The cost of making an ID card is 30 times more expensive than a birth certificate?

On the afternoon of October 28, the National Assembly continued to discuss the Citizen Identification Law in the hall. Whether or not to issue citizen identification cards to children under 14 years old is one of the issues that many National Assembly deputies are interested in.

Many National Assembly delegates proposed that ID cards should not be issued to children under 14 years old but birth certificates should be maintained.

Regarding this, Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee Nguyen Kim Khoa said that issuing ID cards to children under 14 years old is to ensure equal rights, without discrimination based on age. In addition, this also facilitates transactions and reduces administrative procedures.

Agreeing with the Review Committee, delegate Tran Thi Dieu Thuy (HCMC) said that issuing cards to children right from birth and not requiring birth certificates will not infringe on children's right to birth registration.

However, most of the opinions from the delegates expressed disagreement with this policy. According to delegate Dang Thi Kim Chi (Phu Yen), this draft law stipulates the issuance of cards to people under 14 years old to reduce administrative procedures, but in reality, the Law on Civil Status still stipulates the issuance of birth certificates. In addition, children at that age cannot perform transactions on their own and must have a guardian. At this age, children mainly use birth certificates.

With the huge cost, delegate Chi asked: Is it really necessary to spend 650 billion VND to issue ID cards for children? The delegate suggested that it should be regulated that children must have a birth certificate and register their information in the national information database, and when they reach the age, they will be issued a card with the existing identification number.

Sharing the same view, delegate Nguyen Thanh Phuong (Can Tho) suggested considering whether it is really necessary to issue ID cards to children under 14 years old. “Issuing ID cards instead of birth certificates will reduce administrative procedures? Not all children under 14 years old need to go through administrative procedures. Many voters also do not agree to issue ID cards at this stage and still use birth certificates,” delegate Phuong reflected.

Referring to the cost of implementation, delegate H'Yim KĐoh (Bak Kan) analyzed: The estimated cost of making a citizen identification card is about 30 thousand VND, while issuing a birth certificate only costs 1 thousand VND for the form.

From that figure, it can be seen that issuing a birth certificate for a child is more economical than issuing an ID card. On the other hand, a birth certificate is also valid for life, while an ID card must be reissued when the child turns 14, which is even more costly.

According to delegate Do Ngoc Nien (Binh Thuan), if the birth certificate can be replaced, it can be considered a great progress and reform. However, delegate Nien also feels worried and uneasy if it is thought that the ID card can replace the birth certificate when the child enters kindergarten.

“With such a huge budget, if it cannot be replaced, who will be responsible? I suggest that there should be a provision that when issuing cards to children under 14 years old, it is necessary to add the condition that this card can replace the birth certificate to ensure legality” – the delegate suggested.

According to Infonet