Careful, thorough, certain

Continuing the August Legal Session, this morning, August 12, under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, Senior Lieutenant General Tran Quang Phuong, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on explaining, accepting, and revising the draft Law on Geology and Minerals.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man gives comments on the draft Law on Geology and Minerals

Mineral water, natural hot water is a group III mineral.

Reporting on some major issues regarding the explanation, reception and revision of the draft Law, Chairman of the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy stated that regarding the classification of minerals (Article 7), there were opinions suggesting the need to clearly define specific types of minerals according to their uses to ensure consistency and efficiency in management and avoid creating legal loopholes that could lead to violations, losses and waste; at the same time, remove difficulties in the current exploitation of minerals as filling materials; propose to specify the list of minerals by group attached to the draft Law.

According to the Standing Committee of Science, Technology and Environment, Clause 1, Article 7 stipulates the principled classification of minerals based on their uses and management purposes. Clause 4, Article 7 of the draft Law assigns the Government to detail this Article. Accordingly, the Government will develop a list of Group I minerals, Group II minerals, and Group III minerals in a detailed guiding Decree to have a basis for implementation.

Regarding opinions related to minerals used as filling materials, the draft Law has stipulated that they are Group IV minerals and are carried out according to simple administrative procedures, stipulated in Section 4, Chapter VI - Registration of Group IV mineral exploitation activities. There are opinions suggesting that it is necessary to review the regulation on classifying mineral water in the same mineral group as precious metals and precious stones (Group I minerals) to create conditions for people to exploit natural hot water sources to attract tourism, thereby creating jobs and increasing income for people.

Chairman of the Committee Le Quang Huy said, accepting the opinions of National Assembly deputies, minerals such as mineral water and natural hot water have been defined as group III minerals in the draft Law.

Carefully assess the impact of the new policy

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, Senior Lieutenant General Tran Quang Phuong chaired the meeting.

The members of the National Assembly Standing Committee basically agreed and highly appreciated the Report on explanation, acceptance and revision of the draft Law of the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment which was very detailed and clear, fully absorbing the opinions of the National Assembly Deputies at the Seventh Session.

Giving his opinion at the meeting, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man highly appreciated the drafting agency and the verification agency after the 7th Session of the 15th National Assembly for accepting the opinions of National Assembly deputies discussed in groups as well as in the hall; acknowledged that the Standing Committee of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee had organized many working sessions with ministries, branches and localities in the spirit of openness and seriously listening to opinions.

Emphasizing that the Law on Geology and Minerals is an important law, the National Assembly Chairman said that the issue of licensing the exploitation of minerals, common construction materials, and filling materials in planned areas is a very important issue; it is necessary to clearly distinguish between planning, exploration, and exploitation.

Through working with localities, it was found that there were 5 groups of recommendations on difficulties in the practical implementation of the Law; of which, 3 groups have clear solutions in this draft Law, 1 group has 2 options related to Article 16 of the draft Law on adjusting mineral planning.

"Regardless of the plan, the basis and requirements must be clarified to gather opinions at the upcoming Conference of full-time National Assembly Deputies as well as submit it to the National Assembly for voting," the National Assembly Chairman emphasized.

The National Assembly Chairman also proposed to consider and further study the two contents with two different options, which are Article 15 and Article 16 of the draft Law. Regarding the content on the responsibility for mineral planning (Article 15), it is necessary to carefully assess the impact of new policies if the focal point for mineral planning is changed from the current Law's regulations of the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to a single focal point, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, as in the draft Law. "Policy impact assessment is also a mandatory requirement under the provisions of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents," the National Assembly Chairman pointed out.

Regarding the adjustment of mineral planning (Article 16), the National Assembly Chairman requested representatives of state management agencies such as the Ministry of Planning and Investment to give their professional opinions, on the possibility of separate regulations for the mineral sector according to the draft Law or to discuss when amending and supplementing the Law on Planning.

In addition, based on Resolution No. 10-NQ/TW of the Politburo dated February 10, 2022 on strategic orientations for geology, minerals and mining industry to 2030, with a vision to 2045, the National Assembly Chairman suggested that when drafting the Law, the drafting agency and the reviewing agency must fully update the spirit and direction of the Politburo expressed in the Resolution. This is a solid basis for the Party's leadership for the National Assembly to concretize into legal documents, and for the Government and ministries and branches to issue decrees and guiding circulars.

The National Assembly Chairman emphasized the need to be cautious, thorough, and certain in the process of finalizing the draft Law. "Issues that are "ripe, clear, and proven by reality" should be revised, while issues that are "unripe, unclear, and not proven by reality" should continue to be studied and not be rushed into the draft Law."

At the same time, the National Assembly Chairman requested strict implementation of Regulation 178-QD/TW of the Politburo on controlling power, preventing and combating corruption and negativity in law-making work. The drafting agency and the reviewing agency need to seriously and thoroughly review whether there are interest groups in the drafting of the Law.

Commenting on the classification of minerals, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh stated that the approach of the draft Law is to classify based on both uses and management purposes. The uses are very clear and the National Assembly deputies also proposed to classify according to uses, however, classification according to management purposes is very important, depending on each period, the management purposes can change. Therefore, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly agreed to assign the Government to provide detailed regulations to suit the management requirements of each period.

Regarding the contents of designing two options related to mineral planning and adjusting mineral planning, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly said that it is not necessary to immediately frame which option to choose, but rather to analyze in more depth the advantages and disadvantages of each option, then present it at the Conference of National Assembly Deputies working full-time for discussion, then submit it to the National Assembly for further discussion. "Because each option has advantages and disadvantages; innovation will always be difficult, but keeping it the same will not innovate," said the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Quy Kien sincerely thanked the opinions of the delegates attending, and said that he would coordinate with the reviewing agency to absorb the contributions to build the best quality Law project.

Concluding the session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong requested that the Standing Committee of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee coordinate with relevant agencies to continue reviewing to ensure that the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee and National Assembly deputies are fully received and explained in a convincing manner. At the same time, review to fully institutionalize the Party's policies, ensuring the highest quality of the draft Law.

Source: https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/du-thao-luat-dia-chat-va-khoang-san-than-trong-ky-luong-chac-chan-378164.html