Review to regulate all types of assets to be auctioned

Strengthen online auctions for transparency

Reporting at the meeting, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Nguyen Minh Son said that after being received and revised, the Draft Law amended and supplemented 42 articles and clauses of the current Law; increasing 16 articles and clauses compared to the Draft Law submitted to the National Assembly at the 6th Session, but mainly amending legislative techniques, not creating many new policies.

Therefore, the drafting of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Property Auction is consistent with the scope of the amendment.

Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Nguyen Minh Son reported at the meeting. — Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly 's Economic Committee Nguyen Minh Son reported at the meeting.

Regarding the deposit and deposit handling, the implementation of the current Law's regulation on the deposit level from 5% to 20% is basically consistent with reality, creating conditions to attract many people to participate in the auction. International practice does not have specific regulations on the deposit level for auction participation, accordingly, auction companies themselves set the deposit level depending on the type of auctioned property and the auction form.

Regarding online auctions and the application of online auctions for public assets, the Standing Committee of the Economic Committee proposed to incorporate additional provisions in the Draft Law on Online Auctions on the basis of legalizing regulations on online auctions in accordance with practice. At the same time, regulations for public asset auctions conducted in the form of online auctions must use the National Asset Auction Portal built, managed and operated by the Ministry of Justice to promote the application of information technology, promote digital transformation in auction activities, and ensure network safety and security. This is also considered a solution to minimize collusion, price suppression, negativity and loss of state assets in asset auction activities.

Deputy Chairman of the Economic Committee Nguyen Minh Son said that the Standing Committee of the Economic Committee reported to the National Assembly Standing Committee a number of major issues of the Draft Law related to auctions in cases where there is only one person registering to participate in the auction, one person participating in the auction, one person bidding; on sanctions for violations against auction winners who do not pay the auction winning money; on cancellation of asset auction service contracts in cases where there has been a decision, judgment or the process of compulsory asset seizure has violated the law and cancellation of asset auction results...

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai chaired the meeting. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Speaking at the meeting, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said that the procedures for participating in asset auctions should continue to be reviewed to complete the contents to ensure feasibility; along with the issue of interest rates, regulations on deposit amounts; regulations that are of a framework nature for the Government to specify in detail to increase online auctions. Research and supplement regulations to allow for a reduction in the starting price of assets after each unsuccessful auction.

Regarding the National Asset Auction Portal and the role and responsibility of the Ministry of Justice, the National Assembly Chairman suggested that the concept of the National Asset Auction Portal should be completed in the draft Law, clarifying the requirements for management, connection and data sharing according to the provisions of this Law and relevant laws. At the same time, it is necessary to supplement the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice not only to build, manage and guide the use of the National Asset Auction Portal, but also to have regulations to meet the requirements for information storage and security. Research to supplement online public services with fees related to asset auctions under the management authority of the Ministry of Justice such as the fee for renting the National Asset Auction Portal and or the auction information page to organize online auctions.

Emphasizing that the Law Project is highly specialized and technical but related to administrative procedures, administrative reform, rights and interests of parties and related to many other law projects, the National Assembly Chairman suggested that the Economic Committee listen to agencies, along with that, National Assembly agencies, ministries and branches participate in giving additional comments to the Law Project to ensure higher quality and resolve the bottlenecks pointed out.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong speaks at the meeting. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Continue to review and complete regulations

Commenting on the issue of pilot auction of car license plates, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong said that in the transitional provisions, this Law clearly states: "continue to implement Resolution 73 of the National Assembly...". The time of only 1 year is not enough to evaluate and summarize before considering including it in the Law on Property Auction. However, the Government submitted the Law on Traffic Safety and Order, including the content of auctioning car license plates with the following explanations: according to the Government's supplementary report, in 5 months of implementation, it was very successful, auctioning 14,062 license plates and receiving the support of the people. This time, through discussion and proposals of National Assembly Deputies, the Government believes that it is necessary to legalize this issue, and at the same time, expanding the auction of license plates for transport business vehicles and motorbikes is necessary. The Government also believes that if it is not included in a timely manner but waits until the end of the pilot period to conduct a summary, it will be costly and a waste of time.

After working with the National Defense and Security Committee as well as the Drafting Agency, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong requested to have more opinions from ministries and the Government on this content. Accordingly, a number of ministries issued official dispatches agreeing to this policy.

According to the procedure, the Government's opinion is also needed, therefore, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly suggested that the Government should pay attention and have an official opinion on this issue to clarify.

Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long accepted the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

At the meeting, explaining further about the auction being conducted in the form of online auction, Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long said that he will aim for a socialized solution, building online auction software. However, the spirit of the drafting agency is not to force all auction activities to comply, but to respect each person's right to choose according to the market and civil mechanism.

"Currently, some units have conducted online auctions. Administrative imposition may lead to failure to ensure the principle of fair competition. The drafting agency will take note and carefully study this issue," said the Minister.

Concluding the discussion, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai requested the National Assembly's Economic Committee to coordinate with relevant agencies to continue reviewing to ensure the quality of the Draft Law, contributing to improving administrative procedures but at the same time fighting corruption and practicing thrift.

Regarding some specific issues, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly suggested continuing to review and perfect the regulations on auctioned assets to ensure coverage of all types of assets to be auctioned, avoiding practical difficulties, perfecting the regulations on prohibited acts, sanctions, deposits, handling of deposits to overcome manipulation of auctions for profit, re-auctions, auctions related to charity, etc. Reviewing the regulations on starting prices and asset appraisal to ensure no overlap with specialized laws, ensuring the principle that the Law on Asset Auction is a formal law that uniformly regulates auction procedures and types of assets.

At the same time, continue to review regulations on auctioneer standards, subjects exempted from auction training, regulations expanding the rights of auction organizations, or consider the concept of auction service providers to ensure strictness but feasibility in accordance with reality and not creating legal gaps...

Source