The 2000 Marriage and Family Law was passed by the Xth National Assembly at its 7th session on June 9, 2000 and shall take effect as from January 1st, 2001.

In order to implement in time the Marriage and Family Law as well as the National Assembly�s Resolution No. 35/2000/QH10 of June 9, 2000 on the implementation of the 2000 Marriage and Family Law, the Prime Minister hereby instructs:

1. From now to the end of 2000, the Ministry of Justice shall assume the prime responsibility for the completion of the revision of existing legal documents on marriage and family so as to propose to the Government or other competent agencies amendments, supplements to or annulments of those which are no longer compatible to the new Marriage and Family Law.

2. The Ministry of Justice shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with concerned agencies and organizations in preparing sub-law documents for submission to the Government or the National Assembly Standing Committee for promulgation, in order to guide the implementation of the Law�s provisions, especially those on the right to use cultivation land, residential land and dwelling houses relating to marriage and family relations; the marriage registration, child adoption registration in deep-lying and remote areas, household registration regarding marriage and family involving foreign elements, including those in border areas with neighboring countries; the sanction of administrative violations in the field of marriage and family. All the above-mentioned tasks must be completed by the second quarter of 2001.

3. The Committee for Ethnicities and Mountainous Areas shall assume the prime responsibility for preparing and submitting to the Government for promulgation in the first quarter of 2001 a decree stipulating the application of the Marriage and Family Law to ethnic minority groups, measures to handle the de facto child adoption in areas inhabited by ethnic minority people, together with a list of backward customs and practices regarding marriage and family which are not allowed to be applied, and a list of fine customs and practices which should be promoted.

1. The dissemination and propagation of the Marriage and Family Law must be carried out regularly and thoroughly among public servants, men of people�s armed forces and people, especially in communes, wards, townships, population quarters, agencies, organizations, enterprises, schools and families.

The dissemination and propagation of the Law should be targeted to make people clearly understand the basic principles and contents of the Law, especially those which have recently been amended or supplemented, as well as the National Assembly�s Resolution on handling de facto marriages, so that they shall consciously and actively abide by the Law, at the same time raise each person�s sense, awareness of his/her responsibility for building families, making every family a real cosy home for every individual, making the Vietnamese society a big family for all Vietnamese, who are working together to build an independent, free, prosperous and happy country.

Right in the third quarter of 2000, the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People�s Committees at various levels should draw up and organize the implementation of the plan on dissemination, propagation and education of the Marriage and Family Law in their respective agencies, units or localities, consider it the key task of the law dissemination, propagation and education work in the second half of 2000 and in 2001, and at the same time, renew forms and methods for the dissemination and education of marriage and family legislation, in order to carry out these activities in an intensive manner, avoid formalism in law dissemination and education which shall not yield high efficiency.

2. The Ministry of Justice shall have to coordinate with the Vietnam Fatherland Front�s Central Committee, the Vietnam Women�s Union�s Central Committee, the Vietnam Labor Confederation, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth�s Union�s Central Committee, the Vietnam Peasants� Association, the Vietnam War Veterans� Association, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Vietnam Committee for Child Protection and Care, the Committee for Population and Family Planning, the Vietnam Lawyers� Association, the press, radio and television agencies at central and local levels in organizing the widespread dissemination and propagation of the Marriage and Family Law and the National Assembly�s Resolution on the implementation of this Law; directing and guiding the intensification of legal consultancy activities regarding marriage and family; encouraging the establishment of family clubs in various forms, where people can take part in the activities according to their sex, age, profession or hobby in order to exchange and learn from each other necessary experiences in being husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, so that they can avoid surprises and mistakes at the initial stage of family life.

The Government�s Coordinating Committee for Law Dissemination and Education shall have to determine contents of the program on the dissemination and propagation of the Marriage and Family Law and the National Assembly�s Resolution on the implementation of this Law; coordinate with relevant agencies and organizations in compiling the dissemination outlines and documents appropriate for each category of subjects as well as fostering lecturers for the dissemination and propagation of the Marriage and Family Law.

3. The Ministry of Culture and Information shall coordinate with the Party Central Committee�s Commission for Ideology and Culture and the Ministry of Justice in directing the mass media to give priority to the dissemination and propagation of the Marriage and Family Law from now to the end of 2000 and in 2001; guiding the elaboration and implementation of rules on communal activities relating to the provisions of the Marriage and Family Law.

4. "Nhan Dan" newspaper, Radio "Voice of Vietnam", Vietnam Television and other mass media at central and local levels should have regular the law programs and columns introducing and explaining contents and the new points of the Marriage and Family Law.

5. The Ministry of Justice shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Supreme People�s Court and the Supreme People�s Procuracy in organizing refresher courses on the Marriage and Family Law for judges, procurators, court clerks, people�s juries, registrars and other legal workers in order to ensure the uniform application and implementation supervision of the Marriage and Family Law.

6. The Ministry of Education and Training shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice in directing the work of revising the systems of textbooks and teaching materials used in universities and colleges as well as the documents on citizenship education subject relating to the Marriage and Family Law used in intermediate vocational training schools, general secondary schools and junior secondary schools, in order to have plans to amend or supplement them in conformity with the Marriage and Family Law; organizing training courses on Marriage and Family Law for the contingent of law and citizenship education teachers.

7. The Committee for Ethnicities and Mountainous Areas shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice in drawing up plans on the dissemination and propagation of the Marriage and Family Law among ethnic minority people.

8. The Ministry of Finance shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice in guiding budget balancing in order to ensure the necessary funds for the enforcement of the Marriage and Family Law, the National Assembly�s Resolution on the implementation of this Law, the elaboration of documents guiding the implementation of this Law, the organization of marriage registration and child adoption registration in deep-lying and remote areas, organization of training courses as well as dissemination and propagation drives among cadres, soldiers and population.

9. The presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to direct local agencies to work out detailed plans on the settlement of de facto marriages in their respective localities according to the National Assembly�s Resolution on the implementation of the Marriage and Family Law, create favorable conditions for marriage registration, including on-the-spot registration in order to put an end to such situation in 2001-2002.

The Prime Minister requests the ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of agencies attached to the Government, the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities, within the ambit of their respective management responsibilities, to draw up detailed plans on the implementation of this Directive.

The Ministry of Justice and the Government�s Office shall have to supervise and urge the implementation of this Directive, synthesize and report the implementation results to the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI