National Assembly calls for clarity in changes to investment, civil legislation

National Assembly deputies said yesterday that amendments to the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments should focus on urgent problems and outdated provisions.

Deputies Pham Xuan Thuong from Thai Binh and Le Minh Hien from Khanh Hoa suggested that the draft law drops certain provisions relating to the verification of conditions for enforcing civil judgments.


One of these is the current requirement that judgement beneficiaries have to carry out the verification of such conditions themselves from their workplace or pay verification fees.

Another is the provision that requires beneficiaries to officially request a form from the court to enforce a judgement that has been passed. Deputy Bui Van Xuyen of Thai Binh Province suggested the drafting committee drops this requirement.

The dropping of these provisions would expedite the enforcement of civil judgments, the deputies felt.

Deputies agreed with the draft law provision that requires the People's Court to issue a decision on enforcing judgements in civil causes.

Investment law

Most NA deputies agreed that several changes were needed to the current Law on Investment in order to foster administrative reforms and create an attractive and transparent investment environment.

Deputy Do Thi Hoang of Quang Ninh Province said the drafting committee should clearly mention the criteria for foreign ownership of more than 51 per cent of an enterprise's chartered capital. She said this issue requires careful consideration in order to prevent foreign investors from circumventing the law that limits their role in certain sectors.

Meanwhile, Deputy Tran Van Minh, also of Quang Ninh, said the draft law's provision on investment areas was too general. He said the law failed to make clear the localities and sectors where investment was being encouraged, and those where investment was prohibited.

Other deputies said the Law on Investment cannot replace other specific laws with detailed content for sectors where investment is encouraged, and in such cases, current regulations were sufficient.

Insurance surplus

In the afternoon, deputies spoke on the amended law on medical insurance and the NA's resolution on conducting a vote of confidence on people holding positions elected or approved by the NA and the People's Council.

Truong Thi Mai, chairwoman of the NA Committee of Social Affairs, said the draft medical law would regulate the distribution of the difference between the amount of a locality's medical insurance collected and the amount spent.

From the day the law becomes effective until the end of 2020, if the amount spent is less than that collected, 20 per cent of the difference will be given to localities to upgrade medical infrastructure.

From the beginning of 2021, if the amount spent is less than that collected, the difference will be put into the nation's contingency fund.

Besides, the State budget will be adjusted so that more is spent on mountainous, coastal and island areas.

Regarding the vote of confidence on people holding positions elected or approved by the NA and the People's Council, the draft resolution suggests that the vote be carried out mid term.

Deputy Truong Thi Thu Trang from Tien Giang suggested a vote of confidence be also carried out on leaders of the judicial system, such as the chief judge of the Supreme People's Court, or head of the Supreme People's Procuracy. This was because these people were in charge of fields that directly affected socio-economic issues and people's lives.

Many deputies agreed the vote of confidence should be carried out once every term.

Deputies To Van Tam from Kon Tum Province, Truong Minh Hoang from Ca Mau Province and Lo Hai Uoi from Lai Chau Province said the vote should be carried out twice each term