National Assembly delegates propose to reform the drafting board to overcome the situation of "framework laws and pipe laws"

At the 5th Session of the 15th National Assembly , the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law and Ordinance Building Program for 2024 and adjustments to the Law and Ordinance Building Program for 2023.

One of the notable contents that National Assembly Deputies are interested in giving opinions on is solutions to prevent and combat group interests in law making.

In which, Delegate Le Thanh Van ( Ca Mau delegation) stated his opinion: Regularly adjusting the Law and Ordinance Building Program is not management but it shows that our legislative thinking and policy thinking are inconsistent and have not had a long-term vision.

Delegate Le Thanh Van (Ca Mau delegation) expressed his opinion.

Delegate Le Thanh Van related that frequent adjustments are no different from a car driver who has to stop occasionally to have his car repaired, so he cannot drive smoothly. On the other hand, frequent changes to the annual Construction Program and laws and ordinances contain many potential risks. That is, the maturity of legislative proposals does not guarantee and cannot avoid group and local interests.

In addition, the frequent adjustment of the Law and Ordinance Building Program has resulted in the low quality of the laws, especially the political norms that still exist quite commonly in the laws. The law is the most general code of conduct to apply to the whole society and that code of conduct contains assumptions, specific regulations and sanctions to regulate each behavior, but there are political norms. That is, the concise orientations and contents cannot guide human behavior and the consequence of this is that many guiding documents, decrees and circulars are not specific and finally, the law enforcers are easily arbitrary and the consequence is that they make people and businesses suffer.

Delegate Le Thanh Van also expressed concern that legislative discipline is not strict, the responsibility of leaders is not clearly defined, especially the process of building the Law and Ordinance Program still "inserted" interests.

Delegates attending the meeting.

Delegate Le Thanh Van proposed that it is necessary to soon restore the construction of the Legal Program for the entire term, following the content of the Party Congress resolution of each term to plan legislative policies, determine annual priorities and maintain legislative discipline according to that program. Minimize the adjustment of the annual law-making program.

In addition, it is necessary to overcome the situation of "framework laws, pipe laws", and limit political norms in laws by reforming the composition of the Drafting Board. Currently, most of the Drafting Boards are people from the agencies that propose the draft law, so the perspective is not objective. Accordingly, it is necessary to change the structure of the Drafting Board in the direction of many scientists, many experts participating and especially the subjects subject to the regulation of the law if passed must be present in the Drafting Board, because they are the ones subject to the regulation of the law, more than anyone else, they must participate from the beginning. In particular, we must show a receptiveness in social criticism.

Regarding legislative discipline, Delegate Le Thanh Van suggested that the Prime Minister should assign a Deputy Prime Minister to be in charge of law-making and institution-building to promote the Government's law-making activities. The National Assembly should consider the criteria for law-making and institution-building for positions elected and approved by the National Assembly as a criterion for evaluating officials.

Delegate Le Thanh Van suggested that the resolution on the development of this year's law and ordinance program should institutionalize the General Secretary's guiding viewpoint. That is, to determine the responsibility of those who initiate policies and propose the development of laws. If such laws later prove harmful to the country and the people, they must be held accountable. That spirit should be reflected in this draft resolution.

At the discussion session, Delegate Truong Trong Nghia (Ho Chi Minh City delegation) was concerned when we sometimes said that drafting laws is like sitting in an air-conditioned room, very unfamiliar to the people, so it is unreasonable. Therefore, there needs to be a solution to overcome things like the delegates mentioned about group interests, which are beneficial to managers. Accordingly, the drafting of laws must have experts and specialists. The first member of the drafting committee can be a number of officials sent by specialized ministries.

Delegate Truong Trong Nghia (Ho Chi Minh City delegation) gave a speech.

The second type of drafting experts are those in the legal profession, because specialized experts are not familiar with the technical aspects of drafting legal documents, but the Ministry of Justice or law professors may understand the drafting of legal documents but are not familiar with the issues of their profession. Therefore, the Drafting Committee must have these two components.

The third component is independent experts, scientists or people with a lot of experience in that field who are not affiliated with any department or sector, have prestige in society and represent the subjects regulated by that law. This third component ensures objectivity but also ensures professional criteria and knowledge of drafting legal documents.

The Drafting Committee of the Law and Ordinance Development Program has proposed to be placed on the National Assembly's side, not on the Government's side. Because if placed on the Government's side, the Government will assign it to a certain Ministry, and that Ministry will assign it to a Department, so it is impossible to "escape" the fact that it will benefit the state management of that Ministry.

Therefore, Delegate Truong Trong Nghia suggested that in order to solve the arising problems, this Drafting Committee should be formed independently. “If it is necessary to organize a poll, the National Assembly will help with that, with a Vice Chairman of the National Assembly and a number of Committees assisting this Drafting Committee. Finally, when the Drafting Committee completes the Program, it will submit it to the Government and the National Assembly for consideration and comments,” said Delegate Truong Trong Nghia.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-de-nghi-doi-moi-ban-soan-thao-de-khac-phuc-tinh-trang-luat-khung-luat-ong-post248881.html