Approve amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the Law on Residence

Continuing the Program of the 5th Session of the 13th National Assembly, on the morning of June 8, National Assembly deputies listened to Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Thai Binh, authorized by the Prime Minister, present the Proposal on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Emulation and Commendation.

National Assembly delegate of Da Nang city Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy speaks. (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)

Delegates also listened to Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs Truong Thi Mai present a report on the review of the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Emulation and Commendation; and discussed in the hall the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Residence.

It is necessary to amend and supplement the Law on Emulation and Commendation.

According to the Government's Report, after 8 years of implementation, the emulation and reward work has had positive changes; many emulation movements have been launched and widely implemented by ministries, branches, localities as well as grassroots units, closely following political tasks. The reward work has become increasingly systematic, strict, timely, motivating and encouraging cadres, soldiers and people nationwide, actively contributing to the implementation of socio-economic development tasks, strengthening national defense, security and foreign affairs.

Many other contents of the Law on Emulation and Commendation have been and are being implemented in life, and have been agreed and supported by all classes of people. However, over time, emulation and commendation work and some contents of the Law on Emulation and Commendation have not met and are not suitable to the practical situation. Commendation is still widespread. Some provisions of the current Law on Emulation and Commendation have quite broad subjects of regulation, the commendation standards for each subject are still general, not specific...

The review report of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs also stated: The current Law on Emulation and Commendation stipulates many forms of state-level commendation, leading to duplication, overlap, and widespread implementation. Proposals for state-level commendation are made according to procedures from the grassroots level, and must be reviewed by many agencies and levels, making them cumbersome and difficult to control. Therefore, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Emulation and Commendation is very necessary.

Approve amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the Law on Residence

The majority of delegates discussing at the meeting agreed with the necessity of amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Residence for the reasons stated in the Government's Submission.

However, some delegates still expressed concerns about the scope of amendments and supplements, saying that the amendments and supplements mentioned in the draft Law do not really cover all issues in residence management and are not commensurate with the requirements. Specifically, delegate Ngo Thi Minh (Quang Ninh Delegation) suggested that the Government should analyze more clearly the difficulties in residence work as well as the close relationship of this work to crime prevention and protection of children and minors in order to see the need to amend and supplement a number of articles and clauses of the current Law on Residence; at the same time, this will be more complete and convincing.

Discussing the duration of the Temporary Residence Book, many delegates said that the provisions in the draft Law are not really suitable.

According to delegate Trieu Thi Thu Phuong (Bac Kan delegation), in reality, there are many cases where the temporary residence period is longer than 24 months, so when this period is near, citizens must carry out the extension procedure. Thus, for citizens with a temporary residence period of more than 24 months, the addition of regulations on the duration of the Temporary Residence Book has created additional administrative procedures.

On the other hand, the draft Law has not yet specified specific extension procedures. In cases where there is a need for temporary residence for less than 24 months, but to avoid having to register for multiple extensions, citizens will register for a temporary residence period with a maximum period of 24 months. Thus, in this case, the requirement for population management through the Temporary Residence Book is very difficult to implement. Therefore, delegate Thuy suggested that the drafting committee not amend this content but keep it as prescribed in the current law to avoid increasing administrative procedures for people in registering for temporary residence.

Delegate Do Van Duong (Ho Chi Minh City delegation) suggested that the drafting committee should re-study and adjust as follows: When moving to another temporary residence, citizens must return their Temporary Residence Book to the police at the place of temporary residence and be given a letter of introduction to go to the new temporary residence to be granted a Temporary Residence Book.

Delegate Nguyen Minh Kha (Can Tho delegation) proposed reducing the time before temporary residence expires from 30 days to 15 days, then citizens must go to the police agency to complete the extension procedure.

The regulation that local authorities regulate the average area should be abolished.

Discussing the regulations on average area conditions for cases of permanent residence registration in rented, borrowed, or shared accommodation, delegate Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy (Danang City delegation) highly agreed as in the draft Law that the People's Council of centrally-run cities is assigned to regulate the average area to suit the practical conditions of each locality; at the same time, in accordance with the Law on Organization of People's Councils and People's Committees.

However, delegate Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy proposed removing the regulation on local authorities' determination of average area conditions, which would increase administrative procedures, cause inconvenience and costs; and at the same time, it could easily be exploited to affect the rights and interests of the people.

Delegate Huynh Van Tinh (Tien Giang) proposed to expand the cases of minors who still have parents whose parents are divorced and have married other people or some other cases, but wish to live with their paternal or maternal grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and paternal uncles to create conditions for relatives to take care of each other, while promoting the tradition and morality of the nation. Regarding this, delegate Trieu Thi Thu Phuong (Bac Kan) said that the draft regulation is not consistent with the right to freedom of residence.

Regarding the time limit for procedures to change the place of permanent residence registration, delegate Lu Thi Luu (Lao Cai delegation) agreed that the draft Law has shortened the registration time limit from 24 months to 12 months.

Delegate Bui Van Xuyen (Thai Binh delegation) also agreed with the Government's report. However, Delegate Xuyen suggested that the drafting committee should revise the regulation that those who move from another place to a legal residence in the inner city of centrally-run cities must have a temporary residence period of at least 2 years before applying for permanent residence registration, which is not appropriate./.

According to (TTXVN) - LT