It is necessary to empower the Government to temporarily allow piloting of new technologies and models that are not yet regulated by law.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan speaks at the conference. Photo: Lam Hien

Need for policies to narrow the digital divide

Full-time National Assembly deputies basically agreed with the content of the explanation, acceptance, and revision jointly prepared by the agency in charge of reviewing and the agency in charge of drafting, especially regarding the scope of the draft Law, regulations related to the application of laws on digital technology human resources, preferential financial mechanisms, industry, digital technology, and quality management of digital technology products and services, etc.

Delegate Tran Van Khai (Ha Nam) speaks. Photo: Lam Hien

National Assembly Delegate Tran Van Khai (Ha Nam) proposed to continue institutionalizing Resolution 57 in the draft Law in the direction of: expanding the scope of the "sandbox" for all new digital technology products and services that are not yet regulated by law; simplifying the approval procedures for testing; and removing unnecessary prohibitions and conditions. At the same time, it is necessary to empower the Government to temporarily allow piloting of new technologies and models that are not yet regulated by law (report to the National Assembly later) in order to promptly seize development opportunities.

National Assembly Delegate Pham Trong Nghia (Lang Son) proposed to supplement the policy on developing digital technology industry to ensure national sovereignty in cyberspace, ensure network security, data security, and information security of organizations and individuals. The delegate emphasized that this is one of the five guiding viewpoints in Resolution 57 of the Politburo.

Delegate Pham Trong Nghia (Lang Son) speaks. Photo: Lam Hien

Delegate Pham Trong Nghia also proposed considering and supplementing policies to narrow the digital gap so that all people, especially disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities in remote, isolated and disadvantaged areas, can benefit from the development of the digital technology industry.

Overlapping with High Technology Law

National Assembly Delegate Le Thanh Hoan (Thanh Hoa) realized that many of the State's policies on the application and development of information technology are to promote the digital technology industry to develop into a key economic sector, meeting the needs of the domestic and export markets, or to prioritize a portion of the state budget to apply the information technology industry in a number of essential fields, creating a digital technology industry and developing information technology human resources.

Delegate Le Thanh Hoan (Thanh Hoa) speaks. Photo: Lam Hien

The delegate cited that, according to the provisions of the Law on High Technology, the Government has the right to adjust and supplement the technology fields that need to focus on high-tech investment and development based on the needs of socio-economic development, national defense and security; at the same time, the Prime Minister has the authority to promulgate the list of high technologies to be invested in and developed, and the goals, roadmap and solutions for implementation.

Accordingly, in Decision 38 dated December 30, 2020, the Prime Minister issued a list of high technologies prioritized for investment and development, including many contents that overlap with strategic digital technologies stipulated in the draft Law on Digital Technology Industry such as: artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things, virtual reality, augmented reality, semiconductors... Besides, there are many other contents that the draft Law has not yet regulated, specifically: virtualization technology, grid computing, edge computing, fog computing, digital copy technology...

"This shows that there is still an overlap in the scope of regulation of the draft Law with the Law on High Technology and its implementing regulations," said delegate Le Thanh Hoan.

Or the draft Law also stipulates that a concentrated digital technology park is a functional area that focuses on research and development activities, training support, innovation promotion, digital technology incubation and digital technology enterprises. "So will the preferential support regulations under the High Technology Law or the draft Law on concentrated digital technology parks be applied?"

Delegates attending the conference. Photo: Lam Hien

Delegate Le Thanh Hoan suggested that it is necessary to continue reviewing and researching to supplement truly breakthrough mechanisms and clearly distinguish them from the mechanisms stipulated in the Law on High Technology.

In addition to comments on the policies in the draft Law, many comments also contributed to specific provisions of the draft Law such as: issues on digital assets, testing mechanisms for digital technology industry products and services, information on digital technology industry, digital data in digital technology industry, semiconductor microchips in concentrated digital technology zones as well as the overlap between the Law on Digital Technology Industry, the Law on Information Technology and the Law on High Technology and the draft Law on High Technology Industry...

Taking note of the delegates' opinions and chairing the discussion session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan requested the drafting agency and the reviewing agency to clarify some contents, concepts, terms, and words that need to be consistent throughout.

The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly said that the National Assembly Standing Committee will continuously update information so that delegates can continue to study and give opinions on this draft Law with the Standing Committee of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee in the spirit of "synthesizing and absorbing as much as possible".

The National Assembly Standing Committee will also coordinate with the Government to direct the drafting agency and relevant agencies to seriously absorb the opinions of the National Assembly deputies discussing today as well as the opinions of the deputies continuing to contribute to this draft law in order to complete the draft law to be submitted to the National Assembly for discussion and consideration for approval at the upcoming Ninth Session.

Thanh Chi

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/can-trao-quyen-cho-chinh-phu-tam-thoi-cho-phep-thi-diem-cong-nghe-moi-hinh-ma-luat-chua-dieu-chinh-post408286.html