NA passes revised Civil Status Law to advance borderless digital registration

The National Assembly (NA) on April 23 approved the revised Law on Civil Status featuring a major digital governance reform, with civil registration services no longer bound by administrative boundaries, in a move aimed at improving public services and accelerating digital transformation.

Passed with 488 out of 492 deputies present voting in favour during the first session of the 16th NA, the amended law introduces sweeping reforms in birth and death registration, decentralisation, and digital public administration.

Presenting a verification report before the vote, Minister of Justice Hoang Thanh Tung said the Government had incorporated lawmakers’ feedback, including a nationwide roadmap to implement proactive birth and death registration no later than January 1, 2031.

The reform marks a shift from a citizen-request model to one in which state agencies proactively provide services, requiring synchronised digital infrastructure and stronger data connectivity, particularly in healthcare. During the transition period, localities with sufficient capacity may implement the model earlier, while the State will continue investing in infrastructure, workforce training and policy communication to ensure feasibility and public consensus.

A key highlight of the law is full decentralisation of civil registration authority and the expansion of registration regardless of administrative boundaries. According to the Government’s assessment, conditions and resources are now in place for implementation. Initial experience under the two-tier local government model, applied since July 1, 2025, has shown the system operating stably without major obstacles.

At the same sitting, the NA also approved the law amending and supplementing several articles of the Notarisation Law, with 489 out of 491 deputies voting in favour, reducing the number of transactions subject to mandatory notarisation by six.

Tung said based on lawmakers’ feedback, the Government had reviewed and revised the draft law in line with the requirement to renewed legislative mindset, ensuring constitutionality as well as consistency and coherence with related laws.

The revised draft law no longer specifies a fixed list of transactions subject to notarisation, instead setting general criteria to determine mandatory cases, narrowing the scope, reducing compliance costs and avoiding overlaps with specialised laws.

It also retains provincial-level authority for notarising real estate transactions while expanding non-jurisdictional notarisation for transactions not directly involving property, making procedures more convenient for citizens and businesses. The Government will also set a roadmap for nationwide notarisation of property transactions regardless of administrative boundaries, linked to fully synchronised data systems.

With all 494 presenting deputies voting in favour, the NA passed the law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Legal Aid at the session.

The draft law places legal aid beneficiaries at the centre, better safeguarding human and citizen rights, particularly for vulnerable groups. It adds low-income workers who are accused persons or victims to the coverage, while retaining the law’s focus on supporting vulnerable groups in civil, criminal and administrative matters rather than extending support to business and commercial disputes.

At the session, with a large majority of NA deputies present voting in favour, the NA passed the law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Emulation and Commendation; the Law on Belief and Religion (amended); and the Law on Access to Information (amended). Lawmakers also approved a resolution on the coordination mechanism and specific policies to improve the effectiveness of preventing and resolving international investment disputes; and the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam./.