The draft amendment to the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations proposes to increase the fine for administrative violations without making a record by 4 times: from VND 250,000 to VND 1 million for individuals and from VND 500,000 to VND 2 million for organizations.
The reason given is to suit current socio-economic conditions, while simplifying administrative procedures.
However, many National Assembly deputies have expressed concerns about transparency, supervision and the risk of abuse of power if this regulation is passed without a corresponding control mechanism.
Delegate Nguyen Huu Chinh (Hanoi Delegation) frankly warned: Not making a record when fined will easily lead to arbitrariness in performing official duties.
This is a well-founded concern and warning, because one of the basic principles of the rule of law state is that the behavior of a person performing official duties must have a basis, evidence and can be inspected and supervised by the people and higher-level agencies.
When the record - the "original document" reflecting the violation - is ignored, any penalty decision can be suspected of being unfounded, even emotional or negative.
For people, especially those living in remote areas or with difficult economic conditions, the fine of 1 million VND for them is not small.
If they do not agree and want to complain but do not have any records as evidence, their rights will face a worrying legal gap.
Of course, in some practical situations, not making a record can help shorten processing time, avoid inconvenience to people and enforcement officers, but cannot be exchanged for transparency, discipline and trust in the law just for saving a few minutes of procedures. If you want to simplify the procedure, bring a fine without a record with mandatory conditions such as the use of electronic invoices, recording devices, online penalty management software...
Thus, the failure to make a record can still be controlled, can still be traced, and still ensure fairness.
It is also impossible not to take into account the human factor in law enforcement. When expanding the right to sanction on the spot, it is also the time to tighten the ethical standards and accountability of cadres.
The law should clearly stipulate strict disciplinary action against officials who take advantage of their power for personal gain during the handling without making a record.
Any reform, no matter how much the goal of administrative facilitation is, cannot ignore the factor of transparency and fairness.
No record is made, but there must be supervision.
Because if there is a lack of basis, the person who fines can easily abuse power and extinguish it, and the person who is fined will always be suspicious.
