Disclosure and transparency in activities of local authorities in vietnam at present

D ISC L O S U R E ầm T R A N SP A R E N C IN AC T IVIT IE S O F LO CAL AU T H O R IT IE S IN V IE TN A M ẴT P R E S E N T A/Prof, Dr Tra T D eu Oa I trodut o Disclosu e and t anspa ency in local gove nment activities a e the esponsibility of the State in the p ocess of exe cising democ acy, building up integ ity and c eating gove nments Publicity and t anspa ency of local autho ities at g ass oots levels a e aimed at st engthening people’s confidence in the ope ation of the state appa atus in o de to stabilize politics, economy and society In ecent yea s, ho is t anspa ency and publicity implemented? Ho people pa ticipate and evaluate this activity? If the e a e many limitations and obstacles, hat a e the ecommendations needed to ensu e disclosu e and t anspa ency in the ope ation of local gove nments? These a e the issues that ill be explained in the a ticle A overv ew o local aut or t es format o d sclosure a d tra spare cy act v t es of T anspa ency in management activities is an obviousness, hich can also be conside ed as a eason fo the existence and the sou ce of the po e of a public autho ity T anspa ency is fi stly aimed at ensu ing the democ atic natu e of society, demonst ating the people’s ight to pa ticipate in state management T anspa ency is also a ve y impo tant solution fo ed essing ed tape, b ibe y and co uption, cleaning up the management appa atus T anspa ency in management is also an indispensable condition fo the state appa atus to acqui e kno ledge of the people fo management activities T anspa ency is also an essential equi ement fo being successful in inte national integ ation Faculty of tate - Law and heoretical Foundations National Academy o f ublic Administration 737 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance _ T anspa ency means implementing a egime of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in all State management activities, except fo those matte s elated to the national defence and secu ity hich need to be kept sec et It is necessa y to emphasize that: info mation disclosu e is associated ith t anspa ency, because the e a e cases he e the e is disclosu e but not t anspa ency as the authenticity and sound basis of the published issues have not been stated clea ly In the economics, the fi st action is to disclose info mation and make t anspa ent plans, of hich the most impo tant thing at p esent is to publicize and make t anspa ent land-use plans, the allocation of land and the use of land, a valuable esou ce of the count y hich is being asted, embezzled and app op iated the most The second action is to make t anspa ent the mobilization and the use of the state budget in o de to ed ess the ineffective use of budget Public investment p o ects (using funds f om state o igin) must be publicized, made t anspa ent and supe vised st ictly to avoid co uption, aste, ineffectiveness and to p event f om being a facto causing inflation It is necessa y to disclose info mation about and make t anspa ent the p ocesses of planning and execution of mechanisms and policies If being discussed in an open and democ atic manne , mechanisms and policies ill be supplemented and completed, thus, ill be close to eality, meet equi ements in the count y’s development, especially ill ove come the situation of“mechanism t ading” that makes co upt use of the mechanism to seek fo pa tial, local, g oup benefits T anspa ency helps enfo ce la s smoothly, p event the situation hen the same egulation is unde stood and inte p eted diffe ently by state agencies The t anspa ent business envi onment f om policies, p ocedu es, etc helps businesses access info mation, inc ease equality in te m of t ading oppo tunities fo businesses of diffe ent economic secto s, helps them feel secu e in making business plans Publicized and t anspa ent administ ative p ocedu es ill cont ibute to ed ess the co uption of civil se vants and officials of functional autho ities, make favou able conditions fo the people and fo p oduction and ope ation activities of ente p ises, and at the same time being a basis fo the people and ente p ises to supe vise activities of civil se vants, ed ess the assment exto tion of civil se vants on the people and ente p ises heneve they come to state agencies Fo cad es and civil se vants, the p actical action at p esent is to decla e and disclose info mation about thei assets acco ding to egulations Fi st of all, info mation about assets of candidates fo membe s of Pa liament must be disclosed 738 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance Anothe impo tant thing is to disclose info mation about the ec uitment, p omotion, commendation and discipline on cad es and civil se vants In the cu ent situation, such actions ill not only cont ibute an effective measu e to p event and fight against co uption, clean up the c e of cad es and civil se vants, but ill also play a ve y impo tant ole in building up the t ust of the people in the state appa atus Acco ding to Assoc P of D Nguyen Dang Dung, “In public administ ation, info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency means info mation about the la and othe info mation elated to the implementation p ocess of public assignment and civil se vants is p ovided completely, timely and accu ately to the people T anspa ency is associated ith info mation disclosu e, accountability and f eedom of info mation” Within the f ame o k of public administ ation, the concept of t anspa ency can be inte p eted to consist of t o impo tant espects such as: access to info mation, and ight and oppo tunities of supe vision/ c iticism of management ob ects against management agencies F om the legal pe spective, although t anspa ency has not been defined di ectly in any legal documents, its di ect manifestation is the ight to access to info mation hich is ackno ledged in the 20 Constitution as one of the basic ights of citizens: Citizens have the ight to f eedom of speech and f eedom of the p ess, and have the ight to assembly, association, and demonst ate Hie exe cise of those ights shall be p esc ibed by la (A ticle 25) In the 20 Anti-co uption La , at p ovisions Clause A ticle that “Information disclosure and transparency in organization and operation o fagencies, authorities and units means disclosing of information and provision o f explanation for the organization structure, performance o f duties, entitlements and responsibilities o f an organization during their operation”can be inte p eted that t anspa ency is associated ith info mation disclosu e in ope ations of agencies, autho ities and units the same as p ovisions on info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in public p ocu ement and capital const uction; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in finance and state budget; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in land use and management; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in education, etc The concept of t anspa ency is ide than info mation disclosu e T anspa ency includes oppo tunities and equality in access to info mation, consistent eliability of Nguyen Dang Dung, Enhancing t anspa ency of Administ ative Decisions - VNƯ Jou nal of Science, Lega! Studies - Vol 28 (20 2), pp 204-2 73 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance info mation, p edictability and the openness of agencies hich p ovide info mation Acco dingly, being unde stood in hateve ay, afte all the key matte oft anspa ency is al ays associated ith the ight to access info mation Ho eve , the extent of access to info mation depends on limits ofmanagement entities, and in a ide scale, depends on the natu e of each State Info mation can be app oached in the follo ing aspects: i) the administ ato p ovides info mation at the equest of the pe son ho needs the info mation This is a passive ay of info mation p ovision hich depends on the equest of the pe son ho needs info mation At this level, the pe son ho needs info mation still depends much on public administ ation officials in app oaching equi ed info mation; it) taking initiative in p oviding info mation At this level, state administ ation entities take the initiative in esea ching peoples demand fo info mation, f om that to design info mation database best fulfilling such demand With this fo m, a such database ill also be published actively on va ious media so that the people a e able to easily sea ch the info mation they need Info mation ill be published unde diffe ent fo ms, on va ious mass media such as ebsites, ne spape s, o kshops o publications so that management ob ects a e able to access actively At this level, the dependence of people ho need info mation on public management officials fo app oaching info mation is educed; ) management ob ects ill not only have access to info mation but also take the initiative in pa ticipating in the const uction and fo mation of info mation (in management science, it is called policy planning) and supe vising the implementation of such info mation This pa ticipation is conside ed a pa t of t anspa ency because it helps management ob ects exp ess thei demand and unde stand mo e dea ly the natu e of info mation Fo this eason, information disclosure and transparency in local state authorities can be understood that local state authorities disclose, provide official information about construction activities, legal documents, organization of implementation, inspection and examination of such provisions, and the people can easily approach information, are able to contribute and supervise the implementation o f local authorities F om this vie , making ope ations of local autho ities t anspa ent consists of t o significant aspects hich a e p ovision and disclosu e of info mation by local autho ities, and people’s accessibility to info mation (quality, in app op iate and timely ay), ight and oppo tunities to cont ibute and supe vise ope ations of local autho ities These t o aspects a e inext icably linked and inte act ith each othe It is difficult fo info mation p ovided f om:one side to meet equi ements fo suitability, completeness 740 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance and timeliness ithout the ight to pa ticipate in activities and to supe vise the implementation On the cont a y, if the access to info mation is not good, the ight and oppo tunities to pa ticipate in and supe vise activities ill not be p omoted In the cu ent tendency of state administ ation, it is necessa y to unde stand both of these aspects to fully emb ace the connotation of t anspa ency in gene al and the p ocess of making t anspa ent ope ations of local autho ities C rrent sit ation ofinformation disclos re andtransparencyin operations oflocal a thorities in Vietnam Within the scope of this a ticle, the autho is assessing the cu ent situation of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in the ope ations of local autho ities in Vietnam in the follo ing aspects: 2.1 T e act ofpromul at o of le al docume ts Info mation about all stages of the development and p omulgation p ocess of legal documents must be disclosed, including: info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of legal document p epa ation; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of legal document composition; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of ve ification of d aft legal documents; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of evie and adoption of d aft legal documents; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of int oduction of legal documents The gene al assessment on p actices in localities sho s that the p ocess ofd afting and p omulgating legal documents of local autho ities basically follo s the p ocedu es p esc ibed by the La on P omulgation of Legal Documents, The o ganization fo inc easing people’s a a eness and disseminating details of legal documents and the publication on official gazettes of esolutions, decisions and inst uctions of local autho ities a e also implemented st ictly The p ocess of developing and p omulgating legal documents makes conditions fo the people to anticipate the fo mation, the change in the la as ell as impacts it c eates This is sho n in the p ocess of developing and p omulgating legal documents in localities he e the e a e egulations to mobilize ide pa ticipation of va ious secto s in the society, not only Vietnamese individuals and o ganizations but also fo eign individuals and o ganizations, in pa ticula , it is ecognized in the 20 La on P omulgation of legal document; o publication on 74 _ PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance _ official gazettes is a mandato y stage in the p ocess ofdeveloping and p omulgating legal documents, hich is a necessa y condition fo enfo cement effect of legal documents, etc The above p ovisions not only c eate conditions fo the people to be a a e of legal documents but also is one of the elements to fulfil commitments on ensu ing disclosu e and t anspa ency of la s in the t eaties hich Vietnam is pa ticipating in Nonetheless, the evaluation of impacts and situation of social elations gove ned by legal documents as ell as the consultation ith conce ning minist ies, agencies, o ganizations and the people about d aft legal documents a e still much est icted Contents of legal documents can be unde stood that hen such contents of documents a e itten n, all people ho a e a a e of them a e able to g asp, and that they comply ith the la , a e not cont a y to the Constitution and legal documents at highe levels P ovisions of legal documents must be clea and connected, easy to unde stand and logical, at the same time such documents must be made public fo eve yone to kno and be a a e of thei ights and obligations to obey st ictly and comply ith p ovisions ofthe documents Contents ofcu ent legal documents a e easy fo the public to unde stand because a ticles of the la have been explained in details and conc etized, educing the p omulgation of f ame o k la s, the eby cont ibuting to ensu e equi ements fo obviousness and easiness fo the unde standing of the ia o p ovisions on the use of language in legal documents p esc ibed in the 20 La on P omulgation of legal documents Legal documents can be accessed easily by the people This is sho n in the fact that the Info mation Cente unde the Office of the National Assembly has int oduced a ebsite of Vietnam’s ỉa database (vietla gov vn) having 20,000 legal documents hich a e a anged scientifically so that the people can easily find exact documents they need, and it is totally f ee At localities, ỉegal documents a e posted on ebsites of local autho ities Despite that, agencies hich p omulgating iegal documents must make mo e effo ts to p ovide and disseminate info mation about thei ope ations to make info mation easy to unde stand and apply Actually, many legal documents a e causing difficulties to the people because they cannot unde stand, and even cad es and civil se vants sometimes unde stand in diffe ent ays about the same document, o legal documents a e conflict o ove lapped ith each othe hen dealing the same matte The efo e, in o de to be easy to access, legal documents must be made clea , accu ate and easy to unde stand 74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance Besides, in fact, legal documents issued by People’s Committees a e often inapp op iate, in te m of contents, ith the Constitution, the la o legal documents of state agencies at highe levels It can be seen by examining legal documents, and it found a la ge numbe of illegal documents Acco ding to PAR INDEX 20 8, the e a e out of 63 p ovinces sco ed the component index of “Building up and o ganization of implementation of legal documents” ove 80%, of hich p ovinces got sco es highe than 0% The esults a e obtained f om evaluating such c ite ia as follo ing up the execution of la s, handling documents to detect violations th ough checking and handling legal documents afte evie ing Acco ding to the statistics, out of 63 p ovinces have fully implemented activities of execution of la s as p esc ibed at Dec ee No /20 2/ND-CP of the Gove nment At the same time, such p ovinces have handled timely o p oposed to handle 00% of est icted and inadequate matte s found hile o ganizing the supe vision ofthe execution ofla s in thei a ea Data about checking and evie ing legal documents also positive hen most of the p ovinces completed handling matte s detected du ing thei evie ing, timely announced the list of documents becoming invalid, issued amendments o additions to egulations o changes to egulations found illegal du ing checking documents in the yea 20 8, cont ibuting to imp oving the consistency, comp ehensiveness, publicity and legality of the p ovince Besides, some p ovinces have not successfully pe fo med the o k of follo ing up the enfo cement of la s Some p ovinces have slo ly handled documents becoming invalid o documents found to be illegal hen evie ing documents * Issua ce o fpart cular docume ts Rega ding the issuance of pa ticula documents by Peoples Committees, such documents a e issued in la ge numbe in o de to meet the demand fo state management at localities as ell as inte nal management The t anspa ency in the issuance of pa ticula documents by local People’s Committees has cu ently manifested in the uploading fo ms of documents and p omulgated documents on thei ebsites The p ocess of d afting and issuing pa ticula documents complies ith p ovisions on autho ization and p ocedu es, etc of issuance The p ocess of issuing legal documents is defined clea ly in the 20 La on P omulgation of legal documents, hile the p ocess and p ocedu es of issuance of pa ticula documents Repo t on Public Administ ation Refo m Index PAR INDEX 20 (see mo e: https://moha gov vn/DATA/ DOCUMENT/20 /05/Van%20ban%20moi/20 20 File%20 o d%20Bao%20cao%20PAR%20INDEX%20 20 8%20(b%El%BA%A3n%20cu%El%BB% i) pdf) 743 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance contain codes have not been p esc ibed and a e not clea Fo example, befo e the autho ity issue ed books / pink books (land use ight ce tificate) to households, in some localities the e must be discussions and itnesses o f elated beneficia ies, even a file must be built up by the pe son in cha ge Apa t f om that, in many localities, the officials on duty not ca y out the above mentioned p ocess, the e is no discussion among elated pa ties Especially, some pa ticula documents have illegal contents, causing unpleasantness of the public, o lack info mation, t anspa ency and discussions ith people befo e issuance, esulting in long-lasting claims and legal p oceedings If such documents a e not canceled timely, the t ust of people in local autho ities ill be educed Most of administ ative decisions hich cause claims and legal p oceedings a e elated to land use 22 upervision by eople's Council Peoples Councils exe cise supe vision th ough follo ing activities: Revie ing epo ts of o king of Standing People's Council, People’s Committee, People’s Cou t and People’s P ocu acy of the same level; Revie ing ans e s to questions of the People's Council Chai man, the People’s Committee Chai man, othe membe s of the People’s Committee, heads of p ofessional divisions unde the People’s Committee, Chief P osecuto of the People’s P ocu acy, and Chief Justice of the People’s Cou t of the same level; Revie ing legal documents of People’s Committee of the same level, esolutions of People’s Councils of lo e level hen finding signs of cont a y to the Constitution, the la , esolutions of the National Assembly, o dinances, esolutions of Standing Committee of the National Assembly, legal documents of state autho ities at highe levels and esolutions of People's Committees of the same level; Establishing Supe vision Missions hen it finds necessa y; Voting fo cad es holding positions nominated by the People’s Council In addition to the o ganization of exe cising the executive po e , the People’s Council also pa ticipates in most of the othe activities to build up the state gove nment, such as: making a list of vote s, pa ticipating in the o ganization of election acco ding to the la on election, setting up p o ects on o ganizing the gove nment in acco dance ith its competence to submit to the National Assembly and People’s Council fo decision; deciding the administ ative o ganizational st uctu e in acco dance ith its competence Mo eove , the People's Council usually communicates ith the public and local citizens, deals ith most of the policies elated to the ights and obligations of citizens In o de to make info mation t anspa ent to the people, the main supe viso y fo m is th ough implementing democ acy at g ass oots, 744 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance ight to claim, accuse, ecommend, o th ough agencies o social o ganizations, citizens and the p ess pa ticipate in coope ating ith state agencies and othe o ganizations and individuals to pe fo m the ight to supe vise That citizens implement thei ights by themselves such as filing claims, petitions and accusations, etc they help intensify the activities of supe vision, inspection and examination of sub ects having competence fo activities of autho ities, the eby have ed essed sho tcomings and eaknesses of the management appa atus and equi ed efo m in public administ ation The t anspa ency in supe vision activity of the People’s Council is exp essed th ough: First, the o k of communication ith vote s of ep esentatives of the People’s Council is ca ied out in compliance ith egulations of the la The ep esentatives ill info m vote s about the contents and agenda of the next sessions and epo t solutions to comments and ecommendations of vote s in p evious sessions and summa ize comments and feedbacks of vote s to submit in the next sessions At meetings ith vote s, the People's Council sho tens times fo ep esentative’s epo ts and spends mo e time fo vote s to speak out thei ishes At meetings ith vote s, g oups of ep esentatives of the People’s Council ill equest leade s of the People's Committees of dist icts, a ds, communes, p o ect management boa ds, elating agencies invited to the meetings to explain di ectly to vote s about matte s elated to thei competence; at the same time, equest elating entities to evie the implementation and ans e s of the People's Committees to questions of vote s in p evious meetings, questions not yet ans e ed o gene ally ans e ed Seco d, quality o f questioning and ans e ing, th ough hich u gent matte s elated to socio-economics, comments, ecommendations of vote s ill be discussed at legislative sessions The standing committee of the People’s Council does tho ough p epa ation fo sessions of questioning and ans e ing Questions of ep esentatives a e sent to the Chai pe son of the session Based on contents eceived, conce ning state autho ities ill p epa e ans e s in iting When eceiving questions, the Standing committee of the People’s Council ill assign divisions in cha ge to gathe and send to ep esentatives of the People’s Council fo thei evie in advance In each session of the People’s Council, the e often has many questions to autho ities about p essing issues in socio-economic fields, implementation of policies, etc , so vote s a e ve y conce ned fo Di ect questioning bet een ep esentatives and specialized agencies has c eated a democ atic, f ank and open atmosphe e he e ep esentatives could ask 745 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance to the last questions that have not been satisfacto ily explained When conducting the questioning session, afte each ans e , the chai pe son ill summa ize main ideas so that ep esentatives a e able to unde stand tho oughly and ask mo e questions If found any matte s not yet ans e ed clea ly, o if ep esentatives not satisfy ith ans e s of functional autho ities, the Chai pe son ill equest fo fu the cla ification o give ans e s in iting to ep esentatives Beside comments of ep esentatives and g oups of ep esentatives, the standing committee of the People’s Council ill summa ize comments of the Fathe land F ont and its affiliates, comments of vote s, app aisals of divisions unde the Peoples Council to p epa e questions to submit to the p ovincial People's Committee and functional autho ities to cla ify and ans e At the same time, befo e any session, the Standing Committee of the People’s Council ill send lette s to functional autho ities equesting to epo t on thei execution of commitments, matte s ackno ledged and acqui ed in the p evious session Assistants of the Standing Committee ill summa ize details of ans e s f om autho ities to p ovide ep esentatives fo study befo e the questioning session Quality of questioning activity has been imp oved g adually by sessions, a lot of p essing matte s have been asked by ep esentatives and ans e ed by conce ning autho ities Many questioning sessions at meeting-hall have been live b oadcast on adio o television and published on ne spape s, and b oadcast again on p ovincial television at p ope time so that all vote s of the p ovince a e able to follo up hird, meeting citizens, eceiving and conside ing thei claims and accusations a e also egula activities of the People’s Council hich a e ca ied out in acco dance ith t anspa ent p ocedu es in a st ict, enthusiastic and esponsible manne and in a democ atic atmosphe e, that builds up the t ust of citizens in ep esentatives Fourt , supe viso y delegations have issued plans, clea ly defined pu poses, equi ements, contents, agenda and specific time of supe vision, and had detailed guidelines on matte s to be inspected to ensu e the pu poses of inspection At the end of the inspection, delegations had epo t assessing the actual situation, at the same time detecting violations, stating ciea ly easons, p oposing solutions and submitted to the People’s Council session fo evie and decision Supe viso y activities of the People’s Council ecently have had focus and main points, coope ation ith divisions unde the People’s Council, ith the Standing Committee of the People’s Council, ith la p otection autho ities and local sociopolitical o ganizations th ough hea ing epo ts of state agencies on all activities at 746 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in state overnance localities, th ough questioning agencies and pe sons in cha ge of the supe viso y delegations Fo this eason, supe viso y activities of the People’s Council have been d a n mo e and mo e attention of citizens and have gained ce tain achievements Neve theless, in many localities, the People’s Council can only make decisions on matte s hich have been decided by highe levels and by the Pa ty Committee Those decisions a e lack of ob ective, have poo eliability The effectiveness of supe vision is still limited because the autho ization of the Peoples Council to deal ith violations is p esc ibed specifically, hile elating legal p ovisions on p ocedu es of implementation a e sketchy The scope of supe vision by the People’s Council ove the People’s Committee is imp ope in te m of both quality and level Reasons fo the above limitation a e: i) ep esentatives o k on pa t-time instead of full-time basis; ii) the building of institutions on supe vision has not been app op iate and co esponding ith othe institution in activities of investigation, examination and inspection of ope ations of local autho ities 2.3 Adm publ cf a ce * Adm strat ve procedures, ma a eme t o f cadres, c v l serva ts a d strat ve procedures People’s Committees at levels disclose timely info mation and update administ ative p ocedu es to the national database; post up all administ ative p ocedu es; eceive, t eat and give esults offeedbacks, ecommendations ofindividuals and o ganizations about administ ative egulations; a e egula ly a a e of situation, esults of solution fo administ ative p ocedu es executed by lo e level units to have measu es fo eminding, speeding up and co ecting p omptly du ing the p ocess of handling administ ative p ocedu es Conclusions at confe ences on summa izing the Gove nments administ ative efo m activities ove the past yea s sho that the info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency of administ ative p ocedu es by People’s Committees at diffe ent levels have achieved encou aging esults People's Committees at levels have issued and implemented egulations equesting fo info mation disclosu e in va ious fields in acco dance ith p ovisions of the La on Anti-co uption in o de to imp ove the t anspa ency in thei ope ations Fo instance the t anspa ency in land-use planning at diffe ent levels, t anspa ency in land allocation, land lease, pe mission fo change of land use pu pose, issuance of land use ight ce tificates and handling of violations T anspa ency in p oviding timely 74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance info mation to investo s, developing ebsites of p ovinces, depa tments, agencies so that ente p ises can easily access info mation in o de to p ovide mo e info mation to ente p ises Besides, local autho ities take initiatives in p oviding info mation to ente p ises, investo s and citizens th ough connecting administ ative p ocedu es, establishing the model of “one-doo ” o “connected one-doo ”, tho oughly applying online public se vices at levels ,2,3 and 4, being focal points to p ovide info mation, disclosing dea info mation, simplifying p ocedu es to help people follo up the situation of thei documents on ebsites via sho t messages on mobile phones o emails, ensu ing publicity and t anspa ency of p ocedu es Imp oving gove nment ente p ise dialogues and enhancing the ole of business associations, di ect dialogues bet een local autho ities and ente p ises, gove nment - ente p ise dialogues via the Inte net to inc ease mo e sub ects, topics, and sho ten the time of dialogues bet een gove nment and ente p ises Acco ding to PAPI 20 8, public se vice and administ ative p ocedu es also have conside able changes In pa ticula , the e has been a g adual imp ovement in all g oups of public se vice and administ ative p ocedu es measu ed by PAPI, including se vices of nota izing and ce tification byautho ities of g ass oots, se vice of g anting const uction pe mits, se vice of g anting land use ight ce tificates and communal administ ative se vices Th ee c ite ia having the conside able inc ease in sco es a e the pa ticipation of the people at g ass oots, info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in making decisions, and accountability Th ee c ite ia having a slight inc ease in sco es a e cont olling co uption in public secto , public administ ative p ocedu es and p ovision of public se vices Rega ding the announcement and disclosu e of administ ative p ocedu es and esults ofhandling documents, the e a e 53 out of 63 p ovinces have announced fully and timely the list of administ ative p ocedu es at th ee autho ity levels Results of handling documents as pe administ ative p ocedu es in the yea 20 have high sco es, of hich the esuit of eceiving and timely handling documents at p ovincial agencies eached 5%, at dist ict level the e a e out of 63 p ovinces eached 5% and ove , the esult of timely handling documents at commune level eached 5% The e have been positive changes in making apologies to the people and o ganizations in case of delay in handling documents Ho eve , the e a e still p ovinces have not yet pe fo med the apology making as p esc ibed ! Vietnam P ovincial Gove nance and Public Administ ation Pe fo mance Index (PAPĨ) 20 (see: http://papi o gvn/ p-content/upỉoads/20 /03/20 8PAPIREPORT„VIE„FĨNAL pdO Repo t on Public Administ ation Refo m Index PAR INDEX 20 (see: PAR INDEX 20 (https://moha gov 748 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance Ho eve , the p oactive publicity of administ ative p ocedu es, time, cha ges and fees at o kplaces ofsome public administ ations has still been fo mal and been o ked fo fo m’s sake Some autho ities disclose info mation but have not implemented in acco dance ith the info mation disclosed, that led to common delays in dealing ith o ks of citizens The e a e va ious easons fo this situation, one of hich is the lack of mechanism fo handling violations in cases he e the sub ects fail to pe fo m o imp ope ly pe fo m thei obligation of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency as equi ed by the la It can be said that ecently administ ative agencies have disclosed info mation but thei ope ations have not been eally t anspa ent yet, o in othe o ds, they have been still done by halves That means the implementation has been still fo mal At public-se vice p oviding agencies he e administ ative p ocedu es have been publicized to citizens, the e have speake s a ning people to be vigilant about “decoys”; ho eve , such evil has been still sp eading the e Officials kno but citizens still cannot avoid it because they only pe fo m thei obligations of publicizing p ocedu es ca ing hethe citizens unde stand and follo inst uctions o not ithout The obligation of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in ope ations of state agencies at the equest of citizens is still limited Situations he e state agencies not espond to citizens in iting o efuse to p ovide info mation ithout ustifiable easons a e still common and has not been t eated Hie main cause of this situation is that most of the legal egulations on publicity and t anspa ency of ope ations of state agencies at equests of citizens a e still p inciples, not specific, thus such state agencies can evade thei obligations ithout being t eated The La on Access to Info mation and the La on Refe endum has al eady been passed, but the p opagation and dissemination of these la s to people to aise a a eness and unde standing of the la s a e still slo , and la enfo cement has not been implemented in time Acco ding to PAPI20 8, the pe centage of people all ove the count y ho sea ch fo info mation about the State policies and the la is ext emely lo , only at 4%, of hich only 2% finds thei needed info mation In addition, the e is still a situation he e people a e assed by cad es and civil se vants, and public funds a e misused fo pe sonal vn/DATA/DOCUMENT/20 /05/Van%20ban%20moi/20 20 File%20 o d%20Bao%20cao%20PAR%20 INDEX%2020 8%20(b%El%BA%A3n%20cu%El%BB% i) pdf) 74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance pu poses Cu ent est ictions of pe fo ming obligations of info mation disclosu e at equests of conce ning individuals, agencies and o ganizations can be summa ized to come f om both sides as follo s: (i) on the state agency side, the situation he e state agencies eceive equests but not espond to citizens o o ganizations ithout any sound easons is still common; (ii) on citizen side, actually, people’s inte est in equesting state agencies to p ovide info mation has been limited, both in the numbe of equests and quality of info mation equi ed In othe o ds, the effectiveness of the pe fo mance of the ole of supe vising the state activities of people and society th ough va ious fo ms has not been p omoted effectively fo ensu ing the publicity and t anspa ency in ope ations of state administ ative agencies We have not had any mechanism fo ensu ing and cont olling the pe fo mance of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in the ope ations of agencies Most of the p ovisions of the la on esponsibilities of state agencies in info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency at equests of citizens have only stopped at the level of p inciples not details One of the impo tant easons is the lack oft eatment measu es against agencies, o ganizations and individuals ho have the intention not to disclose info mation as equi ed by the la This is a loophole of the la he e state agencies a e not t eated although evading thei obligations Mo eove , p ovisions of the la on list of state sec ets in gene al and list of sec ets of minist ies, agencies and localities a e unclea , hile e have not had any agency to assess the necessity of contents to put into the sec et lists, leading to the common fact that many agencies have put into the sec et lists such contents unnecessa y fo being t eated confidential and use that as an excuse fo not disclosing hen equested Besides, citizens themselves have not unde stood and been a a e of thei ights and esponsibilities as ell as the p ocess ofp ocedu es fo equesting info mation f om state agencies The efo e, they no mally equest fo such info mation elated closely to thei o n benefits and usually hesitate to so When equesting info mation but not p ovided, they not have enough easons to defend thei opinions Acco ding to SIPAS 20 (Satisfacto y Index of Public Administ ation Se vices), the people ish the state administ ations to p omote administ ation efo m Acco dingly, 60 % of the people ants the state administ ations to continue opening mo e fo ms to access info mation about public administ ative se vices Ihis is an absolutely p actical Vietnam P ovincial Gove nance and Public Administ ation Pe fo mance Index (PAPI) 20 (http://papi o g vn/ p-content/upIoads/20 /03/20 8PAPIREPORT_VIE_FĨNAL pđf) 750 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance demand hen looking the component index “Administ ative p ocedu e efo m”, the e a e a numbe of p ovinces have not disclosed fully and timely info mation and details of administ ative p ocedu es on thei ebsites and at “one-doo ” section at all levels As egulations on info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in the past time have been implemented in a fo mal manne and done pe functo ily, the implementation lacked c eativity and effectiveness Rega ding fo ms of disclosing info mation, agencies and units mainly pe fo m info mation disclosu e in the fo m of notices at thei meetings (yea -end, qua te -end, monthly b iefings), some disclose info mation on the Inte net; Othe p esc ibed fo ms of info mation disclosu e have not been implemented fully and volunta ily Rega ding contents to disclose, agencies and units have only focused on disclosed info mation about finance, budget and administ ative p ocedu es; the disclosu e of othe info mation as equi ed by p ovisions of the La on Anti-co uption have not been paid adequate attention *Management o f cadres and civil servants The management of cad es and civil se vants includes many contents ith stages of: ec uitment, employment, appointment, supe vision, evaluation, planning, t aining, t ansfe ing f om one position to anothe position, compensations and benefits fo cad es and civil se vants, development and implementation of policies, development and appointment of talents to impo tant position, ell-t eating talents and att acting talents, etc Among these stages, the e a e stages follo ing sequences, but the e a e stages conducted in pa allel, inte oven, have mutual inte actions, etc All these contents must be made t anspa ent in o de to imp ove the quality of the c e of cad es and civil se vants to encou age them to o k and cont ibute Examination for selecting civil servants: In ecent yea s, the examination fo selection of civil se vants has been efo med and imp oved Ho eve , the e have been still sho tcomings and limitations in ob ectivity, fai ness, t anspa ency and se iousness in the exam that d a public attention The e have been still many negative matte s in the civil se vant ec uitment examination that lose the faith of the public A common situation is that ec uited people not fulfil position demands due to the lack of disclosu e of such details as ob desc iption and c ite ia of ec uitment to find suitable applicants As a esult, ec uited people not meet the ob equi ements The ! Repo t on Public Administ ation Refo m Index PAR INDEX 20 (see: https://moha gov vn/DATA/ DOCUMENT/20 /05/Van%20ban%20moi/20 20 File%20 o d%20Bao%20cao%20PAR%20INDEX%20 20 8%20(b%El%BA%A3n%20cu%El%BB% i) pdf) 75 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance ec uitment is still fo mal The exam is the same fo diffe ent positions, hich mainly includes info mation technology, fo eign language and kno ledge about the La on cad es and civil se vants, The p epa ation of the exam and the evaluation also contain lots of negative matte s Acco ding to PAPI 20 8, co uption is still constant in state employment due to “ elations” and “b ibe y” in o de to be employed as civil se vants o officials f om local levels In 20 8, p ovinces e e found to violate egulations on civil se vant employment, p ovinces e e found to violate egulations on public employees Statistics sho that most of the violations a e announcing the vacancy less than the equi ed time, the ec uitment boa d has not ensu ed the numbe and standa d of membe s as equi ed; in many cases, the employment is conducted ithout examination o civil se vants of commune-level t ansfe ed to dist ict level not fulfil conditions, standa ds and employment pe iod as equi ed2 Evaluation o f civil servants changed f om self-c iticism mode and election to evaluation based on follo ing contents: abiding by the Pa ty’s guidelines and policies and the la s of the State; political and ethical qualities, lifestyles, manne s and o king styles, executive leade ship, o ganization of task pe fo mance and sense of esponsibility in o king; focusing on esults of pe fo ming assigned tasks; the method of assessment combining self-assessment of civil se vants, comments of colleagues, and opinions of leade s to classify civil se vants annually acco ding to levels of excellent accomplishment of the tasks, successful completion of tasks, completion of task but still have limitation in capacity and incompletion of tasks Ho eve , the cu ent assessment is still inte nal and closed, lacking an independent assessment, lacking an o ganization o full-time pe sonnel fo assessment, hile e a e building an open public se vice Mo eove , esults of assessing the classification of each civil se vant in each agency and unit have a de ivative elation to esponsibilities of the head, eflecting the deg ee of task completion and achievement of the leade ship as ell as of the o ganization in gene al; the efo e, the evaluation is still in a ay he e “ a bad comp omise is bette than a good la suit” because of the lack of t anspa ency fo an accu ate assessment Most o f the civil se vants give themselves good ma ks The c ite ia of evaluation a e also qualitative and emotional, leading to Vietnam P ovincial Gove nance an d Public Adm inist ation Pe fo mance Index (PAPĨ) 20 See mo e: http:// papi o g vn/ p-content/uploads/20 /03/20 8PAPIREPORT_VIE_FINAL pdf) Repo t on Public Administ ation Refo m Index PAR ĨNĐEX (see mo e: https://moha gov vn/DATA/ DOCUMENT/20 /05/Van%20ban%20moi/20 20 File%20 o d%20Bao%20cao%20PAR%20INDEX%20 20 8%20(b%El%BA%A3n%20cu%El%BB% i) pdf) 752 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONALWORKSHOP _ Ope ess, ransparency a d Accountability State Gover a ce _ inequality and unfai ness fo each civil se vant, and the evaluation p ocess is not yet t anspa ent ransferring cadres and civil servants: The policy of t ansfe ing cad es f om the Cent al to g ass oots level and vice ve sa is the ight policy, making favou able conditions fo cad es to gain mo e kno ledge to meet inc easing equi ements of o k The t anspa ency in info mation about t ansfe ing, mobilizing and seconding cad es and civil se vants is necessa y so that the pe sonnel ho ill be t ansfe ed can eceive info mation and competent agencies and the people can supe vise the capacity of such pe sonnel The t ansfe ing plan must be publicized and made t anspa ent, hile the ideological education must be good so that t ansfe ed cad es find it is an impo tant esponsibility, task and challenge Policies on compensations and benefits fo t ansfe ed cad es must be clea , both in and afte the t ansfe The output of the t ansfe must be t ue If so, the e must be t ue supe vision by the sending agency and by eceiving agency as ell as by the esponsible public The t ansfe of cad es in many places still contain inadequacies, ambiguities and opaqueness, fo instance, the evie and evaluation of cad es to have a basis fo the planning is still inadequate, the finding of cad es to put in the planning is slo , especially the plan of t ansfe ing cad es The cad e planning is still indulgent and closed Cu ently, ith high political dete mination to make the o k of cad es and civil se vants public and t anspa ent, the Politbu o issued Regulation No 205-QD/TW dated Septembe 23 d, 20 on cont olling po e in the o k of cad e o ganization and antibuying position and po e This document ill be a tool and mechanism fo cont olling the management of cad es and civil se vants f om the Cent al to local levels to make it t anspa ent, accu ate, public and compliant ith p ocesses and p ovisions of the la * ublicfinance Pe fo ming info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in the public finance in ope ations of local autho ities, outputs a e mainly of the follo ing aspects: First> the inc ease in the decent alization of state budget management at the g ass oots level has made a significant change in the ay of ope ation of the state appa atus The mo e decent alization to local gove nments in te m of evenue and the task of spending budget has been initially implemented in the p inciple that public se vices a e decent alized to hich levels a e able to meet the demand of people the fastest and most convenient; econd, enovating the financial mechanism fo administ ative agencies and public non-business units The g ant of autonomy and financial self753 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance esponsibility to those agencies using state budget and public non-business units has c eated a ce tain flexibility fo agencies and units in using funds to conduct public se vice delive y activities to meet the needs of society; hird) the expansion of disclosing info mation about budget and budget audit has been initially put into o de and p omoted the effectiveness, the eby st engthening the inte nal inspection o k bet een supe io s and subo dinates inspection, and st ongly p omoting supe viso y ole of unions in the budget evenues and expenditu es, p eventing losses Acco ding to PAPI20 8, citizens mo e satisfied ith the level of publicity and t anspa ency of the autho ities in p epa ing the pove ty list and disclosu e of info mation about evenues and expenditu es at the commune-level At this indicato , Thai Nguyen is the p ovince getting the highest sco e Da Nang got the highest sco e fo “access to info mation” Lang Son got the highest sco e fo “commune budgets and expenditu es”, Thai Binh got the highest sco e fo “Land use plan and p ice f ames” Ho eve , in the actual situation, it is difficult fo the People’s Council to p omote the ole of ep esentative fo people in app oving and supe vising the state budget Meetings ith vote s a e not enough fo the People's Council to g asp all needs, conce ns and issues need to give p io ity fo dealing ith at the locality, the eby to make app op iate decisions elated to the local budget allocation at thei locality It is difficult fo ep esentatives of the People’s Council at all levels to give independent opinions due to thei pa t-time o king basis, especially hen they go to supe vise public investment p o ects Rep esentatives of the People's Council not have enough p ofessional kno ledge about finance and budget to ead, unde stand, and then supe vise stages of the budget p ocess effectively hen it is submitted to them Besides, all stages of the budget p ocess, f om p epa ing, executing cost estimates, final payment settlement, state budget audit, and checking and inspecting a e not yet clea The e a e many p oblems ith public investment o ks in p ovinces People not kno any info mation about public investment p o ects in thei localities, not kno ho to ask fo cla ification about budget info mation In consultations ith local autho ities and people in the p ovinces > hen evie ing activities of the People’s Committees, the Peoples Councils and ep esentatives of the 1Vietnam P ovincial Gove nance and Public Administ ation Pe fo mance Index (PAPI) 20 See mo e: http:// papi o g vn/ p-content/uploads/20 /03/20 8PAPĨREPORT_VIE_FĨNAL pđf) 754 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance People’s Council in info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency of the budget p ocess, in gene al, although info mation about the budget finance has been disclosed but it has not been t anspa ent enough and people have not pa ticipated substantially and effectively At p esent, the socio-economic development plan and cost estimates/final payment settlement of dist ict, p ovincial and national budgets a e made available on gove nment agencies’ ebsites The socio-economic development plan and cost estimates/final payment settlement of commune budget a e made public at the commune Peoples Committee and at meetings ith citizens and vote s Ho eve , such info mation has not yet ensu ed complete t anspa ency hile it is: too technical, often confusing, complicated, has ve y fe explanations, lacks analysis on the basis of estimation and lacks evaluation of budget implementation esults (ho a e the esults ith such use of budget, fo example: numbe of schools built, numbe of child en going to class, etc The e is no compa ison bet een budget implementation and social outputs) Fo these easons, ep esentatives themselves and people a e unable to unde stand Thus it is eally difficult fo them to pa ticipate in and supe vise the effectiveness of the use of the allocated budget Mo eove , the e is still the limitation of channels fo t ansmitting info mation (fo example: being info med at meetings ith vote s, meetings of village s and on public loudspeake s, etc) and is not suitable ith actual conditions of people Data in the epo t is ve y technical so people find it is d to follo and emembe the details The method of budgeting also hinde s the tendency of enovating socioeconomic development planning At p esent, many p ovinces have been implementing enovation of socio-economic development planning, having people’s pa ticipation, collecting opinions and based on the needs of people f om the village level (f om lo e level up a ds) Ho eve , the planning and budget allocation p ocess a e still f om the highe level n a ds, usually p epa ed at the dist ict level, based on the ope ational o ientation of secto s and gove nment policies, and not necessa ily based on needs and choices of people, esulting in mismatch In many cases he e p ovinces implement enovation of socio-economic development planning, people a e no longe inte ested in pa ticipating, because if they do, thei needs and expectations ill still not be eally conside ed hen allocating the budget At p esent, the bottlenecks in public investment de ive f om lo quality, a bit a y ad ustment and decision, o even the cont ol of inte est g oups, the matte s of te mof-office thinking, egulations and institutions on the o ganization of implementation 755 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Opennessy ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance hich still contain many p oblems, complicated p ocedu es and p ocesses, vague decent alization and autho ization hich lead to the the att ibution of esponsibility, accountability and t anspa ency still not ell implemented, still avoided and pushed format o Recomme dat o s for e sur g t e d sclosure a d tra spare cy t e operat o s o f local aut or t es V et am at prese t First, enovate and st engthen the leade ship mode of the Pa ty and Pa ty committees at local gove nments, the Pa ty integ ates into the political system, the state appa atus and the society to implement and cont ol activities of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency of levels of autho ities O acco ding to a ou nalist said that: “It is the p ocess of making the leade ship into la and o ganizing the execution of the Pa ty's political po e ove the State, socio-political o ganizations and the enti e society” econd, build up and accomplish the la on info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in activities of local autho ities, such as implementing a mechanism to ensu e citizens’ ight to access info mation about activities of agencies, o ganizations and units; finalize and o ganize st ictly the implementation of egulations on spokespe son of state agencies; o ganize the enfo cement of the la on info mation access so that people a e a a e ofthei ights and state agencies’ esponsibilities to a ds them; to have sanctions against violato s of citizens’ ight to info mation Accomplish the democ atic la s at g ass oots, to p omote the O dinance on the implementation of democ acy in communes, a ds and to n into La in o de to affi m the significance of the democ atic o k at g ass oots, to study democ acy in state administ ative agencies and in ente p ises fo supplementing to the La on cad es and civil se vants and the La on Ente p ises Implement contents about democ acy at g ass oots, f om stipulating la s to ensu ing the o ganization of execution of the la on democ acy at g ass oots “fo people to kno , to discuss, to implement and to supe vise” in eality, in essential, public and t anspa ent manne hird, enovate the o ganization and ope ation of the Gove nment and local autho ities, simplify the administ ative appa atus f om cent al to local levels, cla ify autho ity, functions and tasks of diffe ent agencies to avoid ove lapping, decent alize po e s among administ ative levels to cla ify competence and esponsibilities of Nhi Le, Renovating the mo phological st uctu e of the mechanism of ope ation and cont ol of po e in the Vietnamese political system, Jou nal of Elect onic Communism, Janua y , 20 See mo e: http://tapchicongsan o g vn/nghien-cu/-/20 8/54003/doi-moi-hinh-thai-cau-t uc%2C-co-che-van-hanh-vakiem-soat-quyen-luc-t ong-he-thong-chinh-t i-viet-nam aspx 756 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance levels, including cla ifying esponsibilities of the heads of each level hen pe fo ming the decent alization to have a bas s fo info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in activities of local autho ities Fourth>cultivate and imp ove capacity and vi tue of the heads of state agencies Comply ith p inciples du ing the pe fo mance of official duties including complying ith the Constitution and the la , disclose info mation in acco dance ith competence and ith inspection and supe vision; ensu e the quality ofbeing consistent, systematic, continuous, smooth and efficient The Resolution of the 4th session of the 2th Pa tyCent al Committee also cla ified esponsibilities of heads, cad es and pa ty membe s have to “commit to p actice and p ese ve vi tues, have non-deg aded lifestyle ithout “self-change” and “self-t ansfo mation”; Pa ty committees and o ganizations to inspect and supe vise the implementation of commitments by cad es and pa ty membe s at thei localities and agencies”5 Fifth, imp ove the mechanism fo cont olling po e to p event abuse of po e hen pe fo ming official duties in o de to aise esponsibility in info mation disclosu e, t anspa ency and accountability of local gove nments, establish a comp ehensive mechanism fo cont olling inte nal and exte nal po e s Fo inte nal po e , it is necessa y to ensu e the cont olling effect of the g oup of leade s of the same level via mechanism of questioning and voting against the head; the supe io is entitled to suspend the status of the head of the subo dinate hen finding seve e violations in cad e o ganization o k Agencies and o ganizations of highe levels a e to have a mechanism fo egula supe vising and checking Fo exte nal po e , it is necessa y to establish a mechanism fo the people and the p ess to conveniently, effectively and timely supe vise civil se vants pe fo ming thei duties Especially, it is necessa y to st engthen the cont ol by the society and the people ove ope ations of state administ ative agencies, heads of state administ ative agencies, pe fo mance of accountability and info mation disclosu e hen implementing official duties of heads, cad es, civil se vants and officials At the same time, to accomplish egulations of the la and to o ganize the enfo cement of the la on democ acy at g ass oots in an effective manne in o de to enhance the supe viso y ole of the people to a d local autho ities, p actice democ acy at agencies and units to c eate an efficient c iticism mechanism fo the implementation of official duties ! The Communist Pa ty of Vietnam, Document of the 4th session of the pp 37 - 38 2th Pa ty Cent al Committee, 757 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance ixth, make t anspa ent the p ocess of d afting, submission and p omulgation of policies and la s; the p ocess of d afting, submission and issuance of decisions and administ ative documents of local autho ities is associated ith the efo m of administ ative p ocedu es eventh, enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of supe viso y activities of the People’s Council ove Resolutions of the People's Council th ough activities of questioning, supe vising epo ts, and supe vising matte s and ope ations, etc Eighth, p omote the t anspa ency of administ ative p ocedu es fo the people and ente p ises, taking PCI (P ovincial Competitiveness Index), PAPI (P ovincial Gove nance and Public Administ ation Pe fo mance Index), SIPAS (Satisfacto y Index of Public Administ ation Se vices) as measu es fo evaluating the level of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency of local autho ities Co clus o Publicity and t anspa ency in local autho ity activities a e cla ified f om the pe spective of theo etical, p actical and legal; assess the status of publicity and t anspa ency of activities of local gove nments th ough the p omulgation of legal documents of People’s Councils and People's Committees, supe viso y activities of People's Councils, administ ative p ocedu es, managing officials, public se vants and public finance; at the same time, p opose solutions to ensu e publicity and t anspa ency of activities of local gove nments The basis fo assessing the situation is based on epo ts, such as: PAPI> PAR INDEX, SIPAS It has affi med the t anspa ency and t anspa ency of the activities of the local gove nment as necessa y activities, exe cising democ acy and complying ith the ule of la in the const uction p ocess, build integ ity, tectonic gove nment, the ule of la REFERENCES Document of the 2th Pa ty Cent al Committee T an hì Dieu Oanh, T anspa ency of activities oflocal autho ities* National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 20 HoangT an Nam, People’s Councils ofalllevelsin the o ganization oflocalgove nment appa atus - situation and solutions, State Management Revie , yea 20 75 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance Institute fo Legislative Studies, Delimitation of competence bet een cent al and local gove nments, theo y and eality, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi Nguyen Dang Dung, Enhancing the t anspa ency of administ ative decisions Scientific Jou nals, Hanoi National Unive sity, Ju isp udence 28 (20 2), pp 204-2 Repo t on Pubiic Administ ation Refo m Index 20 (PAR INDEX epo t), 20 Repo t on P ovincial gove nance and public administ ation Pe fo mance Index (PAPI epo t), 20 8 Nhi Le, Renovating the mo phological st uctu e of the mechanism of ope ation and cont ol of po e in the Vietnamese political system, Jou nal of Elect onic Communism, Janua y , 20 See mo e: http://tapchicongsan o g vn/nghien"cu/-/20 8/54003/doi-moihinh-thai-cau-t uc%2C-co-che-van-hanh-va-kiem-soat-quyen-luc-t ong-he-thong-chinht i-viet-nam aspx 75 OPEN N ESS AND TRANSPAREN Y OF STATE B DGET N V ETNAM TODAY Dr o uo 1- LLA f uye Qua T uo I troduct o Like othe count ies, Vietnam needs gove nance that is t anspa ent and that enables pa ticipation by citizens To achieve those goals, the state needs to st engthen its institutions and change la s to ensu e fiscal t anspa ency hilst o king out mechanisms that enable citizens to kno about and pa ticipate in budgeting p ocesses In Vietnam, su veys on op e n Budget Index (OBI) (2008)> P ovincial Open Budget Index (POBĨ) (20 7) and the Minist y o pen Budget Index (MOBI) (20 8) have sho n that assessment tools a e needed to p omote budget t anspa ency as a ay to c eate competition fo funding and to mo e effectively manage public esou ces Any agency using esou ces f om the state budget must ensu e t anspa ency and accountability in expenditu es In addition, a mechanism that allo s citizens to kno about and pa ticipate in the budgeting p ocess is essential to ensu e the best use of gove nment funds This pape int oduces some concepts and p inciples of budget t anspa ency in elation to gove nance The pape then summa ises the esults of applying tools designed to p omote and measu e budget t anspa ency in Vietnam, including OBI, POBI and MOBI Related changes in institutions, la s and the oles of functional agencies in ensu ing budget t anspa ency a e documented It sho s the changes to a ds good gove nance goals in Vietnam J Faculty o fLaw, Vietnam National University, Hanoi 2Centrefor Development and Investment - CD / 760 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Ope ess, Tra spare cy a d Accou tab l ty State Gover a ce Budget tra spare cy a d gover a ce ransparency is a fundamental cha acte istic of good gove nance It can be defined as a ay of making and implementing decisions in compliance ith la s and egulations It also means that info mation about the p ocesses of p omulgating and implementing decisions must be made public, pa ticula ly to the beneficia ies of (o affected people f om) decisions T anspa ency also equi es that info mation be fully disclosed and be delive ed in easy-to-unde stand fo mats, including in the media so that people can di ectly access it T anspa ency has a close elationship ith the ule of la and accountability State- un agencies a e accountable to those ho a e affected by thei decisions o actions Accountability cannot be ensu ed ithout espect fo and implementation of the ule of la and t anspa ency The focal point of the elationship bet een citizens and state is seen in decisions on ho public esou ces a e mobilised and spent The budget is he e the most impo tant questions about the ole of the state a e implicitly aised and ans e ed Inc easing o dec easingbudget spenđingmaydi ectlyo indi ectìyaffectthelivesofpeople,pa ticula ly disadvantaged g oups such as omen, the poo , child en and ethnic mino ities tate budgets eflect the state's p io ities in its policies and p og ams The state budget is the most po e ful economic tool fo the state to meet the needs of the people, pa ticula ly the poo and the disadvantaged T anspa ency in the budget cycle ill p ovide oppo tunities fo people to pa ticipate in the policy-making p ocess and esou ce allocation Budget transparency is defined as the full disclosu e of all elevant fiscal info mation in a timely and systematic manne If the state budget is not made public and t anspa ent, budget info mation is difficult to access, available data may not be eliable and cannot be used to monito and assess the ta geting and effectiveness of expenditu es When people have access to info mation on the state budget and a e p ovided ith skills and the oppo tunity to pa ticipate in the budgeting p ocess by the state, they ill heip to imp ove the quality of public se vices and gove nance efficiency Budget t anspa ency is a tool that empo e s people to influence policies, p og ams and esou ce allocation Budget t anspa ency equi es the state to be p oactive in its 1Vu Cong Giao and pa tne s, Mode n gove nance: Theo etical and p actical issues, 20 7, pp 43 2OECD> Best p actices fo Budget t anspa ency, 2002 76 ... ency in gene al and the p ocess of making t anspa ent ope ations of local autho ities C rrent sit ation ofinformation disclos re andtransparencyin operations oflocal a thorities in Vietnam Within... info mation At this level, the pe son ho needs info mation still depends much on public administ ation officials in app oaching equi ed info mation; it) taking initiative in p oviding info mation... info mation but also take the initiative in pa ticipating in the const uction and fo mation of info mation (in management science, it is called policy planning) and supe vising the implementation