New mechanisms proposed to unlock Viet Nam's ocean economy

Stronger mechanisms needed to drive emerging marine industries

The proposed amendments to the Law on Marine and Island Resources and Environment are intended not only to address shortcomings that have accumulated over nearly a decade of implementation, but also to create a new legal framework for modern maritime governance, advance the blue marine economy, and open up investment flows at sea. These points were presented by Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Viet Nam Agency of Seas and Islands - VASI (under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), at the National Workshop on "Improving Institutions and Policies to Promote Sustainable Marine Economic Development," held on the afternoon of June 5.

According to the representative of the VASI, the sea is increasingly becoming a multi-sector, multi-objective development space, yet existing legislation has not established a clear basis for allocating, coordinating, or resolving overlaps among the various sectors that use maritime areas.

In addition, the legal framework governing the rights and obligations of organizations and individuals using maritime zones remains incomplete. Current law has not fully developed provisions on maritime use rights, nor has it created mechanisms that are simultaneously rigorous in oversight and sufficiently stable and transparent to attract long-term investment at sea.

Meanwhile, environmental pressure on the marine environment continues to mount, with a host of emerging challenges including ocean plastic waste, transboundary pollution, land-based pollution flowing into the sea, and the need for marine ecosystem restoration following environmental incidents. Nguyen Quoc Toan noted that many of these issues currently lack adequate legal provisions.

Another significant gap is that existing law still lacks sufficiently robust mechanisms to promote emerging marine industries such as offshore renewable energy, high-technology open-sea aquaculture, maritime logistics, and shared marine infrastructure models. Many existing regulations also overlap and conflict with the Law on Investment, the Law on Planning, the Law on Petroleum, the Law on Electricity, and the Law on Environmental Protection.

Four major policy groups proposed to transform maritime governance

According to Nguyen Quoc Toan, the current round of amendments also aims to institutionalize the major orientations of the Party and State, particularly Resolution 36 on Viet Nam's Strategy for Sustainable Marine Economic Development, as well as newer resolutions on innovation, private sector development, and the refinement of institutions supporting the marine economy.

"Amending this law is not merely a matter of revising a specialized statute, it is fundamentally about perfecting the foundational institutional framework for modern maritime governance," Nguyen Quoc Toan emphasized.

In drafting the new bill, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has proposed four major policy groups. The first priority is to refine regulations on the management and use of maritime space in a manner that is integrated, unified, and transparent, in alignment with the National Marine Spatial Plan.

A key innovation is the draft law's introduction of the concept of "maritime space" into its scope of regulation. Whereas the sea was previously viewed primarily through the lens of resources and environment, it is now approached as an integrated development space in which economic activity, national defense, security, ecological conservation, and national strategic interests coexist simultaneously.

The draft law also introduces mechanisms for resolving conflicts in the use of maritime space. The drafting body noted that a single maritime zone may generate multiple competing demands, offshore wind power, maritime shipping, aquaculture, tourism, conservation, and national defense, and that transparent coordination and allocation mechanisms are therefore necessary to limit the overlapping of interests.

Another major change involves refining the legal framework for the assignment, leasing, and registration of maritime area use rights. For the first time, the draft law examines the addition of mechanisms such as competitive bidding for maritime use rights, the issuance of certificates of maritime area use rights, and the creation of maritime cadastral records.

Nguyen Quoc Toan noted that introducing a competitive bidding mechanism would help curtail the informal "request-and-grant" culture, increase transparency, and ensure that genuinely capable investors are selected. Meanwhile, certificates of maritime area use rights would serve as the legal instrument for clearly establishing the rights and obligations of parties exploiting maritime zones.

The draft also examines expanding certain rights available to organizations and individuals using maritime areas, including the transfer, sub-leasing, capital contribution, and mortgaging of maritime use rights, subject to strict conditions.

This is widely regarded as a significant shift in maritime governance thinking, moving away from a purely administrative management model toward one that combines rigorous oversight with incentives for development.

Further emphasis is placed on building a system of preferential measures and dedicated support for emerging marine industries. The draft law aims to create a favorable legal corridor for offshore renewable energy, high-technology open-sea aquaculture, maritime logistics, shared marine infrastructure, artificial islands, marine biotechnology, and low-carbon economic models.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment also proposes sweeping administrative procedure reforms for offshore investment projects. Rather than requiring investors to navigate multiple separate processes involving different ministries and agencies, the draft law envisions building a more integrated and synchronized coordination mechanism to reduce both the time and cost burdens on investors.

Alongside measures to stimulate the marine economy, the draft law places strong emphasis on pollution control and marine environmental restoration, with a prevention-first orientation.

Nguyen Quoc Toan noted that the draft's key departure from current practice is a shift from addressing pollution after incidents occur to preventing it early, at the source. New provisions will focus on controlling marine litter, ocean plastic waste, land-based marine pollution, and transboundary pollution.

The draft also continues to domesticate a range of international commitments relating to civil liability, compensation for oil pollution damage, ballast water management, and the conservation of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

Another pillar of the draft law is the deepening application of science and technology, big data, and digital transformation in maritime governance. The drafting body noted that managing the sea in the new era cannot rely solely on administrative records, but must transition toward data-driven management, digital monitoring, and real-time technology.

The draft law accordingly introduces a legal basis for the application of artificial intelligence, remote sensing, geographic information systems, smart monitoring, and synchronized marine data platforms. These tools will underpin the granting of maritime use rights, environmental monitoring, ecosystem carrying capacity assessment, and investment decision support.

According to Nguyen Quoc Toan, all of these amendments reflect a sweeping transformation in Viet Nam's maritime governance thinking: from sector-by-sector administration to integrated governance; from procedure-based management to planning- and data-based management; and from pure control to development facilitation.

Finalizing the Law on Marine and Island Resources and Environment is a critical step toward building a modern maritime governance framework, unlocking development resources, and realizing Vietnam's goal of becoming a nation that is strong at sea and prosperous from the sea.

The amended draft of the Law on Marine and Island Resources and Environment is expected to be submitted to the National Assembly in October 2026.