Colonel Nguyễn Thị Thu Quế

Colonel Nguyễn Thị Thu Quế, deputy director of the Legal Department of Administrative and Judicial Reform, from the Ministry of Public Security, talks to Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) Newspaper about the law on residence, which was recently discussed at the National Assembly meeting this month.

What are the beneficiaries of abolishing the use of the household registration book in Việt Nam?

As we all know that household registration books have been used in Việt Nam for almost 70 years. The registration book is closely associated with some 30 administrative procedures for all Vietnamese citizens, including their birth certificate, death certificate, land use certificate and others. Such administrative procedures have become a nightmare to many Vietnamese people when they need to do administrative procedures.

The National Assembly’s decision to abolish the household registration book has been highly welcomed by the Vietnamese people. When this law comes into force, Vietnamese citizens will not have to take with them different kinds of paper documents which have contained their personal information as such information is now available on the National Data System.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, the national data system will be put into use as from July 1st, 2021. Can you talk a little bit further about plans to switch from the current paper documents to the use of the national data system?

If it is approved by the National Assembly, as from July 1st, 2021, the national data system will be put into use and all the old household registration books and other related papers will no longer be used. However, documents with legal value which have contained the information about the household registration books will still be used.

Any Vietnamese citizen wanting to retrieve their personal information from the National Data system, must use their personal ID number.

By early 2021, all Vietnamese citizens will have their personal ID cards with an electronic chip. And the citizens could use their personal ID in their daily administrative procedures. According to the schedule, this project will be completed before July 1, 2021.

What are the benefits of using the personal ID card with an electronic chip?

There are quite a few advantages, particularly the improvement of State Administrative Management while cutting the administrative cost to all State administrative agencies.

According to plan, The Ministry of Public Security will start to use the National Population  Data System before July 1st, 2021 to facilitate the enforcement of the National Law on Residency. In other words, as from July 1st, household registration books will be of something of the past.

If the law comes into force, will it cause some cumbersome administrative procedures for the general public, particularly to students or people using their health cards when they go to hospitals?

As I have mentioned above, all information contained in the household registration book will be available in the National Data System. This National Data System is shared with all public agencies or concerned organisations to facilitate all citizens in transactions with their concerned agencies/offices. What is the most important thing is that each citizen should only present to the authority their ID card, no other additional documents._VNS