The Government submits to the National Assembly for consideration draft laws on citizenship

Continuing the working program at the 7th session of the 13th National Assembly, on the morning of June 4, National Assembly deputies worked in the hall to listen to the Presentation and Verification Report on the draft Law on Investment (amended); and gave opinions on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2006 Law on Civil Aviation of Vietnam.

Create an open, transparent and open investment environment

The Investment Law was passed by the National Assembly in 2005 on the basis of merging the Law on Foreign Investment and the Law on Domestic Investment Promotion. The promulgation of this law is an important step in the process of building and perfecting the legal system on investment in Vietnam. However, some provisions of the Investment Law still have limitations in terms of scope of regulation and principles of application; investment guarantee policies; prohibited investment areas, regulations on overseas investment activities...

National Assembly delegate of Phu Yen province Nguyen Thai Hoc speaks. Photo: VNA

The National Assembly Economic Committee's review report agreed on the necessity of promulgating the Investment Law (amended) to continue perfecting mechanisms, policies, reforming administrative procedures in investment activities, creating an open, public, transparent investment environment, meeting the requirements of economic restructuring; ensuring consistency with relevant laws, in line with integration requirements, international practices and Vietnam's commitments on market opening and investment liberalization.

Agreeing with the objectives and viewpoints of the Investment Law (amended), the National Assembly Economic Committee believes that in order for the Investment Law (amended) to promote the process of restructuring the economy, create attractiveness and attract foreign investment capital, the draft Law needs to have new regulations that are not lower than those on investment compared to other countries in the region, while ensuring improved state management of investment; clarifying the areas that the State prioritizes and encourages development to attract investment...

The National Assembly's Economic Committee believes that the layout and structure of the draft Law are appropriate. However, the draft Law needs to minimize the provisions that the Government must specify in detail, and at the same time, codify as much as possible the provisions of the sub-law documents currently in use to ensure stability and effectiveness in practice, and continue to research, review, and edit words, sentences, and text techniques to complete the draft Law. The dossier of the draft Law has been carefully prepared and has met the requirements.

However, to complete the draft Law dossier submitted to the National Assembly, the Economic Committee proposed to add a comparison table of the revised provisions of the draft Law compared to the current law.

Strengthening state management of civil aviation activities

Discussing at the conference hall about the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2006 Law on Civil Aviation of Vietnam, delegates said that amending and supplementing the Law on Civil Aviation aims to achieve the goal of strengthening the effectiveness of state management, improving the efficiency of civil aviation business, and ensuring the rights of customers.

The draft Law supplements the provision that "The specialized state management agency of aviation under the Ministry of Transport is the aviation authority, assisting the Minister of Transport in performing state management of civil aviation nationwide in accordance with the provisions of law."

Delegates Nguyen Viet Nhien (Hai Phong) and Le Van Hoc (Lam Dong) said that the identification of the subject as Vietnam's aviation authority in the draft Law is not clear.

Delegates suggested that it is necessary to clarify the concept of "aviation authority", thereby more clearly defining the relationship between aviation authority, the specialized state management agency of aviation under the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, and at the same time, it is necessary to Vietnamize the concept of "aviation authority" to be consistent with other legal documents in the Vietnamese legal system.

Comments on the authority to open and close specialized airports, Clause 6, Article 49 of the draft Law stipulates that "The Ministry of Transport decides to open and close specialized airports after receiving written consent from the Ministry of National Defense."

Delegates recognized that in the development trend of the country and the integration process, specialized airports are increasingly making important contributions to transportation activities, serving many different purposes and subjects. Many delegates agreed with the Government's Proposal on assigning the authority to open and close specialized airports to the Ministry of Transport to meet the operational requirements of civil aviation and also in accordance with international practices.

However, delegate Do Ba Ty (Dien Bien) said that because current specialized airports mainly serve defense, security, search and rescue flight activities, the management of specialized airports is related to the task of ensuring national defense and security, and needs to be strictly managed.

Delegates proposed that the draft Law should assign the authority to open and close specialized airports to the Ministry of National Defense. When aviation management units have a need to exploit civil airports and aviation activities at any location, they must discuss with the Ministry of National Defense and have a written consensus.

Sharing the same view, delegate Nguyen Trong Sang (Ho Chi Minh City) stated that currently in Vietnam, specialized airports are short and narrow airports. These airports are arranged by the Ministry of National Defense in the system of military airports, in key cities in terms of national defense, security, border areas, islands, coastal areas, and platforms... to ensure safety for flight operations.

Delegates proposed that the draft law give the Ministry of National Defense the authority to open and close specialized airports. Airlines wishing to operate specialized airports must submit written consent to the Ministry of National Defense.

Giving opinions on aviation security, delegates basically agreed on the need to amend and supplement a number of contents related to ensuring aviation security in the draft Law to ensure absolute safety for flights and security and order throughout the flight.

However, delegate Nguyen Viet Nhien (Hai Phong) suggested that the drafting committee consider stipulating in the Law cases that are exempted from aviation security checks and screenings to ensure strictness, publicity and transparency; clearly defining the functions of ensuring security and safety of airports, airport authorities and enterprises operating in the airport area.

According to delegate Nguyen Thai Hoc (Phu Yen), aviation security is part of national security, so the aviation security control force is also an integral part of the national security force.

Delegates believe that if aviation security regulations are under the management of the Ministry of Transport, there will be many shortcomings. The draft law should stipulate which departments and stages in aviation security control must be under the Ministry of Public Security. Such regulations will ensure national security, including aviation security...

At the meeting, delegates also gave their opinions on the management of unmanned aircraft and ultra-light aircraft; airport authorities; authority to manage obstacles and manage building heights; ensuring flight operations; and transporting weapons and war equipment.

In the afternoon, the National Assembly worked in the Hall to listen to the Government present draft laws related to citizenship rights: Law on Citizen Identification, Law on Civil Status, Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality and Verification Reports.

Modernizing citizen identification documents

The submission of the Citizen Identification Law project assessed that over the past time, the promulgated legal documents have created an important legal basis for issuing and managing Citizen Identification Cards, facilitating people's transactions and serving the professional requirements of the police.

On the basis of these documents, a system of citizen identification management agencies has been established nationwide; the citizen identification database with a massive citizen identification archive system has been meeting the requirements for issuing, exchanging, and reissuing citizen identification cards and the requirements of public security operations.

Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang presents the Draft Law on Citizen Identification. Photo: VNA

However, legal documents on citizen identification are still scattered, mainly issued in the form of Government decrees, so their enforcement is low. Meanwhile, citizens' rights and obligations regarding citizen identification are basic rights and obligations, so they need to be stipulated in documents with high legal effect, which are Laws.

On the other hand, the country's socio-economic development has set new requirements. Specifically, the 2013 Constitution stipulates that the right to freedom of movement, transactions, the right to inviolability of private life, personal secrets and family secrets are human rights and civil rights recognized, respected, protected and guaranteed by the State. Citizen identification is directly related to these rights.

The draft law also stipulates the use of Citizen Identification cards using advanced technology to ensure durability, beauty, and anti-counterfeiting, while also being able to integrate much necessary information to contribute to simplifying paperwork for citizens, gradually implementing e-Government...

The Citizen Identification Law Project includes 5 chapters and 36 articles.

Reviewing the draft Law, the National Defense and Security Committee agreed on the necessity of promulgating the Law. The Committee assessed that the new citizen identification management activities are regulated by the Government's Decree, so the legal effect is not high, the implementation process still has many shortcomings, causing inconvenience to the people.

The development of the Citizen Identification Law project is necessary to codify the legal norms that have been implemented stably and effectively and institutionalize the new provisions of the Constitution on human rights, basic rights and obligations of citizens, creating fundamental innovation in the organization and operation of state management agencies in this field.

Create a stable and unified legal basis for registration and management of household registration.

The Government's submission on the draft Law on Civil Status stated that the promulgation of the Law on Civil Status is very necessary to create a long-term, stable and unified legal basis for civil status registration and management, especially in the context of implementing the 2013 Constitution with many new provisions promoting human rights, basic rights and obligations of citizens.

In addition to its role and importance in state and social management, the work of household registration and management has recently revealed many limitations and shortcomings. Among them, the quality of household registration is still low, there are still many errors, especially the situation of taking advantage of household registration for personal gain and enjoying preferential policies of the State has shown signs of increasing; the effectiveness of household registration management has not met the requirements, in many cases, the management and household registration agencies do not fully grasp personal household registration data; the work of reforming administrative procedures and simplifying household registration documents, although being concerned, has not really created convenience for people in resolving household registration requests; the method of household registration is still manual...

These shortcomings, limitations and weaknesses affect the implementation of citizens’ legitimate rights and interests; reduce the effectiveness of population management, state and social management. Internationally, in many cases, civil status papers are not highly trusted by foreign authorities; some countries do not trust Vietnamese civil status papers, affecting Vietnam’s reputation and position in the international arena.

The Draft Law on Civil Status stipulates issues on civil status, authority, order and procedures for registering civil status matters of the people (such as principles of civil status registration; rights and obligations to register civil status; authority and procedures for civil status registration; responsibility for state management of civil status...).

The Law on Civil Status does not re-regulate the content of personal rights of individuals related to civil status (such as the right to birth registration, the right to nationality, the right to re-determine ethnicity, the right to marriage, the right to adoption, etc.) that have been stipulated in other laws. At the same time, the draft Law also does not stipulate the authority and procedures for resolving matters related to nationality and international adoption, which are issues related to civil status but require a more special resolution process and have been regulated by the Law on Nationality and the Law on Adoption. The draft Law on Civil Status consists of 7 chapters and 76 articles.

Examining the draft Law, the Law Committee approved the necessity of promulgating the Law and agreed with many contents of the draft Law on Civil Status to institutionalize new provisions of the Constitution on civil rights and human rights, in accordance with the roadmap set out for implementing the Constitution.

In addition, the committee recommends that the Government continue to direct the review of the provisions of the draft Law on Civil Status with the provisions of the draft Law on Citizen Identification to ensure the consistency of the legal system; at the same time, direct resolutely to effectively implement Project 896, contributing to ensuring the achievement of the goals and roadmap set out in the promulgation of the Law on Civil Status.

The Law Committee also expressed its views on the following contents: maintaining the issuance of Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates and the relationship between the issuance of Birth Certificates and Citizen Identification Cards (according to the provisions of the draft Law on Citizen Identification); authority to register civil status; civil status fees; civil status books; electronic civil status database; issuance of civil status extracts; judicial-civil status officials.

Amendment of the Nationality Law is necessary

Submitting the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality, the Government affirmed that the promulgation of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality 2008 is very necessary and urgent.

Up to now, many Vietnamese people living abroad have obtained the nationality of the host country, have settled down, have jobs and reside abroad, so choosing to keep Vietnamese nationality in addition to their nationality of the host country is a difficult issue, because of concerns about affecting their rights, jobs, residence...

On the other hand, the issuance of documents detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law, especially Circulars and Joint Circulars, has not been timely, making the implementation of registration to retain Vietnamese nationality in practice not guaranteed to be on time as prescribed by the Law. Documents guiding the implementation of the Law and the Government's Decrees do not have specific regulations linking and creating connectivity between the procedures for registering to retain Vietnamese nationality and the procedures for issuing Vietnamese passports, not ensuring practical benefits for those registering to retain Vietnamese nationality.

Coordination in organizing and implementing the registration to retain Vietnamese nationality among relevant ministries is still limited; propaganda and dissemination of laws on registration to retain Vietnamese nationality to the Vietnamese community abroad is not effective.

Meanwhile, the deadline for registering to retain Vietnamese nationality will end on July 1, 2014. According to Clause 3, Article 26 of the 2008 Law on Vietnamese Nationality, those who do not register to retain Vietnamese nationality will automatically lose their Vietnamese nationality. Later, if they wish to do so, they must apply to regain Vietnamese nationality according to the provisions of the Law.

The content includes amending and supplementing Article 13 of the 2008 Law on Vietnamese Nationality in the direction of removing the time limit for registration to retain Vietnamese nationality as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, and at the same time adding Clause 2a regulating the order and procedures for registration to retain Vietnamese nationality (on the basis of legalizing a number of regulations on registration to retain nationality in Decree No. 78/2009/ND-CP of the Government).

Abolish Clause 3, Article 26 of the 2008 Law on Vietnamese Nationality due to the amendment of Clause 2, Article 13 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality in the direction of not specifying the time limit for registration to retain nationality.

Examining the draft Law, the Law Committee agreed with the need to study and amend the provisions on registration to retain Vietnamese nationality in Clause 2, Article 13 and cases of loss of nationality in Clause 3, Article 26 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality.

Regarding the reasons for the limitations in implementing the regulations on registration to retain Vietnamese nationality in recent times, some members of the Law Committee commented that the Government's Proposal did not have a comprehensive assessment, lacked specific data on the nationality status of Vietnamese people residing abroad, and predicted the possible consequences if the regulations on registration to retain Vietnamese nationality were continued.

Therefore, it has not provided sufficient basis for the National Assembly to consider and choose a handling direction for the upcoming period.

The Law Committee assesses that since these regulations will directly affect the nationality status of a significant number of our compatriots on July 1, 2014 (5 years after the Law on Vietnamese Nationality takes effect), based on Article 78 of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, it proposes that the National Assembly allow this Law to take effect from the date of promulgation to ensure its implementation before the expiration of the above-mentioned deadline.

During the remaining time of the afternoon, National Assembly deputies listened to the Presentation of the Draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Officers of the Vietnam People's Army, the Draft Law on the People's Public Security (amended) and the Verification Reports.

Tomorrow, according to the program, the National Assembly will work in the Hall, discussing the draft Law on the organization of the People's Procuracy (amended).

According to Vietnam+