The Draft Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents (amended) stipulates in a way that facilitates the Government's socio-economic management, and strengthens the role of "the submitting agency that must take ultimate responsibility".
On the morning of February 12, 2024, National Assembly deputies discussed in groups the draft Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents (amended).
The submitting agency must take responsibility to the end.
National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasized that this bill presents a viewpoint on law-making in the direction that whatever the National Assembly does, the National Assembly will regulate, and the Government will issue decrees and circulars to proactively manage.
This regulation aims to create conditions for the Government to easily manage the socio-economy according to the developments of the situation; at the same time, it aims to strengthen the role of "the presenting agency that must take ultimate responsibility".
“Previously, the agency submitted 50-60% of the work, and sent it to the National Assembly Standing Committee, the committees had a very hard time. There is a law that the Chairman and Vice Chairman sit for 7-8 meetings like the 2024 Land Law,” Mr. Tran Thanh Man stated the reality.
The National Assembly Chairman also said that he had repeatedly reminded ministers and heads of sectors to take ultimate responsibility for law-making, and that this could not be delegated to deputy ministers or department heads. Therefore, this draft law stipulates strengthening the role of the submitting agency to take ultimate responsibility.
National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man. Photo: Nhu Y
He also agreed with the direction of reforming the process in the direction of bills being passed in one session, but the regulation stipulates that different opinions will be discussed at the session.
In this spirit, the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents passed by the National Assembly will create conditions for building and perfecting laws during the year.
"The Prime Minister thanked the National Assembly at its 7th and 8th sessions for creating favorable conditions for Vietnam to grow by 7.09% in 2024, among the highest growth rates in the region and the world," the National Assembly Chairman emphasized.
Perfecting institutions, removing difficulties and bottlenecks for socio-economic development, achieving the GDP growth target of over 8% as a premise for the period after 2026 - 2030 to achieve double-digit growth.
Only then will Vietnam become an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2045.
“If we want to develop, we must remove difficulties, especially those for science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation. You can enter and exit Singapore in 10 seconds, without having to do any procedures, the system will recognize you and you will just pass through, without having to stamp your name,” said the National Assembly Chairman.
He also cited the UAE as an example, where the investment licensing procedure only takes 5 or 10 minutes. Therefore, Vietnam must promote administrative reform to facilitate people and businesses. "Whatever can be decided, decide immediately," said the National Assembly Chairman.
Flexible but relatively risky
Acting Chairman of Quang Tri Province Ha Sy Dong noted that the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly this time has two major changes.
A major change is that this bill “shifts the role more to the Government”. The National Assembly will only pass or not pass the law; the content of the law will be a framework law, a pipe law, and the details will be done by the Government.
This can be seen as a form of flexibility in the regulation drafting process, as the process of drafting a Decree is more flexible than that of making a law.
However, Mr. Dong also analyzed that when making laws, National Assembly deputies often listen to public opinion more than ministries and branches. Therefore, transferring the role to the Government means that the voice of public opinion through press channels and social networks will be weaker.
Acting Chairman of Quang Tri Province Ha Sy Dong. Photo: National Assembly
The Chairman of Quang Tri province said that the flexibility in the drafting process shortens many time periods to speed up the decision-making process.
However, the delegate said that any change in the law-making process always has two sides. The positive side is to speed up decision-making. In other countries in the world, the law-making process of the National Assembly is very flexible. As long as the National Assembly votes to pass it, it is fine, and the previous procedures are not too important.
However, they come with two other conditions. One is that it is not easy for the National Assembly to pass laws, and the votes and statements of parliamentarians are public. Two, mechanisms to control the quality of laws after they are issued, such as the constitutional court, allow lawsuits to be filed against a regulation that is unconstitutional or contrary to higher-level documents.
Therefore, delegate Ha Sy Dong noted that allowing flexibility in the law-making process in Vietnam when the above conditions are not yet in place is relatively risky.
Regarding the "disadvantage" according to Mr. Dong, there is a risk that the quality of legal documents will be low, and low quality will lead to a number of other risks.
“When the law is issued, there will be many difficulties in implementation because the regulations do not cover all cases or the language is not transparent. The impact has not been carefully assessed, so extreme decisions are made. The rush will not give people and businesses time to prepare and adapt, causing disruption to production, trade, and life,” the acting Chairman of Quang Tri province is concerned.
He pointed out that recently there has been a phenomenon of abusing the simplified procedure. For example, in 2025, the Government planned to consider issuing about 130 documents, of which 69 documents were implemented using the simplified procedure.
Meanwhile, the simplified procedure is almost only drafting, submitting and signing. Posting or soliciting opinions is only case-by-case and not mandatory.
Therefore, the delegate suggested that there may not be time to collect opinions but the draft must still be publicly posted.
Each ministry issues a law that is massive and very difficult to do.
In response to the opinion of the delegate suggesting that each ministry should develop a law instead of making too many laws as it is now, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Do Duc Duy said that the spirit of arranging the organizational apparatus in the direction of a ministry managing multiple sectors and fields, but "each ministry only has one set of laws, I think that set of laws will be very large and very difficult to make".
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Do Duc Duy. Photo: X.Trung
However, the Minister also said that the Government has calculated that, in addition to promulgating laws of a specialized and in-depth management nature, it will also expand the scope to develop multi-sectoral management laws that only apply within a certain area.
“For example, the Capital Law is a multi-sectoral law that regulates many fields but applies to the capital; there are specific resolutions on the development of Ho Chi Minh City and some localities, and in the future there will be resolutions on regional development,” Minister Do Duc Duy cited.
Mr. Duy said that in the future, there will be projects such as the North-South high-speed railway and the Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant that require many specific mechanisms and policies. Therefore, it is possible to develop multi-sectoral laws to apply to one or several key national projects or to apply to a number of activities that need to be regulated.
Source: https://moha.gov.vn/tintuc/Pages/danh-sach-tin-noi-bat.aspx?ItemID=56864
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