Removing obstacles and difficulties in the fields of agriculture and environment

On the afternoon of October 14, under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of 15 Laws in the fields of agriculture and environment.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man speaks

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan chaired the meeting.

Simplify administrative procedures

The draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of 15 Laws in the field of agriculture and environment (including: Law on Environmental Protection; Law on Plant Protection and Quarantine; Law on Animal Husbandry; Law on Biodiversity; Law on Dikes; Law on Surveying and Mapping; Law on Hydrometeorology; Law on Forestry; Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control; Law on Water Resources; Law on Marine and Island Resources and Environment; Law on Veterinary Medicine; Law on Irrigation; Law on Fisheries; Law on Cultivation) was presented by Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang. Accordingly, the development and promulgation of this Law is to implement the Party's policy on reorganizing the apparatus and organization of two-level local governments; at the same time, decentralizing, decentralizing, simplifying administrative procedures, reducing investment and business conditions and resolving "bottlenecks" due to legal provisions, inadequacies arising from state management practices in the field of agriculture and environment.

Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang speaks

The Draft Law consists of 17 Articles, with 3 groups of contents: related to the arrangement of administrative apparatus, decentralization, delegation of power, and determination of authority when organizing 2-level local government; reducing investment and business conditions and administrative procedures; promptly resolving and handling difficulties, inadequacies, and bottlenecks due to legal regulations.

Strengthening inspection, supervision and capacity building when decentralizing

The review report presented by Vice Chairman of the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment Ta Dinh Thi stated that the Committee agreed with the scope of amendments to the draft Law; stating that the amendments and supplements were carefully reviewed from over 1,000 legal documents, reviewed the urgency of needing to be handled immediately at the legal level in 2025, have been verified in practice, and have a clear political basis.

Vice Chairman of the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Ta Dinh Thi presented the review report.

Regarding the three groups of policies to be amended and supplemented in the draft Law, the Committee proposed to continue reviewing the regulations on the arrangement of the apparatus and the two-level local government as stipulated in Decree 131/2025/ND-CP and Decree 136/2025/ND-CP to ensure proper decentralization of authority, feasibility and consistency in the provisions of the draft Law; supplementing the mechanism to strengthen inspection, supervision and capacity building when decentralizing power, avoiding lax management; ensuring consistency and uniformity in regulations and law enforcement, and at the same time determining the roadmap for reduction and resources to handle and resolve adverse impacts to effectively implement this policy.

In addition, the Committee also requested a clearer report on identifying bottlenecks in amendments and supplements to the Laws; clarifying bottlenecks as provisions of the Law that are still inadequate or limited in policy implementation to have appropriate solutions to overcome and handle.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man said that this is an important and timely draft law in the spirit of streamlining the state apparatus; stating that the Politburo, the Secretariat and General Secretary To Lam are very interested in the fields of agriculture and the environment.

View of the meeting

According to the National Assembly Chairman, this law amendment is to remove bottlenecks and obstacles in current laws, focusing on 3 groups of issues. Therefore, issues under the authority of the National Assembly must be clearly defined in the framework, while the issuance of decrees and circulars is the responsibility of the Government and specialized management ministries. "Anything that causes difficulties and obstacles for people and businesses, especially in the rural agricultural sector, must be resolved."

The National Assembly Chairman pointed out that focusing on the policy group of apparatus arrangement and authority division, it is necessary to add regulations on training and financial support for commune level; build a cross-monitoring mechanism between ministries and localities; and use new technologies to avoid delays and abuse of power in the fields of agriculture and environment.

Regarding the simplification of administrative procedures and improvement of the investment environment, the National Assembly Chairman noted that it is necessary to review how many overlapping provisions have been abolished; and at the same time, publish them on the public service information portal to help businesses easily access them. Supplement the post-inspection mechanism for manufacturing enterprises, for example: animal feed, fertilizers... with the form of random inspection. Exemption and reduction of environmental impact assessment fees for small-scale agricultural projects to create conditions for the agricultural sector to develop.

Regarding environmental protection and sustainable agricultural development, the National Assembly Chairman suggested that a separate chapter on agriculture adapting to climate change could be built. Strengthening regulations on product traceability, biodiversity, and adding public-private partnership mechanisms are also new issues that can be studied.

Concluding the session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan requested the Government to direct the drafting agency and relevant agencies to study and absorb the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee and the reviewing agency to complete the draft Law dossier; assign the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment to complete the review report to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/thao-go-vuong-mac-kho-khan-trong-linh-vuc-nong-nghiep-va-moi-truong-10390332.html