Minister To Lam explains the reason for changing the "citizen identification" card to the "identification" card

Minister of Public Security To Lam has just reported on receiving and explaining the discussion opinions of the National Assembly deputies' group on the draft Law on Identification .

Bộ trưởng Tô Lâm giải thích lý do đổi thẻ căn cước công dân thành thẻ căn cước - Ảnh 1.

Minister of Public Security To Lam speaks at the group discussing the draft Law on Identification. Photo: Pham Thang

According to the report, many National Assembly deputies agreed with the regulation on adjusting the information shown on the ID card to ensure citizens' privacy and resolve problems when using the current citizen ID card.

Some National Assembly deputies proposed to consider changing the name of the citizen identification card or to keep the current citizen identification card to ensure stability and avoid waste.

The name of the citizen identification card is to be issued to citizens, completely distinguishable from the identity certificate issued to people of Vietnamese origin, this is a long-standing, familiar name. Changing it will have an impact that causes instability in people's psychology, making people feel that the policy is constantly changing, chaotic, and costly.

The government has reported that the issued cards will continue to be used and will not be replaced, the newly issued cards will become identity cards.

Thus, there will be 2 cards with different names at the same time, the conversion process will also take at least 20 years according to the validity period of the citizen identification card.

Minister To Lam said that changing the name of the citizen identification card to identity card is appropriate and consistent with the names of citizen identification cards of countries around the world today (Identity Card - identity card or personal identification card).

In addition, with the expansion and integration of more information into the ID card, the information on the card and the information integrated into the card are not simply basic citizen information as before. Therefore, the name change will ensure more comprehensiveness and will not affect people's psychology.

According to Minister To Lam, changing the name of the citizen identification card to the ID card will not affect state budget expenditures or social costs.

Regarding the adjustment of the information "permanent residence" printed on the citizen identification card to "residence" printed on the identification card to suit the reality because many people currently only have a temporary residence, current residence or no permanent residence, temporary residence.

With this regulation, all people will be eligible for ID cards and have their rights guaranteed when they have identification papers to carry out administrative procedures and civil transactions as needed.

The draft law assigns the Minister of Public Security to specify in detail the recording of residence information on identification cards to ensure consistency with practical cases.

The majority of National Assembly deputies agreed to name it the Law on Identification to match the scope of regulation and specific regulations that have been expanded to include the issuance of identification cards to people of Vietnamese origin.

However, some National Assembly members suggested considering amending the name of the Law on Identification due to the widespread use of the phrase "citizen identification". According to the National Assembly members, renaming the law and adjusting many accompanying issues just because a small group of people of Vietnamese origin are living in Vietnam but have not yet determined their nationality is inappropriate, costly and wasteful.

The Government has prepared an impact assessment report on the Law on Citizen Identification (amended), however, when submitting the draft law to the National Assembly, it is the Law on Identification. National Assembly deputies believe that it is necessary to carefully assess the impact on the Law on Identification because when the law name is changed, the policies have changed, so additional impact assessments are needed.

Regarding this issue, the Government reported to the National Assembly that the name of the draft law should be revised from "Law on Citizen Identification (amended)" to "Law on Identification" to ensure comprehensiveness, consistency with the scope of regulation and subjects of application of the law.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, this adjustment does not change the policy in the draft law and does not affect other laws.

In addition, the National Assembly Standing Committee has agreed to amend the name of the law as above. Therefore, it is proposed to keep the name of the Law on Identification as the file submitted to the National Assembly.

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