On the morning of November 19, continuing the 39th Session, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on explaining, accepting, and revising the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Securities Law, the Accounting Law, the Independent Audit Law, the State Budget Law, the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, the Tax Administration Law, and the Law on National Reserves.

Agree to add a form of handling public assets "transfer to local management"

Reporting on some major contents in receiving and revising the draft Law, Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Le Quang Manh said that in the process of explaining, receiving and revising the draft Law, some contents of the amendments and supplements of the Law on Independent Audit related to the provisions of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations; amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration related to the provisions of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations; Personal Income Tax Law.

Accordingly, the Standing Committee of the Finance and Budget Committee, the Standing Committee of the Economic Committee, the Standing Committee of the Law Committee and the Drafting Agency agreed to submit to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly a report to the National Assembly for consideration and supplementation of the content of the amendments to the above 2 Laws and to amend the name of this draft Law as "Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Securities Law, the Accounting Law, the Independent Audit Law, the State Budget Law, the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, the Tax Management Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, the National Reserve Law, the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations.

Regarding specific contents, regarding the State Budget Law, the majority of National Assembly deputies proposed not to amend or supplement Clause 10, Article 8 of the State Budget Law on supplementing regulations on programs and projects outside the medium-term public investment plan. Many opinions suggested clarifying "projects outside the medium-term public investment plan but implemented according to the State Budget Law".

Some opinions suggest that in special cases where the process needs to be shortened, the National Assembly should assign Standing Committee of the National Assembly The authority shall consider adding to the list during the period between sessions and report to the National Assembly at the nearest session.

The Standing Committee of the Finance and Budget Committee and the Drafting Agency agreed to amend this article in the direction of: maintaining the current regulations on the authority to allocate annual central budget reserve sources and adding the regulation: "The Standing Committee of the National Assembly shall consider and decide to allocate annual central budget revenue increases and savings for programs, projects and tasks not yet included in the medium-term public investment plan" or the regulation "The Government shall submit to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly a supplement to the medium-term public investment plan for programs, projects and works using annual revenue increases and savings".

Regarding the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, regarding the content of adding the form of handling public assets at state agencies "transferring to local management", some opinions agreed to add the form of "transferring to local management and handling" as proposed by the Government. Some opinions said that there is no need to amend these articles and clauses because they are being implemented in practice and there are no problems.

The majority of opinions of the Standing Committee of the Finance and Budget Committee and the Drafting Agency agreed to supplement this regulation to serve as a basis for localities to effectively receive and handle public assets such as surplus houses and land, creating revenue for the state budget, supplementing financial resources for socio-economic development, helping to link management responsibilities with the use and exploitation of public assets.

Regarding the effective date, the Drafting Agency proposes that the draft Law take effect from January 1, 2025. Some provisions in Clause 9 and Clause 11, Article 1 of the Securities Law shall apply from January 1, 2026. The Standing Committee of the Finance and Budget Committee proposes that the Government give its official opinion on the effective date of this draft Law.

Ensuring the quality of draft laws submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and decision

Concluding the discussion, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai stated that the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed to submit to the National Assembly a draft Law entitled “Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Securities Law, the Accounting Law, the Independent Audit Law, the State Budget Law, the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, the Tax Management Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, the National Reserve Law, and the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations”.

Regarding the effective date of the Law, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly agreed to submit to the National Assembly for implementation from January 1, 2025. Particularly, the provisions on subjects participating in the purchase, transaction and transfer of individual corporate bonds at Point b, Clause 2 and Point b, Clause 9, Article 1 of the Securities Law, and the provisions on equity at Point a, Clause 11, Article 1 of the Securities Law shall apply from January 1, 2026.

Regarding the contents with different opinions, including the amendment and supplement to Clause 10, Article 8 of the State Budget Law to supplement regulations on programs and projects outside the medium-term public investment plan (Point a, Clause 1, Article 4 of the draft Law), the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly proposed to study and complete in the direction of ensuring the Prime Minister's authority over the state budget reserve, the authority of the National Assembly Standing Committee over the increased revenue and expenditure savings as prescribed in current regulations.

Regarding the addition of Clause 10a, Article 8 of the State Budget Law, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly proposed to accept the following direction: showing that state budget expenditures include both public investment expenditures and regular expenditures implemented in accordance with relevant laws or Government regulations.

Regarding the addition of Point d, Clause 5, Article 19 and Point d, Clause 2, Article 30 of the State Budget Law on the allocation of unallocated budget expenditure estimates, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly proposed to study and accept the direction of assigning the Government to organize implementation in accordance with the provisions of law, periodically reporting to the National Assembly Standing Committee on the use and reporting the implementation results at the National Assembly session approving the budget settlement or the session deciding on the annual budget estimate.

The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly requested the Government to urgently direct the drafting agency and relevant agencies to closely coordinate with the National Assembly's presiding agency to complete the Explanation Report, receive and revise the draft Law to be submitted to the National Assembly in a convincing manner, achieving high consensus. The Finance and Budget Committee will receive the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, coordinate with relevant agencies to receive and revise the draft Law to ensure quality for submission to the National Assembly for consideration and decision.