Sharing the Federal Republic of Germany’s Experience in Receiving and Handling Citizens’ Feedback and Petitions

Speaking at the working session with the Ministry of Justice of the Federal Republic of Germany, Deputy Minister Dang Hoang Oanh expressed her pleasure that legal and judicial cooperation between Vietnam and the Federal Republic of Germany in general, and between the two Ministries of Justice in particular, has achieved many remarkable results in recent years.

The Deputy Minister also shared information on Vietnam’s ongoing efforts to further strengthen the development and improvement of the legal and institutional framework, promote science and technology, foster innovation, advance national digital transformation, encourage the growth of the private economic sector, and build a streamlined, effective, and efficient political system through the implementation of strategic Resolutions of the Politburo, particularly Resolution No. 66-Resolution of the Party Central Commitee and Resolution No. 57Resolution of the Party Central Commitee.

In order to effectively fulfill the assigned tasks and meet the demands of the new context, alongside leveraging internal resources, the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam wishes to continue enhancing cooperation, exchanges, and the sharing of experiences with developed countries around the world, including the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Deputy Minister stated that the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam is currently developing the new 2026–2028 phase of the Three-Year Cooperation Program on the Rule-of-Law Dialogue in order to continue promoting the achievements attained during the implementation of the Three-Year Cooperation Programs in previous phases. The Deputy Minister requested that the Federal Ministry of Justice of Germany actively coordinate with the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam to soon sign and effectively implement this Document, thereby further promoting the legal and judicial cooperation between the two Ministries of Justice of the two countries in a deeper, more effective, and substantive manner.

The representative of the Federal Ministry of Justice of Germany highly valued the visit of Deputy Minister Dang Hoang Oanh and affirmed the willingness to continue cooperating with the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam to further enhance legal and judicial cooperation between the two sides, expressing the hope that negotiations on the next phase of the Three-Year Cooperation Program will soon yield results and lead to the signing of the agreement in 2026.

In the technical exchange session, the German Federal Ministry of Justice shared a wealth of information and experience in receiving and handling feedback and petitions from citizens submitted to the Ministry of Justice. The representative of the Federal Ministry of Justice of Germany stated that during 2024–2025, several topics frequently raised by citizens in petitions or information requests to the Ministry of Justice included: guardianship rights, naming rights, and the review of court judgments.

Regarding the application of information technology, the German side noted that the Federal Ministry of Justice currently maintains a database containing model response letters searchable by topic; however, the application of information technology and artificial intelligence in processing and responding to citizens’ petitions remains limited. The German side emphasized that, in responding to citizens’ petitions, artificial intelligence serves only a supporting role, while state officials must review, verify, and finalize the content of responses to ensure accuracy and legal validity.

During the working sessions with the Petitions Committee of the German Federal Parliament and the Petitions Committee of the Parliament of the State of Hessen, Deputy Minister Dang Hoang Oanh shared information on the implementation of major orientations of the Party and the State regarding strengthening digital transformation and the application of artificial intelligence in the formulation and enforcement of laws. In recent times, the Ministry of Justice has developed an Information System for receiving and handling feedback and petitions concerning legal normative documents. However, in its initial operational stage, this system still faces many limitations in connection, coordination, monitoring, and response processing.

The Deputy Minister expressed the hope that during this working visit, she could learn from Germany’s experience—a country with a developed e-government system and advanced information technology applications—in order to contribute to improving the effectiveness of state management, increasing transparency and accountability, and enhancing the quality of administrative services for citizens and businesses.

Ms. Hülya DÜBER, Chairwoman of the Petitions Committee of the German Federal Parliament, and Mr. Oliver Ulloth, Chairman of the Petitions Committee of the Hessen State Parliament, expressed their pleasure in welcoming Deputy Minister Dang Hoang Oanh and the working delegation of the Ministry of Justice and affirmed their readiness to share information on the processes and operations of these bodies in receiving and handling petitions and feedback from citizens. According to the German Federal Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Hessen, all petitions and feedback from citizens must be handled by the competent authorities. Petitions and feedback must be submitted in writing and include sufficient information of the sender such as name, address, and email address.

At the Petitions Committee of the German Federal Parliament, an electronic petition system has been implemented since 2005 to provide an additional channel for citizens to submit petitions to the Federal Parliament (alongside other forms such as in-person submission or postal mail). According to statistics, among the petitions and feedback received by the Committee, 67% concern administrative decisions and 33% concern the drafting and improvement of legislation. In practice, many legal provisions have been amended based on citizens’ petitions.

The Petitions Committee has also developed a database to digitize all paper petitions into electronic form, in which petitions are categorized so that citizens can search for and refer to similar petitions that have already been resolved. This system also provides suggestions for identifying the competent authority and recommendations on whether to submit a petition. For public petitions (those related to common interests, which the petitioner wishes to make public and which the Committee decides to allow for public disclosure), if there are at least 30,000 supporting opinions, the petitioner will be invited to attend a meeting with the Committee to discuss the petition in greater detail.

At the Hessen State Parliament’s Petitions Committee, in addition to submitting petitions in writing by post, fax, or online, citizens may also meet directly with the Committee’s reception staff to present their petitions, which will then be recorded. During the petition resolution process, depending on the complexity of the petition, the Committee may organize a roundtable discussion with the participation of representatives of state administrative agencies, the Committee, and the petitioner to exchange views on the petition’s content; the content of such meetings is kept confidential. The Committee has not yet applied artificial intelligence in petition classification but operates an electronic system to monitor the progress and process of petition handling.

During the meeting with the World University Service (WUS), Deputy Minister Dang Hoang Oanh emphasized the importance of legal education and training. The Deputy Minister expressed gratitude for the support provided by the Hessen State Parliament in general and by the German World University Service (WUS) in particular for the training activities of Hanoi Law University over the years through the awarding of scholarships to students and the donation of books and materials to the University’s library.

The Deputy Minister expressed her hope that the German Law Center located at Hanoi Law University would develop more high-quality training programs and establish long-term partnerships with German educational institutions, thereby becoming a symbol of legal and judicial cooperation between the two countries. At the same time, she wished that in the coming period, the World University Service (WUS) would continue to support the Ministry of Justice and Vietnam’s legal and judicial agencies in the process of improving the legal system, promoting judicial reform, and building and perfecting the socialist rule-of-law State, thereby making a positive contribution to promoting and strengthening the Vietnam–Germany strategic partnership.

Dr. Kambiz Ghawami, President of WUS, thanked Deputy Minister Dang Hoang Oanh for her positive remarks and affirmed his readiness to continue cooperating with and supporting the Ministry of Justice and Hanoi Law University in legal training and capacity-building in the time ahead.

Also during the working trip, the Delegation met with the Consulate General of Vietnam in the State of Hessen. On June 21, the Delegation successfully concluded its visit and working program in the Federal Republic of Germany and departed for home.