Proposing the National Assembly to summarize and evaluate the use of the legislative technique of one law amending many laws

On the morning of January 10, under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai, the National Assembly discussed online the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model, the Investment Law, the Bidding Law, the Electricity Law, the Enterprise Law, the Law on Special Consumption Tax and the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement.

At Nghe An province, comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council chaired.

Panorama of the working session on the morning of January 10 at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly House. Photo: Quang Khanh

Speaking at the discussion on the content of the above draft law, delegate Hoang Minh Hieu - Standing member of the National Assembly's Law Committee, delegate of the Nghe An delegation, agreed with many opinions of the delegates, especially those emphasizing that this amendment and supplement should only focus on removing bottlenecks and problems that are really clear to contribute to promoting the country's development.

Discussing further about legislative techniques, specifically the technique of one law amending many laws, delegate Hoang Minh Hieu said that since its first application in 2008, this technique has contributed a lot to the completion of the legal system with many advantages such as: Saving time and costs for law making, not having to repeat steps of legislative procedures, and being able to quickly overcome possible conflicts in the legal system.

Delegates attending the meeting at the Nghe An Provincial National Assembly Delegation bridge. Photo: Thanh Duy

However, according to the analysis of the delegate of the Nghe An delegation, the application of the technique of one law amending many laws also has certain limitations. If abused, it can affect the legal system as well as lead to difficulties for people and businesses in looking up and applying the law. Many researchers have also pointed out that the application of this legislative technique reduces the opportunity for detailed debate on each amendment and supplement as well as research to collect opposing opinions;...

“Researching the experiences of other countries shows that the technique of one law amending many laws cannot completely replace traditional legislative techniques but should only be applied in certain cases and must ensure strict control,” said delegate Hoang Minh Hieu.

Also according to the delegate of Nghe An Delegation, in our country, although the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents has stipulated cases where the technique of one law amending many laws is allowed, the application of this technique is on the rise.

Delegate Hoang Minh Hieu - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Law Committee, National Assembly delegate of Nghe An delegation spoke at the discussion. Photo: Quang Khanh

If in the period 2008 - 2015, it only accounted for 19% of the total number of laws promulgated, then since the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents 2015 took effect until now, this rate accounts for about 40.7%. Therefore, according to Mr. Hoang Minh Hieu, the National Assembly needs to consider more carefully the use of the technique of one law amending many laws in the coming time.

The draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model, the Investment Law, the Bidding Law, the Electricity Law, the Enterprise Law, the Law on Special Consumption Tax and the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement deals with many different contents and is passed in a simplified order and procedure at one session.

Therefore, delegates recommended that only urgent issues that are truly bottlenecks and problems that have been clarified and have high consensus be considered; and that issues that still have different opinions be not considered.

Delegates attending the meeting at the Nghe An Provincial National Assembly Delegation bridge. Photo: Thanh Duy

Along with that, because this draft law regulates many separate issues that are not related to each other in terms of content, delegate Hoang Minh Hieu suggested that when voting to pass it, the National Assembly should vote on each amendment and supplement in turn, before voting to pass the entire draft law.

Regarding the amendment and supplementation of Clause 1, Article 23 of the Housing Law, Mr. Hoang Minh Hieu proposed that in the immediate future, amendments and supplements should only be made to clarify and unify the forms of land use for the implementation of commercial housing construction investment projects as stipulated in the current Housing Law, removing obstacles in the order and procedures for approving investment policies; at the same time, approving investors with procedures for converting land use purposes; not adding forms of land use other than residential land for commercial housing projects.

Because this issue requires a thorough impact assessment; if necessary, this content can be piloted in some localities, before being summarized and legalized when comprehensively amending the Housing Law, ensuring consistency and consistency with the amended Land Law.

Comrade Do Van Chien - Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and National Assembly delegates from Nghe An Delegation exchanged with delegates on the sidelines of the working session on the morning of January 10 at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly House. Photo: Quang Khanh

Delegate Doan Nghe An also proposed that the National Assembly should summarize and carefully evaluate the use of the technique of one law amending many laws to apply this legislative technique in a unified, strict, and correct manner in the coming time./.