Nghe An National Assembly delegation discussed two draft laws

Consider the time to amend the Law on Supervisory Activities of the National Assembly and People's Councils

Regarding the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Supervisory Activities of the National Assembly and People's Councils, Mr. Pham Phu Binh - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, delegate of Nghe An delegation expressed concerns about this draft Law being submitted at the 8th Session and expected to be passed at the session held in May and June 2025.

Because currently, our country is focusing on implementing Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW, Session XII "Some issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently", including the task of reviewing and organizing models of National Assembly and Government agencies to be more streamlined and efficient.

“If the draft Law is submitted at this session and approved at the session in May and June 2025, will it synchronize the process of perfecting the apparatus of the National Assembly and the Government?”, the delegate asked and requested the competent authority to consider whether to continue reviewing this draft Law at the present time or calculate another time to ensure the synchronization of the process of restructuring the apparatus that is being implemented very vigorously.

In case this draft Law continues to be considered, the delegate of Nghe An delegation said that there are other tasks that must be considered, such as amending the Law on Organization of the National Assembly and other laws related to the National Assembly organization model, to ensure compatibility.

Taking the example from the perspective of international cooperation and foreign affairs, delegate Pham Phu Binh said that there are laws, international treaties, and international cooperation that all mention the responsibilities and clearly state the names of agencies and committees of the National Assembly; therefore, when adjusting the organizational model, it is necessary to amend related laws to ensure consistency in names...

Along with that, regarding the content of the draft Law, Mr. Pham Phu Binh proposed to add provisions on coordination in monitoring the implementation of international treaties, international agreements, and Vietnam's commitments in bilateral and multilateral partnership agreements. This is a new point in the foreign relations between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the legislative bodies of other countries.

Regarding this draft Law, Mr. Tran Nhat Minh - full-time National Assembly member of Nghe An delegation gave his opinion on a number of amendments and supplements on reviewing the implementation of the resolution of the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee on questioning and thematic supervision in the form of questioning; in case the National Assembly allows answering questions in writing, the National Assembly issues a resolution on questioning...

In particular, he raised many viewpoints and opinions to innovate and improve the effectiveness of the National Assembly delegation's supervision activities in localities, such as agreeing with the addition of the content that the National Assembly delegation "supervises the implementation of handling complaints, denunciations and recommendations of citizens".

In particular, from local practice, delegate Tran Nhat Minh proposed to study regulations on the number of National Assembly deputies participating in thematic supervision delegations of provincial-level National Assembly delegations in accordance with practice.

Because according to the provisions of the current Law: The thematic supervision delegation of the National Assembly delegation must have at least 3 National Assembly members participating in the delegation. However, in practice in localities, it is often very difficult to implement. For example, the Nghe An delegation had 13 delegates at the beginning of the term (currently there are 12 delegates), of which 7 delegates work in the locality, but it is often difficult to ensure this regulation because most of the delegates are part-time delegates, so their work schedules overlap.

This problem was also mentioned in the summary report on the implementation of the Law on Supervisory Activities of the National Assembly and People's Councils as "individually, there are delegations of National Assembly deputies who, due to transfer of cadres to other jobs or many other reasons, have only 1 to 2 deputies in the locality, not qualified to organize supervision" but the draft Law has not yet amended or supplemented the regulations.

In addition, the current Law has not clearly stipulated that the requirement for 3 National Assembly deputies to participate in a thematic supervision delegation is based on the resolution establishing the delegation or the fact that there must be 3 deputies at the supervision meeting.

These are two contents that delegate Tran Nhat Minh proposed to amend and supplement a number of articles of the Law on Supervisory Activities of the National Assembly and People's Councils this time that need to be clarified; at the same time, it is necessary to add regulations on the authority of the National Assembly delegations of provinces and cities to supervise the settlement of voters' petitions sent to the National Assembly deputies under the jurisdiction of the locality.

The authority to publish and issue national standards is only assigned to one focal point.

Agreeing with the amendment and supplementation of a number of articles of the Law on Technical Standards and Regulations, Ms. Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An gave some comments on the draft content.

In particular, regarding the national database system on technical standards and regulations, the draft Law stipulates: "... the construction, collection, updating, management, maintenance, exploitation, connection, sharing and use of the national database system on technical standards and regulations must be carried out regularly, continuously, updated, maintained and exploited in accordance with the provisions of law".

According to the delegate, this regulation is not suitable because the users are not only state agencies, but also organizations and individuals. They only access it when needed. If they are required to regularly, continuously, update and maintain it, it is incorrect. Therefore, it is recommended that further research and consideration be done.

Regarding the publication and issuance of national standards, the draft Law stipulates: "The Ministry of Science and Technology shall publish and issue national standards within thirty days from the date the national standards are announced", and also allows "Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and Government agencies to have the right to publish and issue national standards that they draft".

According to Ms. Thai Thi An Chung, publishing and issuing national standards is also a task, but assigning it to the Ministry of Science and Technology, along with other ministries and agencies will cause waste of resources and funds. Expressing the viewpoint of "a task assigned to only one agency", the delegate suggested that the drafting agency consider and calculate further.

In addition, the delegate of Nghe An delegation also mentioned some contents that need to be regulated more strictly and completely, such as explaining the terms: tasks of building, appraising, announcing, notifying, applying standards...