Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on International Treaties: Ensuring enough time for in-depth appraisal

Discussing in the Working Group on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on International Treaties on the morning of October 31, National Assembly deputies agreed to simplify procedures in international treaty work; at the same time, they emphasized that shortening must still ensure enough time for specialized agencies to fully perform their responsibilities of in-depth appraisal of international treaties.

National Assembly Delegate Tran Thi Hong An ( Quang Ngai ): Proactively propose new international treaties on digital economy and artificial intelligence

The Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on International Treaties has basically focused on removing bottlenecks in the organization of implementation of the Law on International Treaties in 2016. The Draft Law has added provisions on shortening the procedures for signing international treaties, meeting political requirements, foreign affairs activities, especially the activities of senior leaders when participating in international activities. At the same time, it removes provisions on shortened procedures and processes in signing international treaties on loans, official ODA capital support, and foreign preferential loans. If still following the provisions of the current Law, it will take a lot of time, processes and procedures, limiting the reception and implementation in Vietnam.

I agree with the adoption of the Law under the simplified procedure at the Tenth Session, however, I suggest that the Government review to fully internalize international commitments, overcome the situation of "many signed" but limited implementation in practice. Strengthen propaganda and widely disseminate international treaties, especially international treaties on trade and international treaties related to enterprises.

In the coming time, the Government needs to proactively propose the development of new international treaties in line with national interests, especially in new areas such as digital economy, energy transition, artificial intelligence or cyber security.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Van Huy (Hung Yen): There needs to be criteria to evaluate what is "clear enough" and "detailed enough"

Regarding the deadline for responding to comments on inspection and appraisal, the draft Law amends and supplements Clause 1, Article 20 of the current Law. Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice is responsible for appraising international treaties within 10 days from the date of receiving the complete dossier specified in Article 21 or within 20 days in case of establishing an Appraisal Council. Point b, Clause 2, Article 72 stipulates that the consulted organization and the inspection agency and the appraisal agency of the international treaty are responsible for responding in writing within 5 working days from the date of receiving the dossier for comments on the request for inspection and appraisal. With these provisions, I suggest that the drafting agency review and unify the provisions in the entire draft Law from "day" to "working day" which would be more reasonable.

In addition, shortening the time limit as stipulated in the draft Law will help speed up the process of signing international treaties. However, it is also necessary to consider and ensure that the shortened time is still sufficient for specialized agencies, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, to fully perform their responsibilities of in-depth inspection and assessment, avoiding errors.

Regarding the mechanism for simultaneously proposing the signing and approval or ratification of an international treaty, the draft Law stipulates that it will be applied in cases where the proposing agency determines that the treaty can be ratified immediately after signing, is clear enough, detailed enough for implementation, and has gathered all the necessary documents in the dossier proposing the ratification of the international treaty. This is a very important additional content, shortening the time for putting the international treaty into effect, demonstrating flexibility in foreign affairs. However, there needs to be criteria for assessing what is "clear enough" and "detailed enough" to avoid abusing this mechanism for complex international treaties.

In addition, the draft Law stipulates that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall carry out the procedure for foreign notification of approval or ratification within 10 days from the date of receipt of the original copy of the international treaty. The drafting agency should clearly stipulate that the official copy of the international treaty can only be received after it is signed; the procedure for foreign notification should be carried out after the decision on official approval or ratification by the competent authority, not just after signing, to ensure legality.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Tam Hung (Ho Chi Minh City): Clearly define the scope and limits of authority of the head of the negotiating delegation

Regarding authorization and delegation in international treaty work, the draft Law amends and supplements Clause 3, Article 22 of the current Law in the direction that "The head of the delegation attending an international conference must be authorized in writing by the Prime Minister, except in cases where the international conference does not involve the negotiation, approval of the text of an international treaty or amendments and supplements to an international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member, the head of the proposing agency shall decide to authorize participation. In cases where members of the Vietnamese delegation must be authorized to attend an international conference according to the conference's regulations, the proposing agency shall submit to the Prime Minister for decision or the head of the proposing agency shall decide according to the provisions of this clause".

I propose that the mandate document must clearly define the scope and limits of the authority of the head of the negotiating delegation in signing commitments or declarations with international binding value according to the authority prescribed in this clause. The mandate document must clearly state the identity, position, content and scope of the delegated work to strengthen the legal basis and improve the effectiveness of foreign affairs activities, in accordance with the principles of the Vienna Convention on the Law of International Treaties 1969; at the same time, control legal risks for the Vietnamese state in foreign affairs activities.

Regarding the proposal to approve international treaties, the draft Law proposes amendments to reform administrative procedures, clearly defining responsibilities and time limits in the process of approving international treaties. Through research, it is recommended to consider amending and supplementing Clause 1, Article 39 as follows: adding the phrase "responsible for obtaining written opinions from agencies and organizations directly related to the content of international treaties" to replace the phrase "may decide to obtain opinions from relevant agencies and organizations".

In addition, it is proposed to amend Clause 2, Article 39 of the current Law in the direction that "the agencies and organizations that are consulted as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article are responsible for responding in writing within 10 working days from the date of receiving the consultation document", instead of the "10-day" time limit as in the draft Law for more clarity, and at the same time, add a reasonable extension mechanism of up to 10 working days to ensure the quality of appraisal for complex international treaties.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/du-an-luat-sua-doi-bo-sung-mot-so-dieu-cua-luat-dieu-uoc-quoc-te-bao-dam-du-thoi-gian-de-tham-dinh-chuyen-sau-10393910.html