Draft Law on Management and Protection of National Defense Works and Military Zones is eligible to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval.

Completing regulations on dual-use works

Presenting a report explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law on Management and Protection of National Defense Works and Military Zones, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security Le Tan Toi said that regarding dual-use works stipulated in Article 7 of the draft law, there were opinions suggesting revising Clause 6 in the direction of adding specific regulations on the management and protection of dual-use works when used for military and national defense purposes; reviewing the content of this article to ensure strictness and feasibility.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue chaired the discussion to explain, absorb and revise the draft on Management and protection of national defense works and military zones.

According to the opinion of the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee, Clause 6, Article 7 of the draft law specifically stipulates the management and protection of dual-use works when they are used for civil or military purposes, national defense, or used for both military, national defense and civil purposes without classifying them according to the form of ownership of the works.

Based on the opinions of National Assembly deputies, to ensure that the law is applied appropriately to different subjects owning dual-use civil works (state-owned and private-owned) and to avoid overlap in legal provisions, the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee proposes that the National Assembly Standing Committee amend Clause 2, Article 7 to: "The agency in charge of appraising investment policies and dual-use civil works projects is responsible for consulting the Ministry of National Defense on the dual-use of the works before submitting them to competent authorities for approval."

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong, member of the Party Central Committee, member of the Central Military Commission, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, Deputy Minister of National Defense, spoke at the meeting.

Clause 4, Article 7 states: “The Minister of National Defense shall preside over and coordinate with the Minister, Head of the Central agency, and Chairman of the People's Committee of the relevant province to submit to the Prime Minister for decision on the use or abolition of dual-use for national defense works”.

Point a, Clause 6, Article 7 states: “Dual-use works when used for civil purposes shall be managed and used in accordance with relevant laws and records shall be established for management, statistics and inventory of works in accordance with provisions in Articles 10 and 14 of this Law”.

Clearly define the authority to decide on changing the purpose of use

Regarding the conversion of the purpose of use of defense works and military zones (Article 12), there are opinions of National Assembly deputies suggesting that Clause 3 stipulates the conversion of the purpose of use of defense land belonging to defense works and military zones to ensure consistency and consistency with the draft Land Law (amended) being submitted to the National Assembly; suggesting that only the Minister of National Defense has the authority to decide without decentralizing the authority to decide on the conversion of the purpose of use of defense works and military zones.

The Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee agreed with the Standing Committee of the Law Committee, proposing to amend Clause 3 in the direction that: The Prime Minister decides to change the purpose of use of defense works and military zones to other purposes in cases where there is no longer a need to use them for military or defense tasks and the purpose of use needs to be changed for socio-economic development and to serve people's needs or there is still a need to use them for military or defense tasks but they are within the scope of implementing socio-economic development projects according to the planning approved by competent authorities and the Ministry of National Defense agrees in writing on the change of purpose of use of defense works and military zones during the process of approving the project investment policy. Land recovery for land areas with defense works and military zones that are changed to other purposes shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the law on land.

The regulation of the authority to change the purpose of use of defense works and military zones (within the scope of the Ministry of National Defense, still used for military defense tasks) is studied and developed on the basis of legalizing the provisions of the law on the authority of the Minister of National Defense in the management and use of public assets that have been implemented stably. Therefore, the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee proposes that the Standing Committee of the National Assembly keep it as the draft law. Accordingly, the Minister of National Defense decides or delegates the authority to decide on changing the purpose of use of defense works and military zones managed by the Ministry of National Defense according to the requirements of military and defense tasks.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong speaks.

The content received and edited to achieve high consensus

At the meeting, the delegates said that the draft Law on Management and Protection of National Defense Works and Military Zones had been reviewed by the National Defense and Security Committee, the drafting agency, the Ministry of National Defense, in close coordination with each other and with relevant agencies and organizations; thoroughly studied and absorbed the opinions of the National Assembly delegates. Expressing agreement with the contents that had been absorbed, revised, and explained, the delegates made additional comments on a number of issues, mainly related to legislative techniques and wording editing to further perfect the draft law.

Speaking at the meeting, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong, member of the Party Central Committee, member of the Central Military Commission, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, Deputy Minister of National Defense, thanked the delegates for their contributions and clarified a number of issues of concern to the delegates. Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong affirmed that the drafting agency will continue to closely coordinate with the reviewing agency to thoroughly study and absorb the delegates' opinions, and perfect the draft law before submitting it to the National Assembly for approval at the second phase of the 6th Session.

Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee Le Tan Toi speaks.

Concluding this content, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue highly appreciated the sense of responsibility of the agency in charge of reviewing and drafting in explaining, accepting and revising the draft law; stating that the contents of accepting and revising the draft law all achieved high consensus. The National Assembly Chairman suggested further reviewing the draft law to ensure consistency in the legal system, especially compatibility with the draft Land Law (amended) that the National Assembly is considering; accepting the opinions of delegates to complete the draft law.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said that the draft Law on Management and Protection of National Defense Works and Military Zones is of very good quality and is qualified to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval at the second phase of the 6th Session; he believes that the draft law will be approved by the National Assembly with a high approval rate.

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