E/CN.4/1995/31/Add.4 page 18 Civil and Political Rights, whereby "In the determination of any criminal charge against him, or of his right and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law". 3. Characterization of crimes against national security 58. For reasons possibly linked with recent history, the characterizations of offences as crimes against national security, as defined in article 73 of the Penal Code, draw no distinction on the grounds of the use or non-use of violence or of incitement or non-incitement to violence. The Working Group notes that the present wording of article 73 is so vague that it could result in penalties being imposed not only on persons using violence for political ends, but also on persons who have merely exercised their legitimate right to freedom of opinion or expression. However justified - or at least understandable - this assimilation of peaceful political action and violent action may be in a state of war, it nevertheless is becoming less and less compatible with the new policies laid down by the Government (see Recommendations, para. 76). 59. The process now under way is based on the gradual relaxation or lifting of restrictions on the exercise of certain basic rights recognized by the Vietnamese Constitution and referred to in articles 18 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion), 19 (freedom of opinion and expression), 21 (right of peaceful assembly) and 22 (freedom of association) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Viet Nam has ratified. 60. The Working Group recalls that, while articles 18 to 22 of the Covenant provide that such rights, however basic, may be subject to certain restrictions, nevertheless, such restrictions must not be such that they might, as at present, affect the enjoyment of the right itself (concept of permissible restrictions). 4. Legal cooperation 61. The Working Group noted that most, if not practically all, bilateral legal cooperation agreements, regardless of the countries concerned, particularly agreements on advisory services and technical assistance, are shaped by new economic policies, by amendments to business law (commercial code, company law, notarial law) or by the backgrounds of jurists in this field. Conversely, attempts to modernize criminal law, especially criminal procedure, to take account of recent political developments, are particularly few and far between. It would be desirable and advisable for other agreements to be concluded along these lines or for appropriate programmes to be set up, in a multilateral context, with the Centre for Human Rights. 5. The peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of opinion, expression and association 62. This is probably the area where the gap between the principles recognized by articles 69 and 70 of the new Constitution (freedom of speech, of the press, of information, of assembly, of association, of peaceful demonstration and of religion) and their actual exercise is widest. A case in point is the