VietNamNet Bridge – National Assembly deputies continued to discuss draft amendments to the Civil Code yesterday morning, June 10.

Deputies praised the Government's effort to collect public opinions on amendments to the Civil Code.

Deputies praised the Government's effort to collect public opinions on amendments to the Civil Code.

They agreed that any changes made to the Civil Code would have significant impacts on society as a whole and therefore must be carefully studied and evaluated.

A major topic of discussion was Article 14 of the Civil Code, which prohibits the court from refusing a case even in the absence of specific legal provisions to base the ruling on.

Deputy Pham Duc Chau from Quang Tri Province and Deputy Le Thi Nga from Thai Nguyen Province urged for the article to be withdrawn for further consideration.

"Without legal provisions to guide the court, how will the court deliver a judgment?" said Nga.

She also voiced concerns over the concept of a "common rule of law", which would be applied in the absence of legal provisions, and said the idea should be redefined to prevent too much leeway during the legal proceedings.

In a counter-argument, Deputy Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thanh from Ha Noi said the article upheld the spirit of the 2013 Constitution in accordance with Article 4 of the Civil Procedure Code.

She noted that civil cases only ended in court because parties failed to resolve conflicts by themselves. Without a court's judgment, parties may resort to violence to settle disputes.

Another topic of discussion was Article 2, Clause 36 regarding individuals who underwent gender change surgery.

Deputies pointed out discrepancies in the draft amendments as the country's current laws do not recognise sex changes but allowed individuals who underwent the transformation to change their identities and household records. They suggested the article should be studied and better explained.

Regarding the draft regulation that prohibits citizens' names from exceeding 25 letters or containing any numbers or symbols, numerous deputies asked the draft amendment committee to provide further explanation as to how it would negatively affect national defence and security or social order.

NA deputies approved yesterday a Resolution on a Balanced State Balance for 2013.

The resolution, as ratified, stated that in 2013 the total State budget collection was VND1,084,064 billion (US$49.86 billion), while total State budget spending was VND1,277,710 billion (US$58.77 billion).

Budget overspending was put at VND236,769 billion (US$10.89 billion), equal to 6.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013.

The resolution asks the Government to direct ministries and localities to strictly handle violations from organisations and individuals in managing and allocating the State budget, and submit the results to the legislature in the 2014 State Balanced Budget report.

Law project

Deputies also heard the report on the law project on hydro-meteorological works, in which the Government will be in control of hydro-meteorological activities, legal corridors, policies on infrastructure development and the training of employees.

The draft law also encourages sectors, organisations and individuals to take part in hydro-meteorological activities to meet the diversified demands of the nation's development.

Products from the hydro-meteorological sector are divided into two categories. The first aims at serving the community and national interests, and will be provided at no charge. The other can be provided for organizations or individuals with private purposes, and its customers will have to pay required duties, fees and taxes.

Regarding the amendments to the Law on Accounting, most deputies agreed that adjustments are needed.

Deputy Hoang Thanh Tung from Soc Trang Province, however, said eliminating the regulation on providing accounting services by individuals was irrational. The draft law now only regulates the providing of accounting services by enterprises.

Tung said the draft law did not explain the reason for the elimination of the regulation, but said that the amended law might aim at addressing the issue of the unregistered provision of accounting services by individuals. However, he noted that if the law seeks to resolve this problem, it should include strict regulations and punishments for illegally providing accounting services.

Tung added that it was necessary to know how the amended law would affect small and medium sized enterprises, since their needs for accounting services provided by individuals are considerable.

Source: VNS