The 15 chapters and 182 clauses of the Enforcement of Criminal Verdicts Law illustrates the State's lenient and humane policies.

It regulates the organisation, function and power of authoritative offices in enforcing criminal verdicts, ranging from imprisonment to capital punishment.

It is designed to ensure the assignment of tasks and co-ordination among agencies in enforcing criminal verdicts in an effort to raise efficiency.

Article 59 provides for the use of a lethal injection for executions.

Article 45 stipulates special regulations for pregnant offenders and women who are nursing babies young than three.

The law will come into effect from July 1, 2011.

The Commercial Arbitration Law defines the legal relationship between commercial arbitrators with the courts, the people's procuracy and the executive.

Court jurisdiction is defined in Article 7.

Articles 46, 47, 53 and 71 govern the authority of the people's procuracy to gather proof, subpoena witnesses, apply urgent and temporary measures and abrogate arbitration verdicts.

Article 8 regulates the power of the executive body.

The regulations are designed to create conditions for judicial offices, arbitration councils and parties in dispute to avoid embarrassment.

The law also gives the Justice Ministry authority to licence arbitration entities.

It will come into effect in January 1, 2011.