HÀ NỘI — The National Assembly Standing Committee yesterday said it decided to halt the draft public administration law project, saying the bill does not meet the standards of a fully-fledged law.

The bill was a two-year-long personal endeavour by Trần Thị Quốc Khánh, a NA deputy from the Hà Nội delegation, which makes it a distinguished mark on Vietnamese legislation as law-building projects are usually undertaken by the Government, with ministers of respective jurisdictions leading the project.

Comments from the NA Justice Committee suggested changing the name, and likewise, the scope of the bill to the law on administrative procedures, to make sure it complies with the current legal system.

Previously, a project on the administrative procedures law was put forward by the Government and included in the NA’s 2007-11 agenda, but the Government later withdrew it.

Other members of the Standing Committee also asked the drafting committee to consider whether the name “public administration law” was still appropriate after its scope had been narrowed, from seven main topics down to three: administrative procedures, public services, and the relationship and responsibilities of agencies, organisations and individuals in carrying out assigned administrative procedure-related duties.

"These are the ’core issues’ that have not been touched upon by existing laws," claimed Khánh, the bill’s main architect and leader of the drafting committee, in yesterday’s session of the Standing Committee.

The law was carried out with people’s wish for a reformed and effective public administration in mind, she said.

“Even if this is the end of the line for the bill, I am not upset since I tried my best,” Khánh said.

Most members present at the session expressed their appreciation for the drafting committee’s painstaking efforts in building the law, but agreed that this was not the time for such a bill.

NA deputy chairman Uông Chu Lưu expressed his appreciation for their “conscientious and active efforts to complete a tremendous workload in such a short timeframe,” but noted that the feasibility of the bill left a lot to be desired, with insufficient study on the impacts of many policies provided for in the bill.

NA Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said she personally supported Quốc Khánh’s initiative, but given the large extent of ‘public administration’ with many related contents currently being incorporated in other existing laws, the draft bill remained too broad and vague.

However, the documents and research done by the bill drafting committee was “a scientific study with merits pertinent to the National Assembly’s legislation work,” and that they would serve well as valuable references in penning other laws, Ngân said.

The drafting committee has organised 14 scientific conferences to gather feedback from NA deputies, related agencies and experts both in and outside of the country. Surveys have also been conducted in three localities – Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, and Quảng Ninh, in addition to 11 ministries and State agencies.

Late last year, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc himself instructed all concerned ministries, especially justice and home affairs ministries, to support the drafting committee. — VNS