Supplementing and perfecting legal policies in the fields of minerals, agriculture and environment

Bổ sung, hoàn thiện chính sách phát luật trong lĩnh vực khoáng sản, nông nghiệp và môi trường- Ảnh 1. — Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang speaks about the two draft laws - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Speaking about the two draft laws, Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang thanked the National Assembly deputies for their attention, support, and dedicated and responsible opinions on the two draft laws in groups and in the Hall; he said that many opinions of the National Assembly deputies were very accurate and highly practical.

"The drafting agency would like to seriously accept and continue to coordinate with relevant agencies to review, revise and complete the draft to report to the National Assembly for consideration and approval, especially issues related to ensuring the consistency and synchronization of the legal system, fully regulating transitional cases, developing detailed regulations and a number of other specific issues," said Minister Tran Duc Thang.

Regarding the scope of regulation of the two draft laws, some opinions of National Assembly deputies suggested adding and amending other problematic and inadequate contents in addition to the bottlenecks that have been handled in the two draft laws.

Regarding this content, Minister Tran Duc Thang said that, regarding the draft Law on Geology and Minerals, this law was just issued in 2024 and will take effect from July 1, 2025. The revised content is mainly to handle some difficulties and bottlenecks that need to be immediately resolved related to projects, key national programs, strategies on management, exploitation and use of rare earth resources to serve the country's development. For other difficulties, based on the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the presiding agency will coordinate with the appraisal agency and relevant agencies to continue reviewing and seriously absorb all opinions of the deputies.

Regarding the draft law amending and supplementing laws in the fields of agriculture and environment, Minister Tran Duc Thang said that the development of this draft law only focuses on localized and consistent adjustments in 3 main groups of contents, which are reorganizing the apparatus, reforming administrative procedures, reducing investment and business conditions and handling emerging bottlenecks, in which bottlenecks are identified based on criteria such as: Being reflected by many people and businesses, having a universal nature, which if amended will have an impact to promote the socio-economic development of the country. Having a clear political basis, as stated in resolutions and conclusions of the Party and State leaders and competent agencies.

Regarding other problems and shortcomings of the 15 laws, in addition to the 20 groups of bottlenecks that have been addressed in this draft law, the drafting agency finds that more time is needed to summarize practices, assess impacts thoroughly, fully, and fundamentally, and will propose amendments in the 2026-2030 period.

Emphasizing that the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Geology and Minerals this time received many comments from National Assembly deputies when discussing in groups as well as in the hall, Minister Tran Duc Thang said that this amendment focuses mainly on the contents to put group 3 and group 4 materials into use, serving key national projects but at the same time must still ensure principles and regulations such as environmental protection, not to be exploited in implementation.

Regarding the management of rare earth minerals, Minister Tran Duc Thang said that our country has the second and third largest reserves of rare earths in the world and is located in 21 provinces and cities. Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has been assigned by the Government and senior leaders to basically demarcate all mineral-rich mining areas and organize strict management. The Ministry is presiding with ministries and branches to develop a national strategy on rare earths to be submitted to the Government and competent authorities for promulgation in early 2026. After completing the demarcation of locations, the important thing is how to put them into exploitation and deep processing to bring benefits to the country.

"The drafting agency will seriously and fully absorb the opinions of National Assembly deputies to coordinate with the reviewing agency to complete these two draft laws as well as in the process of building guiding documents under the law and organizing their implementation," said Minister Tran Duc Thang.

Concluding his remarks on this content, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan emphasized that these are two draft laws that the National Assembly will consider and approve according to the Law on Promulgation of Legal Norms in 2025, so the Government will be responsible for submitting them to the National Assembly for consideration and approval. Therefore, he requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to urgently help the Government coordinate closely with the Standing Committee of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee and relevant agencies to study, absorb and fully explain the opinions of National Assembly deputies to ensure compliance with regulations on power control in law-making, avoid creating loopholes and legal gaps and giving rise to new difficulties and problems. Note that it is important to ensure proper handling between the contents of this amendment and the upcoming amendments, promptly complete the draft law with the highest quality, and report to the National Assembly Standing Committee for comments before the National Assembly considers and approves it at the end of the session.

Hai Lien

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/bo-sung-hoan-thien-chinh-sach-phat-luat-trong-linh-vuc-khoang-san-nong-nghiep-va-moi-truong-102251201121137449.htm