Vietnam's National Assembly approved the Law on Belief and Religion which replaces the current Ordinance on Belief and Religion.

Vietnam's National Assembly approved the Law on Belief and Religion which replaces the current Ordinance on Belief and Religion.
The Vietnamese government said the law, the first of its kind in the socialist republic, would optimise the administration of religious affairs. The new law regulates the State’s responsibility for ensuring the right to freedom of belief and religion and creating conditions for registering religious practices, recognizing such organizations, establishing religious training institutions, joining foreign religious organizations and protecting the right to freedom of belief and religion of foreigners who legally reside in Vietnam. According to the new law, it will take 5 years instead of 23 years for being recognized as a religious organization.
Opponents to the law acknowledged that some improvements to the previous drafts were made during the revision process. However, these improvements, and the inclusion of basic guarantees of the right to freedom of religion or belief, were undermined by onerous registration requirements and excessive State interference in the internal affairs of religious organisations. The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) described the new law as still “deeply flawed”, and a move to restrict religious freedoms rather than protect them. “Vietnam is once again using the law to increase state control, criminalize independent religious activities and give the authorities a cloak of legality to continue harassing, arresting and convicting its citizens at will,” said VCHR President Võ Văn Ái.
Under the new law, which will come into effect in January 2018, registration remains mandatory, although the process is now accelerated, and makes no provisions for religious groups who cannot, or choose not to register with the state. Mandatory registration is a violation of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, stressed after his visit to Vietnam in 2014. “Registration should be an offer by the State but not a compulsory legal requirement,” he said.
Opponents to the law also criticised the law for “vague” wording which, if interpreted flexibly, could potentially be used to ensnare religious groups or individuals. Human Rights Watch highlighted particular examples of elusive phrasing, found in clauses prohibiting the use of religion to undermine “national security”, “national unity” and “public order”. In fact, the law bans religious activities that infringe on national defence, security, sovereignty, and social order and safety; harm social ethics, personal lives and assets; offend other persons’ honour and human dignity; prevent the performance of civil rights and obligations; and disunite the nation, religions and among belief and religion followers and non-followers.