Proposal to maintain regulations on auctioning telecommunications number warehouses

On the afternoon of November 14, the National Assembly Standing Committee held a meeting between the two sessions of the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said that according to the working program, from the afternoon of November 14 to the end of November 16, the National Assembly Standing Committee is expected to meet to give opinions on receiving and explaining draft laws and draft resolutions to be considered and approved at the 6th Session. Experience from the 5th Session shows that this way of working has had very good results. Therefore, at this Session, the National Assembly agrees with the proposal of the National Assembly Standing Committee to arrange about 1 week between the two sessions of the National Assembly for agencies to work.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue chaired the meeting. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

After the opening speech of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law on Telecommunications (amended).

Control the deposit

Reporting on some major issues regarding the explanation, acceptance and revision of the draft Law, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy said that regarding telecommunications resources (Chapter VI), there were opinions suggesting that telecommunications service subscriber numbers should be divided into groups to properly assess their value, minimize cases of deposit abandonment during auctions and assign the Ministry of Information and Communications to provide detailed regulations. The Standing Committee of the Committee proposed to explain measures to control the depositing of money to participate in auctions of telecommunications numbers.

The Standing Committee of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee finds that the assessment to classify subscriber numbers with special structures by value is difficult to implement because it depends on the perception of users, regions and areas. Determining a starting price for the subscriber numbers to be auctioned (Article 50) as well as choosing the form of online auction (as in the draft Decree guiding the implementation of the Law submitted to the National Assembly) and following the method of bidding up (from the starting price and according to the price steps) of the current Law on Property Auction (similar to the pilot implementation of car license plate auctions) will create opportunities for many participants, creating conditions to accurately determine the value of the subscriber numbers to be auctioned according to the market mechanism.

Overview of the meeting. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

The draft Law on Telecommunications (amended) stipulates an appropriate starting price when participating in auctions to limit barriers and create conditions for organizations and individuals who want to participate in auctions. However, this provision leads to certain risks such as the situation of waiving deposits. Clause 4, Article 48 of the draft Law assigns the Government to provide detailed regulations on the auction of the right to use telecommunications numbers and the Vietnamese national domain name “.vn”. In the process of developing the Decree guiding the Law on Telecommunications (amended), the examining agency proposed that the Government should study and supplement regulations to control the waiving of deposits such as not allowing participation in subsequent auctions if the deposit is waived and other measures permitted by the law on property auctions.

For the above reasons, the Standing Committee of the Committee proposes to keep the regulations on auctioning telecommunications numbers as in the draft Law.

Compatibility Guaranteed

According to Chairman Le Quang Huy, there are opinions requesting clarification on whether the current collection of network number registration fees by international and regional organizations affects Vietnamese organizations and enterprises; whether Vietnam collects network number fees; if so, a request for additional impact assessment is requested.

Explaining this issue, the Standing Committee of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee said that Clause 28, Article 3 of the draft Law stipulates that Internet resources are a collection of domain names, Internet addresses, network numbers and other names and numbers under the management of Vietnam, including: Vietnamese Internet resources and international Internet resources allocated by international management organizations for organizations and individuals to use in Vietnam.

According to the report of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam has implemented the collection of registration fees and maintenance fees for ".vn" domain names and Internet addresses. The Law on Fees and Charges has not yet regulated the registration fees and maintenance fees for network numbers because up to now, the Asia-Pacific Internet Address/Network Number Management Organization (APNIC) has not collected network number fees.

However, APNIC has just announced a plan to adjust the collection of Internet resources, accordingly, it will collect network number fees from January 1, 2025. APNIC's policy will be free for the first 2 network numbers, from the 3rd network number onwards, there will be a registration fee of 500 AUD/1 network number and a maintenance fee of 100 AUD/year.

The review shows that, as of October 2023, out of 614 Vietnamese organizations and enterprises that have registered to use network numbers, only 4 enterprises are subject to paying network number usage fees according to APNIC's new policy. Therefore, the addition of regulations on network number fees and charges will create a legal basis for enterprises to fulfill their financial obligations according to the regulations of international organizations to ensure the maintenance of network operations and Internet services.

Emphasizing that this is a new content compared to the draft Law submitted by the Government, giving rise to financial obligations, the Standing Committee of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee coordinated with the Ministry of Information and Communications to work with representatives of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, the National Assembly's Law Committee, the Ministry of Finance and a number of telecommunications enterprises to consider additional regulations on registration fees and network number maintenance fees in the draft Law; requesting the Ministry of Information and Communications to assess the impact.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy presents the report. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Mr. Le Quang Huy emphasized that this is a mandatory obligation, implemented according to international practices and regulations. If Vietnam does not have regulations on fees and charges for network numbers, Vietnamese organizations and enterprises using many network numbers will have difficulty in registering and using network numbers, which will affect the network operations and services of enterprises in the future.

Therefore, the Standing Committee of the Committee believes that there is a basis to consider additional regulations on registration fees and network number maintenance fees; this content has been supplemented and revised and shown in Point d, Clause 9, Article 50 and Clauses 4 and 5, Article 71 of the draft Law. However, the Standing Committee of the Committee requests that the Government provide official comments and report to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on this content based on a full impact assessment.

Basically agreeing with the contents of the Explanation and Acceptance Report, Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung proposed clarifying the regulations on network number registration fees and maintenance fees; clarifying whether the fees and charges are collected to the State budget or collected on behalf of international organizations. Because, if the fees and charges are collected to the budget, it is necessary to amend the Law on Fees and Charges to adjust the list, otherwise, it is only necessary to stipulate them in the Telecommunications Law for implementation.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue suggested reviewing to ensure compatibility between the Telecommunications Law, the Fees and Charges Law, and the Tax Administration Law to study the appropriate provisions in which law. If collecting on behalf of others, the Ministry of Information and Communications should provide guidance. The National Assembly Chairman noted that research is needed to avoid conflicts between this law and that law.

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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