HÀ NỘI - Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has called on all staff working in the judiciary sector to increase their efforts to produce high quality legal documents for the interest of the nation and people, not for their own or the interests of groups.

Addressing a National Conference on the implementation of judiciary work in 2017 in the capital city yesterday, PM Phúc urged the Ministry to take pride in its function as “law maker” and “facilitator” in bringing laws to life.

PM Phúc spoke highly of the Ministry’s achievements in 2016, particularly its efforts in carrying out the task of institutional building – the most important and basic mission of a Government eyeing for development.

“During the year, the ministry has managed to compile and appraise legal documents to make our legal system move towards goals of transparency and fairness, protecting the people’s legitimate rights and facilitating conditions for business expansion as well as the movement of entrepreneurship”, Phúc said.

He said he was very glad that 2016 was the first year the government has accomplished all tasks of writing decrees, legal guiding documents and ordinances.

“This success should be attributed to the big role played by the Ministry of Justice”, Phúc said.

However, he said some of the laws were not of a high standard.

“Some of the laws were of low quality and not stable. That’s why they were subjected to revision and supplement”, Phúc said.

He agreed that making laws is a demanding job. He cited the case of the Penal Code.

“It is regrettable that the 2015 Penal Code was supposed to come into force on July 1, 2016. But due to the detection of almost 100 errors in the law, the enforcement date has to be postponed," he said, and adding that “No such precedent has been reported in a country’s law making process.”

Speaking about the orientations and tasks for the Ministry of Justice in 2017 and the years to come, Phúc asked the ministry to increase efforts to ensure that legal documents are important tools for the State to govern society and to facilitate people to exercise their rights as masters of the country; their rights to check and supervise the State power.

“It is time for us to switch from the old practice of administrative order to creativity, development and service for people and enterprises”, PM Phúc emphasised.

He said the MOJ must be the first line of government agencies to bear responsibility for the quality and progress of the law making process.

“The laws must be in the interest of the nation and of the people. They are not for the interests of the MOJ or certain groups of people”, Phúc stressed.

He then asked the MOJ to speed up the process of administrative reform and apply IT in their daily activities, while upholding the principles of accountability and transparency.

In 2016, the MOJ has coordinated with concerned ministries and agencies in compiling 12 laws and resolutions which were passed by the National Assembly. It has also submitted 1,000 documents to the Government and the PM for approval.

In the same year, the judiciary sector has appraised more than 11,800 legal documents and flagged 659 of them for errors or surpassing their invested power.

Regarding the work of administrative reform, the MOJ has appraised 783 procedures, but decided to eliminate 141 procedures and revise 573 others.

In 2016, some 530,000 civil judgment enforcements were executed, achieving over 78 per cent of the total cases nationwide._VNS