Prime Minister: The errors of the 2015 Penal Code are very serious

Giving opinions on amending a number of articles of the 2015 Penal Code, the Prime Minister requested to learn from experience, improve responsibility, and avoid repeating mistakes.

Continuing the regular August Government meeting, on the morning of September 1, Government members discussed institution building, including discussing opinions on the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2015 Penal Code.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested the Drafting Committee and relevant agencies to learn from experience and not let mistakes happen again. For issues that are confirmed to have errors after review, if they cannot be implemented without correction, they must be resolutely corrected.

Regular August meeting of the Government

At the meeting, Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long presented a report on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13. According to the Ministry of Justice, the scope of this amendment and supplement to the Penal Code mainly focuses on the provisions of the 2015 Penal Code, which, due to technical errors, cannot be applied consistently if not amended. At the same time, research is needed to amend the provisions in a number of provisions without affecting major policies approved by the 13th National Assembly and reach consensus among ministries and branches to better meet the requirements of fighting and preventing crime as well as protecting the rights and legitimate interests of criminals.

The discussion opinions of the Government members focused on the contents such as the scope of amendments and supplements to the 2015 Penal Code; the amendment and supplement to Clause 2, Article 12 related to the scope of criminal responsibility of people from 14 years old to under 16 years old; the addition of new narcotic substances and plants containing narcotic substances; the addition of regulations related to whether or not to calculate according to the purity of narcotic substances in drug crimes; the amendment and supplement to Article 292 of the 2015 Penal Code on the crime of providing illegal services on computer networks and telecommunications networks.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting

Pointing out that the errors in the 2015 Penal Code are regrettable and serious, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested the Drafting Committee and relevant units to learn from experience, improve their responsibilities, and avoid repeating errors. The National Assembly Standing Committee promptly postponed the implementation of the Code, avoiding unfortunate consequences. Along with that, circumstances favorable to criminals will still be applied from the date the 2015 Penal Code was passed. The Prime Minister said that this is the spirit that people can rest assured.

“Following the National Assembly’s discussion sessions, we see that the 2015 Penal Code has reflected the new spirit of the 2013 Constitution, with many progressive and humane policies, and affirms that the 2015 Penal Code is not wrong in terms of the Party’s viewpoints, guidelines, and policies, nor in terms of the major contents that the Politburo has given guidance on, as well as the National Assembly Standing Committee and the National Assembly have discussed. These include provisions on legal entity criminal liability, limiting the death penalty, and replacing the crime of intentionally violating the State’s regulations on economic management causing serious consequences. Therefore, the spirit of this amendment to the Code is not to raise the issue of amending policies,” the Prime Minister stated.

Regarding the progress of the revision, the Prime Minister requested that the revision research must be careful, and that mistakes should not continue to occur because of the pressure on progress. The general spirit is to try to complete and submit to the National Assembly at the second session in October, but the condition is that the draft must ensure quality. If the quality is not guaranteed, it is necessary to report to the National Assembly Standing Committee to submit to the National Assembly to postpone the voting time for approval.

“Regarding the coordination relationship during the drafting process, this is an important law, the content of which directly affects human rights, civil rights and is related to all areas of social life. Therefore, the drafting of the law must be based on the contributions of many ministries and branches, especially those agencies that directly apply the law such as the Public Security, Courts, Procuracies, and enforcement agencies. Therefore, to ensure the quality of the draft Code, I propose that the Head of the Drafting Committee, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge, maintain the composition of the drafting committee, especially the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Security, the Procuracy, and the Supreme People's Court to ensure high consensus on major issues, especially the scope of amendments. Second, the Drafting Committee must organize to collect opinions from relevant ministries and branches that are directly affected by the Code,” the Prime Minister suggested.

The Prime Minister also directed ministries and branches to be responsible for sending written opinions on time on issues related to their management functions to the Drafting Committee; not to let a situation arise where ministries and branches do not have opinions, leaving the Ministry of Justice and the Head of the Drafting Committee to make their own decisions, affecting the quality of the draft Law.

Also at this morning's meeting, the Government listened to and discussed the draft Law on Anti-Corruption (amended); Summary Report on the Project to effectively implement the international integration process, maintaining political and social stability in the context of our country participating in new-generation free trade agreements./.

According to VOV