On the morning of February 19, the National Assembly held a plenary session in the hall to vote to pass the draft Law on Organization of Local Government (amended).
Before voting to approve, Member of the National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC), Chairman of the Law and Justice Committee Hoang Thanh Tung presented to the National Assembly a Summary Report on explanation, acceptance and revision of the draft Law on Organization of Local Government (amended).
The report shows that after being accepted and revised, the draft Law has 50 articles, keeping the same in terms of the number of articles, but there has been a revision in 41 50% of articles compared to the draft Law submitted by the Government to the National Assembly at the beginning of the session.
Regarding the division of authority, decentralization, delegation, and delegation of authority between local authorities at all levels, according to Mr. Tung, there are opinions suggesting institutionalizing the guiding viewpoint on "locality decides, locality does, locality is responsible" in the draft Law.
The National Assembly Standing Committee has accepted the above opinions and revised the provisions of the draft Law, ensuring compliance with the Party's guiding viewpoint on promoting decentralization, delegation of power, promoting local initiative and creativity, ensuring the motto "locality decides, locality does, locality is responsible", "to the extent the solution is more effective, tasks and authority will be assigned to that level", especially the provisions in Article 4 (engines of organization and operation of local government), Chapter III (Analysis of the authority of local governments at all levels) and the provisions in Chapter IV on the specific tasks and powers of local governments at each level.
According to Mr. Tung, there are opinions suggesting adding an explanation of the terms decentralization, delegation of authority, and delegation of authority. Some opinions suggest reviewing and revising the provisions of the draft Law to ensure consistency with the Law on Government Organization (amended).
The Standing Committee of the National Assembly has received the above opinions and reviewed and revised the provisions in Articles 12, 13 and 14 of the draft Law to ensure consistency, suitability with the role and nature of each subject, clarity on conditions for guarantee and mechanisms for responsibility in implementing decentralization, delegation and delegation of authority. Regarding the concept of decentralization, delegation, and delegation, the Law on Government Organization recently passed by the National Assembly has specific provisions, so please allow me not to mention it again in this Law to avoid duplication.
Regarding opinions on the proposal to supplement regulations to allow the People's Committees at the provincial level to issue documents to adjust the order, procedures, and authority when decentralization leads to changes in administrative procedures. Other opinions say that this regulation is difficult to implement because the procedures are being regulated in laws and decrees, so the Provincial People's Committee does not have the authority to adjust and can easily create inconsistency in implementation in localities.
According to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, it is extremely necessary to assign the Provincial People's Committee to adjust the order, procedures, and authority of relevant agencies to perform the tasks and powers that are decentralized in cases of decentralization leading to the need to change the order, procedures, and authority stipulated in the legal documents of the superior state agency.
This solution aims to meet practical requirements, facilitate the acceleration of decentralization, in line with the policy of local decisions, local actions, local responsibility as well as the spirit of "taking practice as a measure, solving all bottlenecks", "not because rigid processes and procedures slow down the development of the country" and the requirement of "management according to results" instead of "management according to the process" according to the direction of Party and State leaders in the past. Moreover, the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents (amended) does not limit the regulation of procedures and order in legal documents of the People's Committee, so it does not affect the feasibility of the provisions in the draft Law.
This Law takes effect from March 1, 2025.
