The draft of 2015 Penal Code (amended) submitted for consideration

The Prime Minister authorized Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long to present a statement on the draft Law on amendments and supplements to some articles of the Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13.
Speaking at the plenum, Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long said the Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13 was approved by the 13th NA at its 10th session on 27 November 2015. It was scheduled to take effect on 1 July 2016. However, while implementing the 13th the NA’s Resolution No. 109/2015/QH13 on enforcing this Code, relevant agencies found some technical errors and certain regulations that are unsuitable or inapplicable.
Accordingly, the NA’s Standing Committee assigned the NA’s Committee for Judicial Affairs to collaborate with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuracy and other relevant agencies to revise the Code to detect errors and propose solutions to overcome these drawbacks, ensuring the implementation of the Penal Code of 2015 in practice. The results of revision were reported to the competent authorities. On 29 June 2016, the 13th NA issued Resolution 144/2016/QH13 on delaying the enforcement of the 2015 Penal Code and three other relevant laws. Under the resolution, the effectiveness of the Criminal Procedure Code No. 101/2015/QH13, the Law on the Organization of Criminal Investigation Agencies No. 99/2015/QH13, and the Law on the Implementation of Custody and Temporary Detention No. 94/2015/QH13 will be postponed until the same time.
According to the statement of the Government, the proposed draft law aims to revise all technical errors and inapplicable regulations in the 2015 Penal Code so as to ensure the consistency and logicality among its regulations and in the legal system while protecting rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals. The proposed revisions and supplements relate to 141 articles, including 38 articles with technical mistakes and 102 others with content problems. One article is suggested be abolished. In this amendment, the Government consults the opinion of the NA on five crucial matters.
In a report verifying the draft, the NA’s Committee for Judicial Affairs Le Thi Nga agreed with the necessity of issuing a law amending and supplementing some articles of the 2015 Penal Code.
Almost all members of the committee asked the legislature to scrutinize the draft law in this second session and approve it in the next sitting due to the draft’s wide coverage and different viewpoints of relevant ministries. They also shared the Government’s point of view that the amendment must not affect major policies already approved by the 13th NA and not lead to the revision of the laws with their enforcement delayed at the same time with the 2015 Penal Code.
The NA’s Committee for Judicial Affairs also asked for this time’s amendment covering all mistakes so that no more errors can be found after the Code (amended) comes into force. It is also necessary to revise regulations that may cause varying ways of application and have content that is unclear or contradicts specialized laws.
On the same day, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung presented the draft resolution which amends and supplements some articles of Resolution No. 55/2010/QH12 on agricultural land use tax exemption and reduction. Chairman of the National Assembly’s Finance-Buget Committee Nguyen Duc Hai reported on verification of the draft resolution.
After that, NA deputies spent the remaining of the day to discuss in groups the two drafts submitted.