Continuing the 9th Session, on the morning of May 7, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented the Draft Law on Organization of Local Government (amended).
According to Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra, the draft law amends regulations related to the classification of administrative units (ADUs) and local government organizations at 2 levels: Provincial level includes: provinces, cities; commune level includes: communes, wards and special zones (on islands).
Local authorities at the provincial and commune levels both organize People's Councils and People's Committees to ensure a unified government apparatus and smooth operation from the Central to the commune level.
The draft law amends regulations on promoting decentralization, delegation, authorization and tasks and powers of local governments at the provincial and commune levels.
Accordingly, local and provincial authorities: in addition to the tasks and powers of local and provincial authorities according to current regulations, the draft law adds a number of provisions to promote decentralization from the central level to local and provincial authorities, especially in promulgating mechanisms, policies, planning areas, finance, budget, investment, ... of the locality.
Commune-level local government: perform the tasks and powers of the current district and commune-level local government; issue legal documents to decide on issues under the authority and scope, and management tasks of the (new) commune-level local government.
Regulates that local authorities at the provincial level are responsible for promoting decentralization and delegation of authority to local authorities at the commune level, especially promoting decentralization and delegation of authority to local authorities in wards in the field of urban management and development.
Strengthen decentralization and delegation of authority to local authorities in special zones to grant autonomy in deciding on issues to ensure national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity in sea and island areas.
Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra also raised the contents of amending and supplementing regulations on the organization of local government.
For provincial-level local governments: Basically keep the current regulations, only increase the number of provincial-level People's Council delegates in accordance with the merger of provincial-level administrative units.
For local authorities at the commune level: Regulations on the organizational structure of People's Councils and People's Committees at the commune level (communes, wards, special zones): Commune-level People's Councils have 2 Committees: Legal Committee and Socio-Economic Committee;
Commune-level People's Committees are allowed to organize specialized agencies, other administrative organizations or arrange professional civil servant positions to advise and help commune-level People's Committees manage sectors and fields in the area in accordance with the scale of the commune-level administrative units (new) according to Government regulations.
Regarding the effectiveness of implementation and resolution of arising issues related to the conversion of the local government model from 3 levels to 2 levels: The Law takes effect from July 1, 2025.
Transitional regulations on the organization of local government in wards in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang in the 2021-2026 term and amending, supplementing, and abolishing laws and resolutions of the National Assembly related to the organization of urban government.
Stipulate the contents to resolve arising issues, transitional contents to ensure continuous and normal operations of new agencies, organizations, and units when converting the 3-level local government organization model to 2-level according to the provisions of this Law.
