8 districts and towns in Nghe An have 100% of communes and wards meeting legal access standards.

Of which, 8 districts and towns have a 100% rate of communes and wards meeting the standards, including Vinh city (25/25 communes and wards meeting the standards); Do Luong district (33/33 communes and towns meeting the standards); Nghi Loc district (29/29 communes and towns meeting the standards); Dien Chau district (37/37 communes and towns meeting the standards); Yen Thanh district (39/39 communes and towns meeting the standards); Quynh Luu district 33/33 communes and towns meeting the standards), Hoang Mai town (10/10 communes and wards meeting the standards); Cua Lo town (7/7 wards meeting the standards).

People come to do the correction procedures at the Reception and Result Delivery Department of Dien Chau District One-Stop Transaction Center. Photo: PV

105 commune-level units that have not met the standards are concentrated in mountainous districts such as Ky Son with 17/21 communes and towns not meeting the standards; Tuong Duong district with 11/17 communes and towns not meeting the standards; Nghia Dan district with 15/23 communes and towns not meeting the standards on legal access; Tan Ky district with 19/22 communes and towns not meeting the standards.legal access standards.

Nghe An Border Guard propagates to raise legal awareness for people in border communes. Photo: Document

Some units have a low number of communes and wards meeting the standards, such as Con Cuong district, which has only 1 commune meeting the legal access standards, Chi Khe commune out of 13 communes and towns.

From January 1, 2022, the assessment of communes, wards and towns meeting legal access standards will be carried out according to Decision No. 25/2021/QD-TTg dated July 22, 2021 of the Prime Minister and this Decision will replace Decision No. 619/QD-TTg dated May 8, 2017 promulgating Regulations on building communes, wards and towns meeting legal access standards.

Criteria for communes, wards and towns meeting legal access standards have been revised scientifically, feasiblely and in accordance with reality.: includes 05 criteria with 20 indicators, is a tool to measure the level of fulfillment of assigned responsibilities of commune-level authorities in organizing law enforcement, implementing socialist democracy at the grassroots level. The focus is on the development and promulgation of documents under authority to organize and ensure the implementation of the Constitution and laws in the area; access to information, dissemination, legal education; grassroots mediation, legal aid; implementing democracy in communes, wards, and towns; organizing citizen reception, resolving petitions, reflections, complaints, denunciations, administrative procedures; ensuring national security, social order and safety.

Compared with Decision 619/QD-TTg, the set of criteria has been omitted 08 overlapping criteria, which are not the responsibility of the commune-level government; 16 criteria have been inherited but have been edited to be suitable, feasible, promoting completeness, timeliness, and compliance with regulations in performing the responsibilities of the commune-level government; at the same time, 04 new criteria have been added in the direction of focusing on the dissemination and education of law, legal aid, exemplary behavior of officials and civil servants in performing public duties and complying with the law, ensuring security and order... to create the best conditions for people to access the law and their legitimate rights and interests.

According to Decision No. 25/2021/QD-TTg, communes, wards and towns recognized as meeting legal access standards must fully meet 3 conditions:

- Total score of the criteria is 80 points or more

- The total score of each criterion is 50% or more of the maximum score.

- During the assessment year, no cadres or civil servants who are heads of commune-level Party committees and authorities were subject to administrative discipline for violating the law in the performance of official duties or were prosecuted for criminal liability.

The new point of the regulation on conditions is to apply a unified overall score, without classifying communes into type I, type II and type III to ensure fairness for people nationwide in enjoying rights and benefits according to the provisions of law.

The new decision also removes the condition on the results of satisfaction assessment of organizations and individuals in the implementation of administrative procedures at the commune level in Decision No. 619/QD-TTg because practice shows that the implementation of this regulation is still formal.

The assessment and recognition of communes, wards and towns meeting legal access standards continues to be carried out according to the process of commune self-assessment and district level assessment and recognition of legal access standards. However, the time limit for assessment and recognition of communes, wards and towns meeting legal access standards has been revised to increase for both commune and district levels, ensuring compliance with the requirements and assigned tasks of each level.