The National Assembly (NA) recently adopted a resolution adjusting the law- and ordinance-making program for the remaining months of 2016 and announcing the legislative program for 2017.
According to the resolution, coded 22/2016/QH14, at its second session in October, the National Assembly will debate and pass a resolution revising Resolution No. 55/2010/QH12 on agricultural land use tax exemption and reduction and give opinions on the draft Planning Law, in addition to the approved law-making agenda of the session.
The NA Standing Committee will also hear two additional ordinances on court fees and amendments to the Ordinance on Preferential Treatment toward People with Meritorious Service in November.
According to the Committee, the above documents have been carefully prepared and finalized and are qualified for submission to the NA Standing Committee.
Meanwhile, five laws are withdrawn from this year’s legislative program. They are the Law on Demonstration, the Law on Certification, the Law on Blood and Stem Cell, the revised Law on National Defense, and the revised Law on Nuclear Energy.
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| NA Deputy Chairman Uong Chu Luu speaks at the conference to implement the 2016-17 law- and ordinance-making program __Photo: An Dang/VNA |
Explaining the withdrawal of the Demonstration Law, Chairman of the NA Law Committee Nguyen Khac Dinh said the NA Standing Committee agreed that such law should be soon put into place as a legal basis for citizens to exercise their constitutional right. However, the law still has some controversial issues which need to be thoroughly researched before submission, he said.
As for the 2017 legislative agenda, the resolution says at its third session to be held in early 2017, the NA will consider and pass 14 draft laws and one draft resolution, including the Anti-Corruption Law, the Law on Foreign Trade Management, the Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives and Supporting Tools, the Law on Support for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises; the revised Law on Management and Use of State Assets, and the Planning Law, among others.
At the fourth session, legislators will consider and pass nine drafts, including two new laws on protection of state secrets and application of pre-lawsuit interim urgent measures; three revised laws on competition, public debt management and fisheries, as well as amendments to the Labor Code and the Law on Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Notably, the Law on Public Administration, the first-ever motion put forward by a NA deputy, is also included in next year’s legislative program. It will be submitted to the NA for discussion at the fourth session, together with five other drafts.
According to the NA Standing Committee, the 2017 legislative agenda has given priority to laws and ordinances to enforce the 2013 Constitution and implement international commitments and treaties to which Vietnam has acceded, especially free trade agreements and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and to meet urgent requirements of socio-economic development, state management and social management.
Addressing a conference held in Hanoi this month on the NA’s legislative work in late 2016 and 2017, NA Deputy Chairman Uong Chu Luu said 2016 is the year of transition between the XIIIth and XIVth tenures of the NA and also the first year of implementation of the 2015 Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents. Agencies and organizations involved in the legislative process and full-time NA deputies should thoroughly grasp and well implement the new provisions of the 2015 Law, contributing to raising the quality and effectiveness of legislative work, he said.
Chairman of the NA Law Committee Nguyen Khac Dinh pointed out that the new Law introduces a totally new law-making process by separating the policy making process from the law-drafting process.
From July 1, the compilation, appraisal, verification, consideration and passage of draft laws, resolutions and ordinances must comply with the 2015 Law, Dinh stressed.
Resolution 22 also urges competent agencies, organizations and persons to properly compile, appraise, verify and give opinions on draft laws, ordinances and resolutions and not to submit to the National Assembly and its Standing Committee poor-quality drafts. They should also create favorable conditions for NA deputies to propose and realize their legislative initiatives in accordance with the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents.
The resolution again asks the Government, ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies and other related agencies to early issue implementation regulations so that they can take effect concurrently with the relevant laws, ordinances or resolutions.
The Government is also urged to propose laws and regulations to further institutionalize the Party’s resolutions, enforce the Constitution, address burning issues for the people, and implement treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party.
Specifically, the resolution instructs the Government to expeditiously finish the draft Law amending the laws on investment and business and the draft Law on Demonstration and submit them to the NA Standing Committee for consideration and inclusion in the NA’s legislative agenda.
According to the 2015 Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, from this year the NA will adopt annual legislative programs instead of five-year and annual ones as before.- (VLLF)
