Four bills to be added to NA’s law and ordinance building programme next year

NA Chairman Vương Đình Huệ speaks at the NA Standing Committee’s meeting on Monday. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Monday agreed to make amendments to four laws and add them to the legislature’s law and ordinance building programme next year.

They are the amended Law on Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking, Law on Chemicals, Law on Value Added Tax (VAT), and Law on Management of Weapons, Explosives and Supporting Tools.

Commenting on the need to amend the Law on Management of Weapons, Explosives and Supporting Tools, Chairman of the NA’s Defence and Security Committee Lê Tấn Tới said among 40,000 crimes on weapons and explosives, more than 58 per cent were linked to the use of knives and primitive weapons to commit extremely serious crimes such as murder, kidnapping, drugs, intentionally causing injury, and resisting officers on duty. In those cases, many police officers and soldiers on duty were injured and died.

Those facts pose an urgent need to amend the law, he said.

Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyễn Duy Ngọc said over the past five years, the ministry has identified the law’s limitations that have been taken advantage of by criminals to study making amendments.

Regarding the amended Law on Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking, Lê Thị Nga, chairwoman of the NA’s Judicial Affairs Commitee, said the Party’s viewpoint on human trafficking in the new era has changed. Human trafficking regulations stated in the Constitution and other laws have been changed. That’s why the Law on Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking needs amendments too, in order to be relevant with the legal system and international treaties to which Việt Nam is a member.

The NA’s Judicial Affairs Commitee proposed the agency in charge of the law amendment listen to the feedback of the Vietnam Women’s Union and other related ministries, sectors and localities.

Deputy Minister of Public Security Ngọc also agreed with the need to amend the Law on Prevention and Combat of Human Trafficking, saying that human trafficking has become complicated after the COVID-19 pandemic. Criminals have taken advantage of the migration wave to smuggle people.

Regarding the Law on Value Added Tax, Ngọc said major cases reveal legal loopholes, so the Ministry of Public Security will work with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to connect business data and tax data with the population database to solve the problem.

NA Chairman Vương Đình Huệ said the regulations on VAT are present in many different decrees. It is necessary to conduct a review to avoid overlaps.

He said the Chemical Law is linked closely to and has a huge impact on consumer production and crime prevention. It is necessary to ask for opinions and evaluate the impact carefully, especially collecting opinions of consumer associations, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), and agencies representing producers and consumers. VNS