Improving the quality of communes, wards, and towns that meet the standards for access to law in Nghe An.

PV:Could you please tell us about the results after more than two years of implementing Decision No. 25/2021/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on the standards for communes, wards, and towns to achieve access to legal services?

Mr. Le Ba Thieu:Following the directives of the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Justice of Nghe An province advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Plan No. 552/KH-UBND to disseminate the contents of Decision No. 25/2021/QD-TTg and Circular No. 09/2021/TT-BTP throughout the province.

In addition, the Provincial People's Committee and the Provincial Council for Coordination of Legal Dissemination and Education issued annual inspection plans and directly established working groups to inspect records on a probabilistic basis at a number of commune-level units.

This will identify existing shortcomings and limitations of the facility and provide timely solutions to overcome difficulties and obstacles in the implementation process.

The inspection of communes meeting the standards for access to law is also carried out during the process of evaluating communes achieving the goals of the new rural development program, advanced new rural development program, etc. In 2023 alone, 29 commune-level units in Vinh City; Nghia Dan, Nghi Loc, Hung Nguyen, Dien Chau, Que Phong, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Quynh Luu, Quy Hop, Anh Son districts and Hoang Mai town... were inspected.

In addition, district-level units also proactively inspected the preparation for access to legal services at 48 commune-level units.

Overall, the work of building communes that meet the standards for access to law in the province has become increasingly systematic; the awareness of the leadership of Party committees and local governments at all levels, especially at the commune level, regarding this work has gradually improved. In many localities, specific assignments have been made to civil servants to directly implement and take responsibility for the targets, compile documents, build supporting dossiers, and self-assess according to the criteria.

The commune-level Justice and Civil Registry officials have performed quite well in their role as a focal point, assisting the People's Committee leaders in compiling dossiers and submitting them to the District-level Legal Access Standards Assessment Council for review, evaluation, and approval or non-approval.

In 2022, 383 out of 460 commune-level units in the province met the standards for access to legal services, achieving a rate of 83.26%; in 2023, 403 out of 460 commune-level units met the standards for access to legal services, achieving a rate of 87.61%.

Specifically, the district-level units with high rates of compliance with legal access standards are Vinh City, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Tan Ky, Thai Hoa town, Quy Chau, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Hoang Mai town, and Cua Lo town.

Fully implementing the criteria for assessing access to law is crucial for raising awareness and compliance with the law among officials and the public; ensuring citizens' right to access information on legal regulations; and contributing to building an increasingly professional and modern local administration.

PV:Despite achieving certain results, the process of building communes that meet the standards for access to law in the province still faces some shortcomings and limitations. In some localities, the percentage of communes meeting the standards for access to law each year remains low. So, what are the reasons for this, sir?

Mr. Le Ba Thieu:In fact, currently, in some districts, the percentage of communes meeting the legal access standards each year remains low. For example, in 2003, Con Cuong district had only 1 out of 13 units meeting the legal access standards (7.69%); Ky Son had 11 out of 21 units (52.38%); Tuong Duong had 9 out of 17 units (52.94%); Thanh Chuong had 28 out of 38 units (73.68%); Que Phong had 10 out of 13 units (76.92%)... In these units, many communes did not prepare supporting documents for the district-level council to evaluate, leading to a low percentage of communes meeting the legal access standards.

On the other hand, during the process of preparing the application for accreditation, the self-assessment results of some units for indicators and criteria lacked basis. Officials arbitrarily assigned scores based on personal feelings, and some units failed to gather sufficient supporting documents for self-assessment, or the documents they did gather were merely for show. Therefore, the evaluation and accreditation process lacked substance.

In practice, some targets have not been implemented, or have been implemented incompletely; the disclosure of information has not been timely or accurate in accordance with legal regulations. Models for disseminating and educating about the law and mediation at the grassroots level are still rudimentary, failing to maintain operation or lacking comprehensive evaluation for wider application, thus the effectiveness achieved is not high.

Some commune-level units conducted self-assessments later than the stipulated time; they have not yet applied information technology to compile assessment documents…

The main shortcomings and limitations stem from the following: Some justice departments, Party committee and government leaders at all levels, and justice and civil registry officials have not fully understood the meaning, role, and importance of building communes that meet the standards for access to law; they have not placed the people at the center of the evaluation and recognition process, thus lacking attention in leadership, guidance, and advisory implementation.

The district-level legal access standards assessment council has not fully fulfilled its responsibilities in monitoring, urging, inspecting, and evaluating the results of achieving legal access standards in the assigned commune-level units, and has not yet fully grasped the regulations in the criteria and indicators for assessment.

The evaluation content is primarily carried out by the district-level justice department and submitted to the Council members for their signatures and acceptance; therefore, the results do not accurately reflect the true situation.

On the other hand, the team of commune-level officials in general, and judicial and civil registration officials in particular, have to handle an excessively large workload, while the capacity of some officials is still weak. The allocation of budget for activities to build communes that meet the standards for access to law is limited, lacking resources to implement them systematically and according to regulations. Some commune-level units in mountainous districts have not paid attention to allocating funds for legal education and grassroots mediation, so these indicators in the standards for access to law have not achieved high results.

PV:So, in the coming period, what specific solutions are needed to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings and limitations, sir?

Mr. Le Ba Thieu:In 2024, Nghe An province set the goal of continuing to improve the number and quality of communes meeting the standards for access to law, in conjunction with building new rural areas and civilized urban areas. To achieve this goal, the following tasks and solutions need to be implemented effectively:

First,Enhance the awareness of Party and government leaders at all levels regarding the importance of implementing the work of building communes that meet the standards for access to law, so that they can provide specific guidance and assign tasks; regularly inspect, supervise, and remind officials assigned to monitor the criteria and indicators.

Attention should be paid to allocating funds for legal education and the individuals responsible for this task, in accordance with Circular No. 56/2023/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance, which regulates the budgeting, management, use, and settlement of funds for legal dissemination, education, access to justice, and grassroots mediation. Simultaneously, solutions should be developed to mobilize social resources to enhance the effectiveness of this task.

Secondly,Judicial and civil registry officials need to organize their work scientifically, gathering supporting documents for the targets and criteria under their responsibility from the beginning of the year to avoid being caught off guard or confused. In addition, they should enhance the application of information technology in gathering evaluation documents and provide timely advice to commune-level leaders to direct other officials to coordinate effectively in the performance of their duties.

Third,Improve the quality and replicate exemplary models and best practices in the dissemination and education of law and mediation at the grassroots level; effectively implement the coordination regulations with district-level people's courts and district-level lawyers' associations.

Fourth,Local Party committees, authorities, and the Justice sector need to coordinate and strengthen inspection work to promptly identify shortcomings and limitations at the commune level, and at the same time, propose solutions for more effective implementation of each target.

The preliminary and final reviews are organized to comprehensively assess results, identify difficulties and obstacles, clarify causes, and draw lessons learned; and to implement solutions that mobilize the entire political system to effectively implement the regulations on communes achieving the standard of access to law.

This contributes to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of state management at the grassroots level and better fulfilling the people's right to access information and the law.

PV:Thank you, sir!