Questioning and answering questions on groups of issues within the field of the Ministry of Justice

25th Session, National Assembly Standing Committee:

12:28, August 15, 2023

On the morning of August 15, within the framework of the 25th Session, chaired by National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, the National Assembly Standing Committee held a Question and Answer Session on a group of issues under the Ministry of Justice. The Question and Answer Session was connected online with 63 connecting points in provinces and cities across the country.

Attending at the Dak Lak bridge point were comrades: Le Thi Thanh Xuan, Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Huynh Thi Chien Hoa, Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Tuan Ha, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Provincial National Assembly Deputies; and representatives of relevant departments and branches.

Delegates attending at Dak Lak bridge point.

Speaking at the opening of the Question and Answer Session, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said that this was the fourth question and answer session held at the meeting of the 15th National Assembly Standing Committee. Based on the synthesis of proposals from the National Assembly delegations considering the areas that have been and are being supervised by the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee in the past time, and the answering of questions during the 15th National Assembly term and practical requirements, the National Assembly Standing Committee decided to choose to question the group of issues under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at this meeting.

Emphasizing that the questioning time is only one day, the groups of questions are wide-ranging, many issues are causing public concern, the National Assembly Chairman requested that National Assembly deputies ask questions that are concise, clear, go straight to the point, debate frankly, responsibly, and constructively. At the same time, he requested that Ministers uphold their sense of responsibility, answer briefly, accurately, clarify the questions raised by National Assembly deputies, and at the same time propose practical, effective, and feasible solutions, ensuring timely and effective overcoming of immediate weaknesses and limitations, while creating substantial, fundamental, and long-term changes for each question, contributing to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the management sector, meeting the requirements and expectations of voters and people nationwide.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue delivered the opening speech at the Question and Answer Session.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue delivers the opening speech at the Question and Answer Session. Photo: quochoi.vn

At the morning session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh chaired the question and answer session on a group of issues within the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.

Accordingly, delegates focused on questioning the implementation of the law and ordinance building program; solutions to ensure progress, quality and procedural records of projects and drafts submitted by the Government to the National Assembly; solutions to improve the quality of the legal system, solutions to control power, prevent corruption and negativity in law making work under the responsibility of the Government.

In addition, the contents on the current situation and solutions to improve the capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of the work of inspecting legal documents; solutions to overcome the situation of slow promulgation, overlapping and contradictory contents and limitations and violations in the promulgation of documents detailing laws, resolutions of the National Assembly, ordinances and resolutions of the National Assembly Standing Committee; the current situation and solutions to overcome limitations and inadequacies, and improve the effectiveness of asset auctions, judicial appraisals, etc. were also frankly questioned and debated by the delegates.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh chaired the working session.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh chaired the Question and Answer Session on the judicial sector. Photo: quochoi.vn

Responding to questions from delegates regarding resources in law-making, Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long said that currently, there are about 10,000 people working in legal affairs nationwide, of which nearly 7,000 work part-time. There are 89 legal organizations at the central level and 65 legal departments at the local level.

Regarding funding, Minister Le Thanh Long said that with the determination of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance, in 2022, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 42. Accordingly, specific regulations on the level of expenditure for the process of drafting laws, decrees, circulars, etc. In general, such expenditure levels are very low, but to have an improved expenditure level according to Circular 42 is a whole process. The Minister's view is to try to arrange within the framework of State support.

Regarding the legal force, Minister Le Thanh Long said that if compared with the current workload of ministries and branches, it can be seen that the number of staff working in this field is very thin, very few and difficult to meet the requirements; some ministries and branches have a mentality of not prioritizing the legal field. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Home Affairs are drafting the revised Decree 55, in which the most important thing is to build the title of "legal officer" from which there is a basis for building policies for this team.

Delegates attending at the main bridge. Photo: quochoi.vn

Regarding document inspection, Minister Le Thanh Long said that the authority to inspect documents is relatively clear, including the authority of the Government, ministries, branches, and governing bodies - the entities that are entitled to submit laws. In addition to the general authority, there is the authority to self-inspecte and review. However, during its operation, the Ministry of Justice does not "automatically" inspect all documents within its authority, but ministries and branches self-inspecte. The Ministry of Justice only intervenes with the authority or assists the Government and the Prime Minister. The Ministry of Justice only intervenes when there are signs of violations.

Regarding decentralization and delegation of power, the Minister affirmed that decentralization in general has been specifically stipulated in the Constitution, however, the difficult problem is that the provisions on decentralization of power are found in many specialized laws. Therefore, in the process of decentralization, there are places where authority is decentralized but procedures are not available, this is a sticking point. If there is a separate document on decentralization, it will be difficult to filter the contents that have been stipulated in current documents. Therefore, we should try to better institutionalize the provisions of the Constitution and in the process of amending specialized laws, decentralize each specific sector and field.

Responding to the question raised by the delegate about the fear of responsibility, the Minister affirmed that this situation exists, but it is difficult to quantify it. There is a situation of blaming the legal system or the implementing organization. The Minister said that due to not considering the above issues as a whole, but blaming the law; some places tend to explain in a way that is "convenient for themselves" or understand and apply the law inconsistently, administratively.

Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long answers questions from delegates. Photo: quochoi.vn

Responding to questions from delegates about the delay and debt of legal documents, Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long said that the delay in issuing documents is a long-standing problem that has not been completely resolved. The number of delayed and indebted documents each year has a certain increase or decrease, however, in 2021, the number of delayed and indebted documents increased.

In the past, the National Assembly Council and Committees have conducted supervision, the National Assembly Secretary General has also reported on this issue, but the data is not consistent. Therefore, it is necessary to review and research to ensure compatibility in details, however, in general, it can be affirmed that the situation of slow and unpaid documents is true. Despite great efforts, there are still some Decrees that have been delayed for a long time and have not been processed, for example, the Decree on the organization of representative organizations of workers and collective bargaining, processing for the Labor Code; Decree on administrative sanctions in the fields of fisheries, cyber security, etc.

Analyzing the cause, the Minister said that because there are too many contents assigned to detailed regulations, or some Resolutions have a short validity, it is necessary to urgently issue a replacement Resolution... Providing a solution to this problem, the Minister said that the Prime Minister has issued a Resolution on a number of solutions to overcome difficulties and inadequacies in the work of drafting legal documents, including regulations to ensure administrative discipline in drafting and promulgating legal documents.

The Minister also said that Regulation 69 on handling and disciplining Party organizations for Party members is a very powerful tool, and the Politburo is also directing the submission of Politburo regulations on a number of solutions to prevent corruption, negativity, and group interests in the drafting of documents. In the long term, the Minister said that in drafting laws, it is necessary to clearly stipulate many specific issues in the law, and should not rely on drafting explanatory and guiding documents.

Regarding the issue of reviewing legal documents, the Minister said that since report No. 442 submitted to the Standing Committee of the previous National Assembly, the Ministry has submitted 10 different review reports. In the near future, units will submit to the National Assembly review reports on more than 22 areas. This raises a number of issues, because the review work takes time to implement, when reviewing, there needs to be discussions to have plans for amendments, supplements, and adjustments, and the responsibility for reviewing of ministries, branches, and units also needs to be enhanced.

According to the Minister, one of the important tasks that needs to be done is to review the recommendations to avoid duplication. In addition, it is necessary to focus on preparing the upcoming report to be submitted to the National Assembly at the upcoming 6th Session.

View of the working session. Photo: quochoi.vn

Reporting further on the issuance of documents guiding the implementation, Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long shared that during the drafting process of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, there was a heated debate on the regulation that the draft law must be submitted together with the draft Decree detailing the implementation. However, in reality, the implementation was very difficult, and many opinions proposed to stop implementing this regulation.

According to the Minister of Justice, although this is a good regulation, it is not feasible. If the contents were drafted in the draft decree, they would have been stipulated in the law. On the other hand, if the decree was made like that, other steps in the process of promulgating documents would be skipped. In fact, there are a number of draft laws submitted with the draft decree, but compared to the promulgated version, the decree has changed almost completely.

Responding to questions related to the activities of auctioneers, Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long said that in the 5 years from 2018 to 2022, the Ministry of Justice and various units and inspectors have conducted a total of 143 inspections and checks in the field of property auctions.

Minister Le Thanh Long clarified in the law on auctions, more stringent regulations on procedures, methods, and regulations to reduce collusion and price-fixing. Strengthen measures to professionalize auctioneers in accordance with the direction of the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption and Negativity and Party documents. Currently, when entering the profession for such a specific profession, it is necessary to be trained and grasp the skills of practice...

Regarding the direction of amending the Law on Auction, the Minister of Justice said that following the principle of auction is a formal law, listing more fully the public assets that need to be auctioned, updating terminology, tightening some regulations to reduce collusion, price suppression, profiteering and especially loss of state budget; having measures to enhance capacity, professionalize the auction team as a special judicial profession and develop to online auction...

At the question and answer session, the Ministers of the Ministries of Home Affairs, Supreme People's Procuracy, and Natural Resources and Environment participated in answering questions and explaining related issues.

25th Session, National Assembly Standing Committee:

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