Minister of Finance Hồ Đức Phơc at the session. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI – The fifth session of the National Assembly Standing Committee opened yesterday.

The session will discuss the Government’s proposals on adding two draft laws to the Law and Ordinance Building Programme 2022: the law amending and supplementing some articles of the Law on Radio Frequencies, and the revised Law on Medical Examination and Treatment.

Both of these bills are legislative tasks that have been assigned and approved by authorities. The draft Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (amended) has been proposed by the National Assembly Standing Committee to be added to the 2020 law and ordinance building programme of the 14th National Assembly. However, for various reasons, the bill has not been considered.

National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ noted that it is necessary to tighten legislative discipline to make sure that law projects which have been included in the list for discussion from the start be carefully prepared and not withdrawn from the list later on. 

Along with that, the National Assembly Standing Committee will give opinions on the signing of the Social Insurance Agreement between the Government of Việt nam and the Government of the Republic of Korea. This is Việt Nam's first comprehensive bilateral social insurance agreement and has been negotiated by the two Governments since 2015. The agreement was signed to avoid double payment of social insurance premiums and optimise social insurance benefits of employees working in the two countries.

In the contents of the agreement, there are two issues that have not been regulated in the Law on Social Insurance. Therefore, Huệ suggested members of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to carefully study the document to give opinions on these issues.

In addition, the National Assembly Standing Committee will consider a draft resolution explaining a number of articles of the Penal Code, creating a basis for agencies to properly and fully implement Việt Nam's commitments in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on criminal prosecution and imposition of penalties for certain trade secret-related violations.

The second major content that the National Assembly Standing Committee will review is the report on monitoring implementation results of legal documents under the responsibility of the Ethnic Council and committees of the National Assembly.

On that basis, Huệ said it was necessary to find solutions to handle documents with incorrect or unclear content, inconsistent understanding and application for the purpose of perfecting the legal system.

The Standing Committee of the National Assembly will also make preliminary preparations for the National Assembly regular meeting in May 2022, as well as the upcoming irregular meeting. The irregular meeting will only consider at most five contents that have been agreed with the Government on urgent and unexpected issues.

Emphasising that the workload according to the meeting agenda is very large and important, while the meeting time is limited, the Chairman of the National Assembly suggested that the National Assembly Standing Committee focus on research and giving in-depth opinions. After the conclusion of each content, the standing units of the relevant National Assembly agencies should urgently coordinate with the Secretary General of the National Assembly to finalise the draft and submit it to the National Assembly Standing Committee for promulgation. VNS