NA meeting focuses on law-building

Nguyen Phu Trong said the committee would discuss draft laws on bio-diversity, civil servants, nationality, road transport, health-care insurance, civil sentences and high technology.

Also on the agenda will be the ordinance on procedures for holding marine vessels and the Hague Convention (May 29,1993) on child protection and co-operation in the field of child adoption.

The committee members devoted yesterday morning to discussing changes to the law on bio-diversity – in particular provisions relating to genetically modified crops and the Government’s policies on conservation and sustainable development.

Dang Tien Minh, Chairman of the National Assembly Committee for Science-Technology and Environment, together with many other members, supported the banning of commercial breeding of endangered animals.

"This is a good way to prevent the illegal trading and slaughtering of rare animals," Minh said.

Sharing Minh’s point of view, Nguyen Van Thuan, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, suggested the law should only permit the breeding of endangered species for scientific research and eco-tourism.

However, Thuan said the law-drafting committee should clearly distinguish between "species that need to be protected and conserved" and "rare wild animals."

Dao Trong Thi, Chairman of the Committee for Culture-Education-Youth and Children; Phung Quoc Hien, Chairman of the Committee for Finance and Budget; and Ksor Phuoc, Chairman of the Council of Nationalities, emphasised the need to conduct further studies on the likely impact of banning commercial breeding of protected animals.

They argued that the word "commercial" did not simply mean "exploitation, slaughter and consumption," but related to services and tourism.

They asked the drafting committee to consider thoroughly if the country had the capacity to control these activities.

Le Quang Binh, Chairman of the Committee for National Defence and Security, said: "The law should mention specifically which species must be protected and what measures [should be taken] to conserve them."

NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong said: "We should encourage commercial breeding in the service of tourism and research. This is a good way to conserve [endangered species] and to have sustainable development of bio-diversity."

Higher pay

Members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee yesterday asked if the State budget had sufficient funds to add more commune-level officials to the list of permanent staff entitled to receive higher State allowances, as required under the draft law on civil servants.

Chairman of the NA’s Judiciary Committee, Nguyen Van Thuan, said many officials at commune level already enjoyed State wages or allowances.

They included commune leaders, such as Party secretaries and deputies, chairmen of people’s committees, deputies and chairmen of people’s councils and deputies and head of social organisations.

Thuan said other officials, including heads of residential areas and villages, also enjoyed the State allowance. In addition, each commune has about 200 officials at different levels on average, not including health and legal assistants.

A report from relevant agencies showed that in December last year, there were more than 204,100 commune-level leaders and civil servants and more than 500,000 others on State allowances.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which drafted the law on civil servants, a new system is to be built for cadres and civil servants at commune, ward and town levels.

Under it, cadres and civil servants qualified according to Government regulations would be considered to be State permanently employed.

National Assembly Ombudsman Tran The Vuong said the draft law needed to clearly define the target and real demand. "Almost all people with commune-level titles say that their salaries are low and should be increased," he said.

Chairman of the Assembly’s Nationality Council, Ksor Phuoc, asked if the law’s drafting board could study if the officials could be financed at commune level.

He said if they could, the State would issue policies, salary regulations and allowances.

Vice Chairman of the Assembly, Nguyen Duc Kien, said the State budget would not bear the strain if the law added more officials to the State list.

He said only people in positions selected thro-ugh election and enrolment should enjoy wages and allowances from the State budget.

The draft law includes eight chapters and 91 articles regulating the rights, obligations and responsibilities of cadres and civil servants, moral standard, communication culture and enrolment, management and use of cadres, training of cadres and civil servants, and bonuses and punishment for those who violate rules.