In Vietnam, science and technology are utilized to digitize all medical information nationwide. Digital transformation provides various benefits for individuals, including comprehensive health protection and care. Despite the benefits, challenges remain in ensuring the security of personal medical data and network safety. Since the enactment of the law on medical examination and treatment in 2023, Vietnam has continued to use amendments to keep up with patients' rights initiatives. Notably, the issuance of the Decree on Personal Data Protection and the Law on Personal Data Protection 2025, No. 91/2025/QH15, passed by the National Assembly on June 26, 2025, and set to take effect on January 1, 2026. The latter marks a significant step forward in data protection legislation, specifically the security of patients' personal data. Nevertheless, Vietnam has yet to carry out a comprehensive study evaluating its legal framework for personal data protection within the healthcare sector. This study examines patients' rights regarding data privacy among healthcare practitioners and facilities, highlighting current challenges in Vietnamese law by analyzing specific healthcare regulations alongside general civil law principles. The findings highlight critical gaps within Vietnam's current legal framework that must be addressed to strengthen the protection of patients' rights, an essential component of a patient-centered healthcare system and a foundational pillar for achieving equitable and sustainable development in the health sector.
Vietnam has a burgeoning banking sector, which is developing rapidly towards digital transformation. Despite impressive achievements in adopting emerging digital technologies to promote financial inclusivity and enhance customer experience, the banking industry in Vietnam is facing data privacy issues from both technological and legal aspects. On one hand, the laws are overly rigid, causing difficulty and excessive costs related to compliance. On the other hand, weak enforcement of data privacy laws leads to customer grievances and undermines trust in digital banking. This Article explores the current legal framework for data privacy protection in Vietnam's banking sector. The paper reveals that although a legal framework for data privacy is already in place, the banking sector in Vietnam faces numerous compliance challenges. Meanwhile, banking data leakage is pervasive and blatant, and banks in Vietnam face potential damages awards for breaching their confidentiality duties. This paper advocates for improvement of data privacy laws in Vietnam to promote innovation in the banking sector, taking into account the unique features of banking activities.
The personal data of insured individuals is the cornerstone of the insurance industry's growth and stability worldwide, including in Vietnam. In the insurance market, personal data the catalyst propelling expansion, streamlining premium payments, thwarting fraud, and enhancing contract management. From the insured individuals' perspectives, however, protection of personal data and privacy is paramount. To extend protection to individuals' digital privacy and facilitate the free flow of data, Vietnam recently adopted the Personal Data Protection Law ("PDPL") in June 2025, after the country promulgated a national decree on the same subject 2023. As a general law on personal data protection, the PDPL governs all sectors, including the insurance sector. This Article is the first to examine whether the PDPL and Vietnam's insurance sector align. Based on informal interviews with key stakeholders, this Article sheds light on the challenges Vietnam's insurance businesses encounter when complying with the PDPL. The Article proposes strategic solutions to assist enterprises in both complying with the law and fueling new growth in Vietnam's burgeoning insurance market.
Good governance and respect for democracy are at the forefront of the African Union's (AU) legal and political purpose. International bodies and African conventions emphasize the need for democracy and good governance. Yet, in recent years, a wave of controversial constitutional amendments allowing presidents to concentrate political power by extending their terms in office (e.g. in Egypt, Algeria, Burundi, Chad, and Togo), either by allowing incumbent presidents to serve further consecutive terms or by extending the years they can serve in office, has underlined the need for AU intervention. These constitutional changes have been implemented through controversial referenda, often accompanied by violence, human rights violations, and contentious court rulings, while ruling parties and political elites have been accused of manipulating the results. These developments descend to an abuse of constitutionalism and are hardly compatible with the principles of democracy, the rule of law, or fundamental rights espoused by the AU and African regional organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The legitimacy of such constitutional changes, and by extension the president, is therefore open to serious questioning.
On April 30th, 2025, US-Ukraine Minerals Agreement is ambiguous in nature. While it may indeed evolve towards a contract or even a treaty, at present it is a political agreement, albeit one whereby the parties rely on the pertinent incentives to ensure compliance. This form of compliance, lacking normativity, is similar to the format of the Sustainable Development Goals and other political agreements. The agreement itself is contingent on a subsequent agreement, that has yet to be finalized and become public, which no doubt will possess a normative character. This latter agreement will serve as the articles of agreement of the investment fund envisaged in the April 30th agreement and which is to be incorporated as a limited liability partnership. The author argues that the agreement violates the internal economic/financial self-determination of the people of Ukraine. Consequently, even if the agreement were to somehow be characterized as a treaty or a contract, it was procured by succinct bursts of coercion on the part of the U.S. and hence may be repudiated on such a ground. In equal measure, the proceeds that are meant to accrue to the USA may be viewed as an obligation giving rise to odious or illegal debt. The U.S.-Ukraine agreement, while stipulating its conformity with Ukraine's obligations under other agreements with the EU, appears to conflict with those obligations.
