Many practical benefits
The draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance (BHXH) proposes to amend Article 10 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance regarding regulations on authorizing documents for others to implement social insurance with a maximum validity of 12 months.
Accordingly, the draft proposes 2 options. Among them, the option to remove the regulation that the power of attorney to receive pensions and social insurance allowances is only valid for a maximum of 12 months is receiving much attention from readers.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Trung - lecturer of Public Management Department, University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City - said that this is a proposal of positive significance, consistent with the goal of administrative procedure reform and building an administration serving the people. If approved, the abolition of the regulation that powers of attorney are only valid for a maximum of 12 months will bring many practical benefits.
According to him, first of all, the new regulation will significantly reduce administrative procedures and compliance costs for people. Currently, many people receiving pensions or social insurance allowances are elderly people, people with weak health, people with disabilities or those who are undergoing long-term treatment. The annual renewal of powers of attorney forces them to travel many times, carry out notarization procedures, and incur unnecessary time and costs.
In addition, this proposal also clearly demonstrates the spirit of "taking the people as the center" in administrative reform.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Trung, administrative procedure reform is not only about reducing paperwork but also towards improving service quality.
For the elderly, reducing one trip, one certification or one waiting time is also a significant improvement in the quality of public services. This is an approach suitable for the goal of building a modern, friendly and serving administration.
Another benefit pointed out by experts is contributing to ensuring the consistency of the legal system. The Civil Code has quite fully stipulated the power of attorney contract, power of attorney term and cases of termination of power of attorney.
Therefore, the Law on Social Insurance does not necessarily have to stipulate an additional rigid term of 12 months. The reference and application of civil law will ensure consistency and avoid overlap between legal documents.
At the same time, the abolition of the regulation on extending annual power of attorney will also improve the management efficiency of the social insurance agency.
When not having to receive and process millions of extended authorization dossiers each year, the social insurance agency can reduce the volume of administrative work, save resources and focus more on activities serving people as well as managing and supervising cases with risk signs" - he said.
Need to strengthen control mechanisms
However, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Trung also said that along with easing procedures, it is necessary to strengthen control mechanisms to prevent abuse of power of attorney.
Accordingly, it is necessary to connect and update population data and civil status data to promptly identify cases where beneficiaries have passed away or changed information; strengthen electronic authentication and digitize authorization when technical conditions permit; clearly stipulate the responsibilities of authorized persons and cases of termination of authorization according to the Civil Code; and at the same time conduct random or periodic inspections for prolonged authorization cases to limit fraud.
If deployed synchronously with digital transformation and the national database, in my opinion, this will be an important step forward in administrative procedure reform, contributing to improving the quality of service for people, especially the elderly and vulnerable groups in society, while improving the operational efficiency of the social insurance system," Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Trung assessed.
