Renaming 'citizen identification' to 'identity' does not require any procedures

Continuing the 6th Session program, on the morning of October 25, the National Assembly discussed in the hall a number of contents with different opinions of the draft Law on Identification.

Rename "citizen identification" to "identity"

Reporting on the explanation, acceptance and revision of the draft Law on Identification, regarding the name of the draft Law and the name of the identification card, Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee Le Tan Toi said that the majority of opinions agreed with the name of the Law on Identification and the name of the identification card. In addition, some opinions suggested keeping the name of the Law on Citizen Identification and the name of the citizen identification card as the current law.

Mr. Le Tan Toi said that the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed with the majority of opinions in favor of the name of the Law on Identification and the name of the ID card. The reason is that using the name of the Law on Identification clearly shows its scientific nature, will cover the scope of regulation, the subjects of application of the Law including Vietnamese citizens and people of Vietnamese origin living in Vietnam but whose nationality has not been determined; is consistent with the nature and objectives of identity management of our State; is consistent with the management method in the period of the 4.0 revolution, building a digital government, a digital society. Using the name of the ID card as in the draft Law is appropriate, will fully cover information about citizens' identities.

Member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security Le Tan Toi presented a report explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law on Identification. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

The expansion and integration of more information into the ID card both aims to achieve the goal of more comprehensive and complete state management of ID and facilitates people in using personal information. Changing the name of the ID card as proposed by the Government does not create procedures or costs for people to change the card.

Regarding the management of people of Vietnamese origin but whose nationality has not been determined and who are living in our country, many delegates emphasized that people of Vietnamese origin living in Vietnam are a significant and inseparable part of our nation and must be recognized by the State and society. However, because they do not have any documents, their Vietnamese nationality has not been determined, they do not have passports, and they do not have identification cards, in practice it is very difficult to manage them. Therefore, delegates agreed that the draft regulation on granting identity certificates to people of Vietnamese origin, instead of issuing identity cards as for Vietnamese citizens, is completely appropriate. This regulation demonstrates the responsibility of our State and is the basis for people of Vietnamese origin to have the conditions to fulfill their responsibilities to society and the locality where they live.

Delegate Vo Manh Son (Thanh Hoa) emphasized that renaming the law to the Law on Identification is appropriate, because the subjects of application of the law are not only Vietnamese citizens, but also people of Vietnamese origin, living in Vietnam but whose nationality has not been determined, free migrants living along the border between Vietnam and neighboring countries, related establishments, organizations, individuals, and possibly foreigners without Vietnamese nationality who are living permanently in Vietnam. Renaming the law to the Law on Identification is inevitable in the current population management work.

Commenting on the regulation on granting identity certificates to people of Vietnamese origin whose nationality has not been determined, delegate Nguyen Phuong Thuy (Hanoi) expressed her agreement with the need to grant identity papers and identify the above cases to serve full and comprehensive social management.

Delegate Nguyen Phuong Thuy proposed to consider expanding the scope of issuing identity certificates to all stateless people residing in Vietnam in order to have an effective management mechanism for this group of people. Thereby, creating conditions for them to participate in civil transactions, public services, especially essential services, ensuring their lives.

Integrate both QR code and electronic chip on ID card

National Assembly delegate of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province Huynh Thi Phuc speaks. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Regarding the content shown on the ID card, some opinions suggested reviewing and further evaluating the change of information shown on the ID card; only stable information should be shown, helping to identify a person's background. At the same time, consider some information such as "place of residence", "place of permanent residence", "place of birth", "place of birth registration", "gender", "date, month, year of expiry" to ensure consistency with current legal regulations; consider information about the ID card issuing agency, shape, size, color, language... of the ID card to ensure consistency...

According to the National Assembly Standing Committee, changes in information shown on identity cards have been specifically assessed during the law-making process, ensuring no duplication between information fields, consistency between popular types of identification documents currently used by citizens, and compatibility with relevant legal provisions.

The draft law removes fingerprints from the card surface (stored in the storage unit) to ensure security during card use. It also removes the information "hometown", changes "citizen identification card number" to "personal identification number", "citizen identification" to "identity card", "place of permanent residence" to "place of residence", adds "place of birth registration"... to make it more convenient for people in the process of using ID cards. At the same time, this also ensures the accuracy of people's information in authentication, limits the need to issue new ID cards and ensures people's privacy; people's basic identification information will be stored, exploited and used through the electronic chip on the ID card.

Integrating both QR code and electronic chip on ID cards aims to facilitate agencies, organizations and individuals to exploit and use citizen information when performing administrative procedures and civil transactions.

Delegate Huynh Thi Phuc (Ba Ria - Vung Tau) expressed her agreement with the regulation on using chip-embedded ID cards with integrated information to facilitate people when carrying out administrative procedures and other transactions, not conflicting with relevant specialized regulations in the management and use of the above documents, not affecting the state management functions related to the documents being managed under the condition of ensuring information security for cardholders.

Delegate Huynh Thi Phuc basically agreed with the regulations related to the database, information security in the national population database, the identity database - identified as the only database of the State with the Government investing in infrastructure, software systems managed and supervised by a team of experts, information technology, and network security. Therefore, information retrieval is carried out according to a strict network security control process, ensuring information security and safety.

Expressing agreement with the draft Law and highly appreciating the comprehensive amendments and supplements to the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly at this session, delegate Dinh Thi Ngoc Dung (Hai Duong) said that the contents shown on the ID card in the draft Law have been changed and improved to create more convenience for the people.

Delegate Dinh Thi Ngoc Dung pointed out that the content shown on the ID card has been amended and supplemented in the direction of removing fingerprints, amending regulations on information on card number, ID card, hometown, permanent residence, signature of the card issuer to personal identification number, the ID card text line of place of birth registration, place of residence. The delegate said that the above changes and improvements will make it more convenient for people in the process of using ID cards, limit the issuance and replacement of ID cards and ensure people's privacy. People's basic identification information will be stored, exploited and used through the electronic chip on the ID card.

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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