Nghe An National Assembly Delegate proposes clearer regulations on penalties and administrative decentralization

The discussion focused on the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations; the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents and the draft Resolution of the National Assembly amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Internal Regulations of the National Assembly session issued together with Resolution No. 71/2022/QH15 of the National Assembly.

Stricter regulations on administrative sanctions

Regarding the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations, Mr. Tran Nhat Minh - full-time National Assembly member from Nghe An delegation expressed high consensus with many amendments, but said that it is still necessary to adjust a number of regulations to avoid confusion in practice.

First of all, regarding the regulation on making a record of administrative violations, the draft adds a provision: In case the subject of the violation cannot be identified, it must be clearly stated that the violating individual or organization cannot be identified. Delegates agree but think that this provision is still not strict enough and suggest that the record must clearly state the reason for not being able to identify the violating individual or organization.

Regarding the time limit for transferring administrative violation records to the competent authority, the draft replaces the current law's provision "within 24 hours" with the phrase "timely". Mr. Tran Nhat Minh said that "timely" is a qualitative concept, lacking clarity, so he proposed to clearly stipulate a specific time period, for example from 24 to 72 hours, to ensure transparency.

In addition, the delegate of Nghe An Delegation also suggested that it is necessary to clearly stipulate the time frame for transferring records of violations with signs of crime for criminal prosecution as prescribed for transferring records of administrative violations; avoid generalities without specific time frames, to ensure consistency and strictness.

Regarding the Draft Resolution of the National Assembly amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Regulations of the National Assembly session issued together with Resolution No. 71/2022/QH15 of the National Assembly, there is a proposal to shorten the discussion time of delegates from 7 minutes to 5 minutes.

Expressing his opinion on this issue, Representative Tran Nhat Minh proposed to maintain the current regulation: Each delegate is allowed to speak for no more than 7 minutes and depending on the progress of the session, the chairperson can propose to reduce it to 5 minutes. The current regulation is flexible enough to help delegates fully present their opinions, especially on complex issues such as budget, law, organizational structure, etc.

Proposal to remove the regulation of consulting the National Assembly Delegation on draft laws before submitting them to the National Assembly

Speaking at the discussion on the Draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, Ms. Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Deputy Head of the Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Nghe An province said that the amendment is necessary to ensure consistency with the Constitution and laws related to the organization of local government apparatus and the Fatherland Front.

Regarding social criticism, delegate Thai Thi An Chung agreed with the draft when it stipulated that only the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee would conduct social criticism on draft legal documents; at the same time, the plan to remove "political and social organizations" is consistent with the spirit of amending the Constitution.

However, the delegate said that it is necessary to consider amending the regulations on the time of organizing social criticism, because currently criticism is carried out before the drafting agency sends it to the judicial agency for appraisal and before submitting it to the Government for consideration for draft laws, resolutions of the National Assembly, and decrees of the Government.

This provision makes the criticism not fully effective because it does not follow the changes later in the legislative process, there are contents that are criticized that are no longer available or many new contents that will not be criticized.

The Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An Province also proposed to remove the regulation of collecting opinions from National Assembly Delegations before submitting to the National Assembly. Because the delegations are organizations that gather delegates, while the delegates themselves will discuss and vote at the National Assembly after the bill is officially submitted.

In addition, regarding the authority to issue legal documents of commune-level authorities, the delegate of Nghe An Delegation said that adding authority to the People's Council and People's Committee at the commune level is appropriate in the context of organizing the government according to the 2-level model.

Accordingly, the draft stipulates that the People's Council at the commune level shall issue resolutions to regulate matters assigned by law and resolutions of the National Assembly and to perform decentralized tasks and powers. The People's Committee at the commune level shall issue decisions to regulate matters assigned by law and resolutions of the National Assembly, to decentralize and to perform decentralized tasks and powers.

However, it is necessary to ensure consistency with the Draft Law on Organization of Local Government that is being revised at this session because this draft law only allows the Provincial People's Committee to decentralize to the Commune People's Committee and specialized departments; the Commune People's Council does not have the authority to receive decentralization.

This is also the content that delegate Tran Nhat Minh expressed his opinion on. He said that although the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents stipulates that the People's Committees at the commune level decentralize and perform the decentralized tasks and powers. However, the Draft Law on Organization of Local Government presented at the same session does not stipulate that the People's Committees at the commune level have the right to decentralize.

Therefore, delegate Tran Nhat Minh requested the drafting agency to clarify this inconsistent point to avoid conflicts when applying. At the same time, on this issue, he agreed with the review opinion of the Committee on Law and Justice that, instead of "decentralization", the mechanism of "flexible assignment and delegation of authority" should be used so that the People's Committee at the commune level can assign tasks to specialized agencies, other administrative organizations or civil servants to perform.

During the day, the National Assembly also held a plenary session in the hall to discuss the Draft Resolution of the National Assembly on mechanisms and policies for private economic development; the Draft Resolution of the National Assembly on a number of special mechanisms and policies, creating breakthroughs in law making and enforcement; and listened to the final settlement report, audit report and review report of the State budget settlement in 2023.