The NA Chairman made the notice at the 30th meeting of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee in Hanoi this morning.
Addressing the meeting about the Archives Law project, Chairman Hoang Thanh Tung said that immediately after the 6th session, the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs has coordinated with the Ministry of Home Affairs to note down comments from National Assembly delegates on the revision of the draft law.
After being revised, the draft law includes 8 chapters and 61 articles.
Following the comments of National Assembly delegates at the 6th session, the Chairman of the Law Committee said that the Standing Committee on Law proposed regulations on permanently archived documents at the commune level to be submitted to the State's historical archives at the provincial level.
Moreover, the Standing Committee and the Ministry of Home Affairs which is in charge of drafting the proposal stipulate that storage service activities are a conditional business and investment industry and add to the draft law a number of specific regulations on business investment conditions.
The Standing Committee also proposed that the draft law be designed to store archives in the form of papers and electronic data to suit the reality of archival work as currently, some places still store paper documents while others electronically archive.
Additionally, the conversion from storing paper documents to digital documents is carried out according to the roadmap for building e-government and the orientation of digital government and digital government.
Some delegates suggested supplementing more complete and specific regulations on private archives to encourage the participation of organizations and individuals to greatly contribute to the preservation of the value of archived documents, better storage and protection of the ownership of private archives to ensure a harmonious relationship between the State and organizations and individuals in the management of private archives.
Notably, the Standing Committee on Law and the agency in charge of drafting the proposal, keeping the regulation on storage service activities as a conditional business and investment industry, as the Government submitted to the National Assembly at the third session. At the same time, it suggested adding to the draft law a number of specific regulations on business investment conditions to ensure transparency.
A new content in this draft is the regulation on ‘Vietnam Archives Day’. According to Chairman Hoang Thanh Tung, on February 5, 2024, the Vietnam Archives Association sent document No. 03/TWHVTLTVN-KHDT to the National Assembly Standing Committee requesting consideration of regulations on Vietnam Archives Day on January 3 into the draft Law on Archives (amended). The Standing Committee on Legal Affairs proposed the National Assembly Standing Committee consider and allow regulations on Vietnam Archives Day to be included in the draft law.
Head of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy proposed adding regulations to increase connectivity and sharing in the archive system, to best promote the value of archives.
Agreeing with the regulations on electronic storage, Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue considered this a convenient and economical storage method; however, he noted that there should be some additional regulations on electronic storage operations to both ensure general principles of storage and suit the specific characteristics of electronic documents.
Furthermore, the Chairman of the National Assembly proposed to further review the compatibility between the draft law and international conventions, as well as the uniformity of the legal system in comparison with the Law on Information Technology, the Law on Cyber Security, the Law on Cyber Security, Law on Access to Information and Law on Protection of State Secrets.
He said that currently, Vietnam is a member of the International Archives Council, and the Archives Association of French-speaking countries, and the country has also signed bilateral agreements with a number of countries in this field. Therefore, he emphasized that it is necessary to review carefully to ensure consistency and no contradictions.
Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said that the Ministry will continue to work with relevant agencies to revise many contents in the draft.
