Continuing the First Session, on the morning of April 12, the 16th National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law on Access to Information (amended).
National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Thai Hoc (Dak Lak Delegation) - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Fatherland Front, Central mass organizations, expressed high agreement with the necessity of amending the law to promote the right to mastery and access to information of citizens. The amendment is also in line with the requirements of administrative procedure reform.
Comparing with the amended contents in the draft law, the delegate said that many regulations are not really unified.
The delegate cited Clause 1, Article 9 of the current law stipulating that commune-level People's Committees are responsible for providing information created by themselves and information received by themselves to directly perform their functions, tasks, and powers, except for cases specified in Article 6 of this law (citizen information not accessible); for cases specified in Article 7 of this law (citizen information accessible under conditions), information shall be provided when conditions are met according to regulations.
However, in Clause 1, Article 10 of the draft amended law, it is stipulated that the commune-level People's Committee is responsible for providing information created by itself, and is not obliged to provide information received by itself.
Explaining this, the Government's report pointed out 3 reasons, including being consistent with the principle of decentralization and delegation of power; strengthening the responsibility of information-generating agencies and reducing pressure on commune-level authorities when they have a lot of work.
The delegate said that these reasons are not really convincing, not in accordance with the principles of the law. Because one of the principles of the Law on Access to Information is to provide information promptly, creating favorable conditions for citizens.
According to the delegate, when streamlining and implementing 2-level local government, it must be close to the people and close to the people. This requirement has been emphasized and directed many times by General Secretary and President To Lam.
Another reason emphasized by the delegate is that it is not suitable for reality.
Delegate of the Dak Lak Delegation cited a citizen requesting information. This information is associated with the responsibility of the commune-level government in management and administration. This information requires the commune level not only to grasp at the level it creates, but also to grasp documents, grasp information from the provincial and central levels to be able to manage.
When citizens come to ask, the commune level says that this document is issued by the central government and the province, so the commune level does not provide it. This regulation is very inadequate, does not create conditions for citizens, and does not well implement the requirement to create conditions for citizens to access information," said Delegate Nguyen Thai Hoc.
From there, the delegate proposed that the drafting agency study and amend this regulation, in which the commune-level government has an obligation to provide information that it has obtained and created. As for difficulties and obstacles such as human resources, facilities, and equipment, it is necessary to invest and research to remove them.
Delegate Do Thi Viet Ha (Bac Ninh Delegation) said that citizens' access to information is the basic foundation for transparency of social activities.
Therefore, the delegate proposed to expand the subjects supported to access information and supplement policies to support ethnic minorities and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions to access information conveniently, promptly and fully.
Highly agreeing with the expansion and supplementation of information access subjects, the delegate proposed that the drafting agency continue to study, review, and supplement some other vulnerable groups to also apply specific regulations in information access such as: poor people, children, people in difficult circumstances.
