Legislators call for better quality laws

Members of the National Assembly Standing Committee yesterday urged for better quality draft laws to match the revised Constitution before they are presented to the National Assembly (NA).

At the session discussing the law and ordinance building programme for 2015 and revising the 2014 programme, the members asked the Government, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy and other agencies to explain their mission in compiling legal documents and ensuring the progress and quality of laws and ordinances.

A report by the NA Law Committee in charge of examining and verifying the NA's law and ordinance building programme said there were shortcomings in the implementation of the programme.


Some draft laws were not presented in accordance with the schedule; while some were encountering substantial delays. Others lacked the necessary guidance documents and some did not address the problems at hand, the report said.

A report presented by the Government at the session proposed the 2014 law and ordinance building programme should be supplemented with draft laws on the organisational structure and competence of relevant State agencies, in order to implement the revised Constitution which was approved at the last NA meeting in late November last year.

The Government's report also said the 2015 programme would focus on draft laws and ordinances which ratify elements of the Constitutions, especially those regarding the economy, human rights, and the rights and basic duties of citizens.

Also in its report, the Government proposed an additional NA session on law building to take place over 10-15 days by late July of 2015, so that up to 38 drafts could be presented and discussed. It argued that with only two NA meetings a year currently, which are normally held in May and November, only 34 drafts would be presented and discussed next year.

However, most NA Standing Committee members rejected the proposal, saying it would waste time and financial resources to hold the additional meeting. Others suggested holding two meetings as usual but extending them to accommodate discussions on the draft laws.

"I agree with two extended meetings a year to ensure the quality and focus on prioritised and qualified draft laws," said Tran Van Hang, Chairman of the NA Committee on External Affairs.

"There is one obstacle that we sometimes have to work on drafts laws, which are compiled so slowly and ill-equipped to deal with problems, that we have to take them out of the discussion sessions. This affects the progress of the law building programme," he said.

However, NA Deputy Chairman Huynh Ngoc Son objected to both options to extend the meetings and the additional meeting, saying that discussing too many draft laws would soak up valuable time in the NA Standing Committee and the NA meetings.

"I suggest keeping only two meetings as usual. We have no time for an additional meeting," Son said.

"Even 34 draft laws for two meetings is too hard. How can we expect quality outcomes with such a large amount of work to get through," he added.

Son urged the NA Law Committee to review and give priority to draft laws that didn't require adjustments or additions and to focus on draft laws which required an NA vote in 2016.

At the meeting, the Government asked to delay presentations for the draft revised law on the organisation of the Government and the draft law on local authority to afford relevant agencies more time to research and conduct feasibility studies on their alignment with the new Constitution.

Some NA Standing Committee members have said the two should be discussed soon given their close relationship with other draft laws that need adjustments.

Later the same day, NA deputies discussed a draft resolution on the treatment, supervision and handling of citizens' complaints.

The resolution would affect all levels of administration, from the National Assembly to its offshoot bodies, Standing Committee, deputies and delegations.

Chairman of the NA Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc said strict supervision was necessary to see if authorised agencies abided by regulations in dealing with complaints.

Deputy Head of the NA People's Aspiration Committee, Bui Nguyen Suy, proposed connecting citizens' complaints with its supervisory work to ensure agreement between agencies.

To make sure there was a legal foundation for the treatment of citizens' complaints, the draft resolution would require NA agencies, the NA Standing Committee, deputies and delegations to check on how they were handled, said Chairman of the NA Law Committee Phan Trung Ly.