On the morning of December 10th, with 437 out of 448 participating delegates voting in favor, the National Assembly passed the Law on Saving and Combating Waste. The law will take effect from July 1st, 2026.
Encourage people to save, do not restrict freedom of business and consumption
Presenting the report on the acceptance, explanation, revision, and completion of the draft Law before the National Assembly's vote, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang stated that the Government had studied and incorporated as many opinions as possible and revised and perfected the draft Law.
Regarding the scope and subjects, during the review of the draft law, the review agency believes that the regulation of production, business and consumption activities of individuals and households within the scope of the Law may not be consistent with Articles 33 and 34 of the Constitution on the right to freedom of business and property ownership. Therefore, it is recommended to continue reviewing to ensure constitutionality and only limit mandatory application to agencies, organizations and individuals using public resources.
Regarding this issue, according to the Government's explanation, the regulation of production, business and consumption activities of individuals and families under the scope of the Law is an inheritance of the provisions of the current Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Wastefulness. Accordingly, the provisions as in the draft Law show an encouraging nature (there are no mandatory provisions), and do not affect the people's freedom of business and consumption.
"The overarching principle of the draft Law is to only stipulate mandatory regulations for organizations and individuals in the state and private sectors directly managing and using public resources (including public assets, public finances, natural resources, etc.), while regulations on saving and preventing waste in production, business activities, and people's consumption are of an encouraging and persuasive nature, not interfering with or managing the production, business, and consumption activities of the people," Minister Nguyen Van Thang affirmed.
Explaining why the draft law proposes May 31st as the "National Day for Saving and Combating Waste," a government representative stated that this date is taken from the date of the article "What is Saving?" published in the newspaper Cuu Quoc (May 31, 1949) to spread President Ho Chi Minh 's ideas on saving and combating waste, contributing to building a culture of saving throughout society.
In fact, several laws already stipulate specific days for launching and promoting activities in those fields, for example: "Vietnam Socialist Republic Law Day", "National Fire Prevention, Fighting, Rescue and Relief Day", "Vietnam Science, Technology and Innovation Day"... The designation of these days does not imply that there is only one such day dedicated to this work throughout the year.
Therefore, the Government believes that it is necessary to include provisions in the draft Law to launch and maintain an annual "National Day for Saving and Combating Waste," contributing to making the practice of saving and combating waste "conscious," "voluntary," and "everyday necessities like food, water, and clothing," as mentioned in the article "Practicing Saving" by General Secretary To Lam.
More specific regulations on protecting those who fight against waste.
Regarding the mechanisms and measures to protect those who fight against waste, the reviewing agency proposed a review to ensure consistency and avoid duplication, and also suggested considering and supplementing regulations on the rights and obligations of those who fight against waste, similar to the provisions in the Law on Whistleblowing.
Taking into account this opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee, the Government has reviewed and revised the content of the draft Law to ensure consistency and uniformity with the Law on Whistleblowing, the Law on Receiving Citizens' Petitions, the Criminal Procedure Code, and other relevant laws.
The draft law submitted to the National Assembly for approval this morning has also been revised to provide more specific regulations on protecting those who fight against waste, including: the rights and responsibilities of those who fight against waste; the scope of protection, the competent authorities to apply protective measures, the procedures and measures for protecting those who fight against waste; cases where those who fight against waste are not protected or where protection is terminated; and prohibited acts in protecting those who fight against waste.
According to the Government, currently, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Law on Denunciation have specific provisions on protecting those who fight against waste in the forms of denunciation and accusation.
Accordingly, Clause 3, Article 8 of the draft Law stipulates that the protection of those who fight against wastefulness (scope of protection, competent authorities applying protective measures, procedures and protective measures) shall be implemented according to the corresponding legal provisions for each type of subject, specifically: for those who report acts of wastefulness, the provisions of the law on reporting shall apply; for those who report crimes related to acts of wastefulness, the provisions of the law on criminal procedure shall apply; for those who report acts of wastefulness, the same protective provisions as those for whistleblowers shall apply.
Regarding the provisions on cases of anti-waste fighters not being protected, termination of protection and prohibited acts in protecting anti-waste fighters in Clauses 4 and 5, Article 8 of the draft Law, this is the content institutionalized according to the provisions in Articles 7 and 8 of Regulation No. 231-QD/TW dated January 17, 2025 of the Party Central Committee on protecting anti-corruption, waste and negativity fighters. Accordingly, the concretization of these contents in the draft Law has ensured full compliance with Regulation No. 231-QD/TW of the Party Central Committee.
According to nhandan.vn
Source: https://baodongthap.vn/quoc-hoi-chot-31-5-hang-nam-la-ngay-toan-dan-tiet-kiem-chong-lang-phi-a233917.html
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