The National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province discussed many important issues.

(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of October 21, in the discussion session in groups, under the direction of Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An Province, Head of Group 3, National Assembly deputies of 4 provinces including: Tra Vinh, Hoa Binh, Lai Chau and Nghe An basically agreed with the amendment and promulgation of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code.

Overview of the discussion at group 3. Photo: Anh Tuan

However, many delegates were still hesitant when they saw that, through the comments of the people and National Assembly deputies, in addition to amending 141 erroneous articles of the 2015 Penal Code, this draft Law still has many contents related to detailed quantification in specialized fields that have not been agreed upon between relevant ministries and branches... Meanwhile, criminal law plays a very important role in the legal system, greatly affecting the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals. The National Assembly delegation gave enthusiastic and responsible opinions on amending this law during the discussion session in groups.

Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh moderated the discussion at group 3. Photo: Anh Tuan

Delegate Nguyen Huu Cau (Nghe An province) proposed that the National Assembly give its opinion at this session and not pass it at this session. Delegate Nguyen Huu Cau explained: The Penal Code is a major and especially important law, the foremost legal basis to protect the country, protect the socialist regime, human rights, citizen rights, protect the interests of the state, organizations, protect legal order against all criminal acts... With such an important task and role, any errors in the Penal Code will lead to serious and unpredictable consequences.

The newly issued 2015 Penal Code has not yet been applied in practice and in a very short time, legal scientists as well as practitioners have discovered many errors in both content and technique. Therefore, delegate Nguyen Huu Cau suggested that the 14th National Assembly direct a more thorough review and ensure better quality before passing it.

Delegates discuss in groups. Photo: Anh Tuan

Sharing this view, delegate Phan Dinh Trac said that currently there is no opinion requesting the prompt promulgation of the 2015 Penal Code, so the National Assembly needs to carefully study and learn from experience before promulgating to avoid mistakes that affect the reputation of the National Assembly and the State.

Regarding this issue, delegate Ho Duc Phoc also said: This is one of the very important laws of the Vietnamese legal system. If it is not implemented carefully, correctly and appropriately, it will greatly affect dozens of other laws. When the National Assembly issues a Resolution to temporarily suspend the implementation of this law, it will also postpone 4 other directly related laws.

Therefore, amending the law also requires focused investment and thorough implementation. This is an opportunity to fundamentally amend the 2015 Penal Code once again, not just stopping at the scope of "amending and supplementing a number of articles". "Along with the development of society, external impacts, complex crime developments, the Law must also be anticipated and ensure stability over a period of time. Therefore, my first recommendation is that we do not put time pressure on it. We must act urgently, if possible, let it be passed at the next session, but on the basis of fundamentally amending the Code" - Delegate Ho Duc Phoc emphasized.

The majority of delegates from Group 4 agreed with the amendment and supplement to the Penal Code. Photo: Anh Tuan

Agreeing with this opinion, delegate Tran Van Mao analyzed: Initially, only 91 points were discovered that needed to be revised, however, through comments, there have now been 141 points, so we need to review more carefully because there may be many points that need to be revised that have not been discovered. "We have to do it carefully, because if the law is passed and applied to life but there are still errors, then the consequences will be very serious" - delegate Tran Van Mao emphasized.

Regarding the scope of amendments and supplements to the 2015 Penal Code, delegate Nguyen Thanh Hien expressed his opinion that the errors of the 2015 Penal Code discovered when the Code had not yet taken effect were mainly technical errors, so the scope of amendments and supplements should only stop at the provisions that need to correct technical errors, combined with handling unreasonable regulations.

Furthermore, the 2015 Penal Code was passed by the 13th National Assembly and has not yet been implemented in real life, so it is unreasonable to raise the issue of a thorough and comprehensive amendment. Because the specific provisions of the Code have not been tested and applied in law enforcement practice to detect problems of inadequacy and inappropriateness, especially for new provisions such as criminal handling of legal entities.

Regarding the addition of narcotic substances and plants containing newly emerging narcotic substances, the majority of delegates from Nghe An agreed to add the narcotic substance XLR-11 (soaked in American grass) to category II and Khat leaves (containing the narcotic substance Cathinone) to category I of Decree No. 82 of the Government to the Penal Code. At the same time, they agreed to add regulations on other types of plants containing narcotic substances in the list issued by the Government to the Penal Code.

Regarding the amendment of narcotic substances and plants containing new narcotic substances appearing in the 2015 Penal Code, National Assembly Deputies Nguyen Thanh Hien and Phan Dinh Trac agreed to add a provision with a predictive nature "other types of plants containing narcotic substances in the List issued by the Government" to point 15 of 15 clauses, belonging to 4 articles of the 2015 Penal Code regulating the crimes of: illegal storage, transportation, trading or appropriation of narcotic substances (articles from 249 to 252) as explained by the Government.

Also this afternoon,The National Assembly continued to work in the discussion group on the Draft Resolution amending and supplementing a number of articles of Resolution No. 55/2010/QH12 on exemption and reduction of agricultural land use tax.

Many National Assembly deputies expressed their agreement with the need to add subjects eligible for exemption or reduction of agricultural land use tax as stated in the Government's Proposal.

Delegate Nguyen Dac Vinh (Nghe An) said that expanding the subjects exempted from and reduced from agricultural land use tax at the present time is reasonable. Because the process of forming the ASEAN common market is putting our country's agricultural products under great competitive pressure. Expanding the tax exemption subjects will have a positive effect, encouraging the development of agricultural production on a farm scale, commodity production, contributing to improving land use efficiency.

However, Delegate Nguyen Dac Vinh, as well as many other National Assembly Deputies, also noted that agricultural and forestry farms are currently holding a very large land fund (about 3 million hectares of land), but have not yet used it effectively, and in particular, many places still owe land use tax. These units are also slow in transferring land to the State in accordance with Resolution 30 of the Politburo on continuing to arrange, innovate, develop and improve the operational efficiency of agricultural and forestry companies. So, will the tax exemption and reduction for agricultural and forestry land allocated to these units encourage them to be more slow in returning the land to the State? Delegate Nguyen Dac Vinh asked.

Some National Assembly deputies also proposed that agricultural land use tax exemption and reduction should only be applied to the entire agricultural land used by households and individuals. For other subjects, the scope of application of this policy should be considered, in order to avoid taking advantage of policies and laws for personal gain.

Diep Anh