Many people have raised concerns about a new regulation by the Ministry of Construction which may punish people for quarrelling or swearing inside apartment blocks.
An apartment building in Hanoi
Circular 2 intended to govern apartment building management is issued by the Ministry of Construction. The appendix states that cursing and quarrelling will be considered violations and both residents as well as the guests could be liable for fines and be dealt with starting from April 2.
Circular 2 is the adjusted Circular 8 which was issued in May 2008 and did not include the ban on cursing or quarrelling.
Ho Anh Khoa, a resident in Hanoi's Dong Da District, said, "Who is going to inspect these issues? If even the guests are punished then probably no one will visit my house."
The building managers said they also had rules against swearing inside the buildings but no one is really in a position to monitor the behaviour of every inhabitant. They also said the Ministry of Construction would have to issue a list of swear words if the circular takes effect.
Dong Ngoc Ba from the Ministry of Justice said they would review the circular to see whether it was practical and issued in accordance with regulation. "If any error or wrong-doing are detected during the issuing process, it will be fixed. It's likely that the authorities didn't bother to gather public opinion about the problem beforehand," he said.
This is not the first time the public have negatively reacted to Ministry of Construction circulars.
Three years ago, the ministry asked authorities to not build constructions that imitate old French or European style buildings. The directive was met with opposition from many people as French architecture has been in their daily lives for over a century. The ministry then explained that it was just printing error.
Dau Anh Tuan, head of Legal Department of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said they were going to gather opinions from the people and businesses for a list of best and worst legal documents from 2014 and 2015 that are still active. Circular 2 could well fall into their worst category if there is enough nominations.
Dtinews