The Draft Law consists of 5 chapters and 32 articles (2 chapters and 18 articles less than the current Law), ensuring high continuity and generality according to the requirements of law-making innovation of the General Secretary and the National Assembly, ensuring stability and long-term operation in the legal system.
According to the Minister of Home Affairs, one of the highlights is the completion of the principled contents on decentralization, delegation, and authorization between the Government, Prime Minister, Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies and local authorities (Articles 7, 8, and 9 of the draft Law).
Regarding decentralization, the draft Law has determined the principle of decentralization; the responsibilities of central state agencies and local authorities in performing decentralized tasks and powers.
Regarding decentralization, it is implemented according to the principle that the decentralized agency, organization, unit, and person are fully responsible for the results of performing the decentralized tasks and powers. At the same time, the draft Law has clarified: Decentralization subjects; decentralization principles; authority and responsibility of subjects when implementing decentralization.
Regarding authorization, the draft Law has clarified the subject, method, content, scope, duration of authorization and the principle conditions in implementing authorization.
According to Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra, this is a prominent new point, a fundamental and core principle for other Laws in the legal system, as a basis for regulations on decentralization and is regulated for the first time in the Law on Organization of the Government (amended), meeting urgent requirements in performing the functions and tasks of the Government, Prime Minister, Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies and local authorities.
Examining this draft Law, Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung agreed with the addition of provisions in Articles 7, 8 and 9 on decentralization, delegation and authorization to promptly institutionalize the Party's policy on implementing strong and reasonable decentralization and delegation of power between the central and local levels.
In addition, the contents on decentralization, delegation, and authorization shown in the draft Law on Organization of the Government (amended) and the draft Law on Organization of Local Government (amended) are closely related to each other, and need to be further reviewed to ensure consistency and unity, specifically:
Regarding the subjects receiving decentralization, Clause 1, Article 8 of the draft Law on Organization of the Government (amended) identifies the subjects receiving decentralization at the local level as: People's Councils, People's Committees, and Chairmen of People's Committees; meanwhile, Clause 5, Article 14 of the draft Law on Organization of Local Government (amended) stipulates: "The People's Committees at the provincial level are allowed to propose to the Government, the Prime Minister, Ministers, and Heads of ministerial-level agencies to decentralize to competent agencies, organizations, and individuals at the local level to perform tasks and powers in accordance with the capacity and practical conditions of the locality", which may lead to expanding the scope of local subjects receiving decentralization from the central level.
At the same time, Article 50 of the Law on the Capital stipulates the responsibilities of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and government agencies in considering and deciding on decentralization and delegation of authority to the City People's Committee, specialized agencies, and other administrative organizations under the City People's Committee.
The draft Law on Organization of Local Government (amended) stipulates a number of contents on decentralization and delegation of authority that are different from the draft Law on Organization of Government (amended).
Therefore, Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung suggested that the drafting agency continue to review to uniformly regulate the subjects receiving decentralization at the local level and the general principles of decentralization and delegation, ensuring the implementation of the policy of promoting decentralization and reasonable delegation of power between the central and local levels; specific issues under the scope of regulation of other laws or issues that need to be flexible to suit reality should not be rigidly regulated in these two laws but should be regulated by specialized laws and sub-law documents.
